Erich Vermehren
Encyclopedia
Erich Vermehren, also known as Erich Vermeeren de Saventhem or Eric Maria de Saventhem, (December 23, 1919-April 28, 2005) was an ardent anti-Nazi and is best known as the German
agent
of the Abwehr
, the German intelligence organization, whose well-publicized defection to the British
in early 1944 led directly to the abolition of the Abwehr.
to a family of lawyers whose known opposition to the Nazi
regime was such that they were considered politically unreliable. Erich's repeated refusal to join the Hitler Youth
marked him as unfit to "represent German youth", and he was prevented from taking up a coveted Rhodes scholarship
at Oxford University; his passport
was revoked, making it impossible for him to travel outside of Germany.
Vermehren converted to Roman Catholicism in 1939 (shortly after his elder sister Isa), when he met the Countess Elisabeth von Plettenberg
, whom he married in October 1941.
. Finally it came to a point that they felt both their lives were at risk while they remained in Germany. He was excluded from military service due to a childhood injury, but managed to get himself assigned to the Abwehr late in 1943 with the help of von Trott and Paul Leverkuehn, the Abwehr station chief in Istanbul
.
At that time, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris
, the head of the Abwehr, was making peace overtures with the Americans
with the help of the German ambassador
to Turkey
, Franz von Papen
, who had been asked to meet Archbishop (later also Cardinal) Francis Spellman. Von Papen was a cousin of Elisabeth Vermehren, and the Germany foreign service's attention to family ties led to her husband's assignment to Istanbul as a junior-grade agent after two weeks' training in secret inks. She, however, was detained by the Gestapo as a hostage.
When he returned to Berlin
on leave, the couple agreed they would defect to the British; so that she could accompany him to Istanbul, she procured an official assignment from the Foreign Office in connection with the Archbishop's visit to Turkey. On the train from Berlin to the Turkish capital they discovered that a high-ranking officer of the Gestapo had taken the compartment in the sleeping car next to them; at a border crossing in Bulgaria
, he was permitted to continue to Istanbul but she was arrested by Gestapo agents and taken to the German embassy in Sofia
. There, the ambassador was a close family friend who managed in cooperation with the Abwehr station chief to sneak her on board a diplomatic courier plane that landed to pick up the diplomatic bag en route to Istanbul.
, through its counter-espionage
representative Nicholas Elliot. Apparently the British had a file on him because when Vermehren and Elliot first met, Elliot cheerfully greeted him saying, "Erich Vermehren? Why, I believe you were coming up to Oxford."
Just as Elisabeth was reunited with her husband, they received word that a friend from the Foreign Office, Otto Carl Kiep
, had been arrested on January 12, 1944, in connection with his attendance at the Frau Solf Tea Party
. The pair were summoned to Berlin by the Gestapo to answer questions in connection with the case. Knowing what was in store for them, they refused, and made final arrangements with the British for their defection in early February. In the hope that their families would be protected from reprisals due to Sippenhaft
(detention for the crimes of a family member) as a result of their defection, their defection was initially set up as a kidnapping by the British. The Vermehrens were smuggled to England via İzmir
, Aleppo
, Cairo
, Gibraltar
, and finally London
.
Although it was agreed that the defection should remain a secret, British propaganda
understandably broke the news knowing that would cause havoc among Germany's various intelligence services, especially since the invasion of Western Europe was just around the corner. The news was the talk of Berlin, and Hitler was incensed. Although the Vermehrens did not bring along anything of intelligence value, it was mistakenly believed that they absconded with the Abwehr's secret codes. For Hitler, it was the last straw against the Abwehr and Canaris. On February 18, 1944, the Abwehr was abolished and its intelligence functions were taken over by the RSHA
, under the jurisdiction of Heinrich Himmler
.
The couple's families were not spared either, for numerous members of them were arrested. A few days after their defection Erich's parents, his elder brother Michael and sister Isa — a minor film actress and cabaret
singer — as well as Elisabeth's youngest sister Gisela were interned in various concentration camps until the end of the war. Miraculously, all of them survived.
flat of the mother of Kim Philby
, where they provided him with lists of personalities of the Catholic underground in Germany. However, it was unsurprising that when the British tried to link up with them at war's end, they found that most of them were liquidated.
They also tried to persuade the British Foreign Office to allow leading members of the German opposition to help in rebuilding the country as the government was in support of the Morgenthau Plan
, but to no avail. They then asked their status as "Guests of the Foreign Office" be annulled and be left to their own devices. Despite the scarcity of jobs Elisabeth soon found employment as an assistant teacher in Worth Priory, a preparatory school
run by the Benedictine Order while Erich founded a small export company. The early success (which went away too soon) of the company enabled them to settle for a while near the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
in Brompton Road
, but it was five years before Erich was able to find a decent job with a firm of brokers with Lloyd's of London
. It was during their stay in England that they changed their surname to Vermehren de Saventhem for genealogical reasons. Henceforth they were known as Eric and Elisabeth de Saventhem.
in the 1960s with Eric managing the firm's Swiss subsidiary until he was promoted as Director for Europe in 1964. Because of this they lived in Paris for two years before moving back to Switzerland in 1966. In the meantime they became active in the Catholic Traditionalist Movement in the wake of the Second Vatican Council
, with Eric becoming one of the founding members of the Una Voce
movement, being its first president.
The couple decided to move back to Germany in view of Elisabeth's failing health, and she died there in 2000. Eric himself died in Bonn
in 2005 at the age of 85.
