Stéphanie zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst

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Stéphanie Maria Veronika Juliana Princess zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst born. Richter, also called "Hitler's spy" (born September 16, 1891 in Vienna , † June 13, 1972 in Geneva ) was a spy in the service of Nazi Germany with Hungarian citizenship.

Life

Stéphanie Richter was born as the daughter of the lawyer Dr. Johann Sebastian Richter and his wife Ludmilla Kuranda were born in Vienna. Her biological father was probably Max Wiener, who later became the father of Gina Kaus . She received her first name as a tribute to the Austrian Crown Princess Stephanie ; her sister, five years older than her, was called Ludmilla (called Milla).

Stéphanie grew up sheltered and middle-class. She was instructed in the skills that were then mandatory for “major daughters”, such as foreign languages, piano playing, handicrafts and dancing, perfected her piano playing at the Vienna Conservatory , and was sent to a college in Eastbourne for several months to learn English practicing, playing tennis, swimming, sailing, hunting, cycling and rowing. In particular, she was a talented ice skater and met many of her friends in the Vienna Ice Skating Club . In 1904, at the age of 14, she won a beauty contest in Gmunden and received her first marriage proposals. The ambitious Stéphanie tried to catch up with the Viennese upper class. Among other things, she managed to get to know the husband of the Emperor's daughter Marie Valerie , Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria-Tuscany .

In May 1914, Stéphanie married Prince Friedrich Franz zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst , probably to cover up the fact that she was already pregnant by Franz Salvator. Stéphanies son Franz Josef zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst was born on December 5, 1914 in Vienna. After the end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy , Stephanie and Friedrich Franz zu Hohenlohe became Hungarian citizens. He divorced in 1920 and she took on secret diplomatic missions on behalf of the then Imperial Administrator of Hungary, Miklós Horthy , for whom she established ties to Great Britain. In this position, she convinced Lord Rothermere in 1927 to stand up for the interests of Hungary, while on his behalf she established contacts with the Nazi leadership in Germany.

She managed to come into contact with influential men in National Socialist Germany, such as Joseph Goebbels and Adolf Hitler's personal aide , Fritz Wiedemann . By order of Hitler, she was on the guest list next to Wiedemann in 1937 for the embassy festival in London on the occasion of the coronation of George VI. although the German ambassador Joachim von Ribbentrop had given her a ban from the house. Regardless of her Jewish origins, she managed to get close to Hitler, who she called his "dear princess". On June 10, 1938, he infected her with the gold medal of the NSDAP , a process that sparked outrage in Hitler's circle. Apparently he was even with her on your own. She thus belonged to the small group of so-called " honorary Aries ". Stéphanie zu Hohenlohe used her international relations for Hitler, especially with high-ranking Nazi sympathizers in England, where she became an honorary member of the Anglo-German Fellowship . In recognition of her mediating services to Lord Halifax , in 1938 Hitler and Hermann Göring made Leopoldskron Castle in Salzburg available to her as a residence, where she wanted to build a “political salon”.

Stéphanie zu Hohenlohe went to the United States in 1940, ostensibly to follow her lover Fritz Wiedemann, who had become Consul General in San Francisco in early 1939 . There she immediately made contact with influential people and became a citizen of the United States , but was briefly detained in 1941. Thanks to her friendship with the then head of immigration, Major Lemuel B. Schofield, she was quickly released, but was arrested again after the attack on Pearl Harbor and was not released until May 9, 1945. In the post-war period she lived with Schofield and was able to renew and expand her contacts with political circles. She not only met President Harry S. Truman , but also his Democratic successors John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson . Together with the American journalist Drew Pearson , she arranged interviews with American presidents for journalists from the illustrated magazines Quick and Stern . She later began a lucrative collaboration with Axel Springer .

Stéphanie zu Hohenlohe died in 1972 and was buried in Geneva.

literature

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ Martha Schad: Hitler's spy . The life of Stephanie von Hohenlohe, Munich 2002, p. 8 and note p. 248.
  2. ^ Schad: Hitler's spy , p. 9.
  3. ^ Franz Josef Rudolf Hans Weriand Max Stefan Anton, Prince of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (* December 5, 1914; † July 12, 2008)
  4. ↑ Karina Urbach: Hitler's secret helper. The nobility in the service of power , Theiss Darmstadt 2016, p. 284ff.
  5. ↑ Urbach, p. 314f.
  6. ^ Schad: Hitler's Spionin , p. 57f.
  7. ^ Schad: Hitler's Spionin , p. 67.
  8. ↑ Mistress at Schloss Leopoldskron . In: Schad: Hitler's Spionin , pp. 104–118.
  9. ↑ Urbach, p. 418f.
personal data
SURNAME Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, Stéphanie zu
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, Stéphanie Maria Veronika Juliana Princess too; Richter, Stéphanie (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian nobles, spy in the service of the National Socialists
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH June 13, 1972
Place of death Geneva