, 3 May 2005.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
agent
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
of the Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
, the German intelligence organization, whose well-publicized defection to the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in early 1944 led directly to the abolition of the Abwehr.
Early life
Vermehren was born in LübeckLübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
to a family of lawyers whose known opposition to the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
regime was such that they were considered politically unreliable. Erich's repeated refusal to join the Hitler Youth
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party. It existed from 1922 to 1945. The HJ was the second oldest paramilitary Nazi group, founded one year after its adult counterpart, the Sturmabteilung...
marked him as unfit to "represent German youth", and he was prevented from taking up a coveted Rhodes scholarship
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
at Oxford University; his passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
was revoked, making it impossible for him to travel outside of Germany.
Vermehren converted to Roman Catholicism in 1939 (shortly after his elder sister Isa), when he met the Countess Elisabeth von Plettenberg
House of Plettenberg
The House of Plettenberg is a Westphalian noble family of the Uradel. It dates back at least to 1187, when Heidolphus de Plettenbrath was mentioned in a document by Philip I...
, whom he married in October 1941.
As an Abwehr agent
Despite the Vermehrens' unwillingness openly to resist the Nazi regime, they inevitably found themselves in various anti-Nazi circles, several of which centred on his cousin Adam von Trott zu SolzAdam von Trott zu Solz
Adam von Trott zu Solz was a German lawyer and diplomat who was involved in the conservative opposition to the Nazi regime, and who played a central part in the 20 July Plot...
. Finally it came to a point that they felt both their lives were at risk while they remained in Germany. He was excluded from military service due to a childhood injury, but managed to get himself assigned to the Abwehr late in 1943 with the help of von Trott and Paul Leverkuehn, the Abwehr station chief in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
.
At that time, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Franz Canaris was a German admiral, head of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944 and member of the German Resistance.- Early life and World War I :...
, the head of the Abwehr, was making peace overtures with the Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with the help of the German ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, Franz von Papen
Franz von Papen
Lieutenant-Colonel Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen zu Köningen was a German nobleman, Roman Catholic monarchist politician, General Staff officer, and diplomat, who served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932 and as Vice-Chancellor under Adolf Hitler in 1933–1934...
, who had been asked to meet Archbishop (later also Cardinal) Francis Spellman. Von Papen was a cousin of Elisabeth Vermehren, and the Germany foreign service's attention to family ties led to her husband's assignment to Istanbul as a junior-grade agent after two weeks' training in secret inks. She, however, was detained by the Gestapo as a hostage.
When he returned to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
on leave, the couple agreed they would defect to the British; so that she could accompany him to Istanbul, she procured an official assignment from the Foreign Office in connection with the Archbishop's visit to Turkey. On the train from Berlin to the Turkish capital they discovered that a high-ranking officer of the Gestapo had taken the compartment in the sleeping car next to them; at a border crossing in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, he was permitted to continue to Istanbul but she was arrested by Gestapo agents and taken to the German embassy in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
. There, the ambassador was a close family friend who managed in cooperation with the Abwehr station chief to sneak her on board a diplomatic courier plane that landed to pick up the diplomatic bag en route to Istanbul.
Defection
Meanwhile, Erich had made overtures to the British Secret Intelligence ServiceSecret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
, through its counter-espionage
Counter-Espionage
-Cast:* Warren William as Michael Lanyard* Eric Blore as Jamison* Hillary Brooke as Pamela Hart* Thurston Hall as Insp. Crane* Fred Kelsey as Detective Wesley Dickens* Forrest Tucker as Anton Schugg* Matthew Boulton as Inspector J...
representative Nicholas Elliot. Apparently the British had a file on him because when Vermehren and Elliot first met, Elliot cheerfully greeted him saying, "Erich Vermehren? Why, I believe you were coming up to Oxford."
Just as Elisabeth was reunited with her husband, they received word that a friend from the Foreign Office, Otto Carl Kiep
Otto Kiep
Otto Carl Kiep was the Chief of the Reich Press Office . He became involved with the resistance against the Nazis and was executed in 1944.-Life:...
, had been arrested on January 12, 1944, in connection with his attendance at the Frau Solf Tea Party
Frau Solf Tea Party
The Solf Circle was an informal gathering of German intellectuals involved in the resistance against Nazi Germany. Most members were arrested and executed after attending a tea party held near Heidelberg on September 10, 1943, at the residence of Elisabeth von Thadden...
. The pair were summoned to Berlin by the Gestapo to answer questions in connection with the case. Knowing what was in store for them, they refused, and made final arrangements with the British for their defection in early February. In the hope that their families would be protected from reprisals due to Sippenhaft
Sippenhaft
Sippenhaft or Sippenhaftung was a form of collective punishment practised in Nazi Germany towards the end of the Second World War. It was a legalized practice in which relatives of persons accused of crimes against the state were held to share the responsibility for those crimes and subject to...
(detention for the crimes of a family member) as a result of their defection, their defection was initially set up as a kidnapping by the British. The Vermehrens were smuggled to England via İzmir
Izmir
Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...
, Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
, Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
, and finally London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Although it was agreed that the defection should remain a secret, British propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
understandably broke the news knowing that would cause havoc among Germany's various intelligence services, especially since the invasion of Western Europe was just around the corner. The news was the talk of Berlin, and Hitler was incensed. Although the Vermehrens did not bring along anything of intelligence value, it was mistakenly believed that they absconded with the Abwehr's secret codes. For Hitler, it was the last straw against the Abwehr and Canaris. On February 18, 1944, the Abwehr was abolished and its intelligence functions were taken over by the RSHA
RSHA
The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacities as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS...
, under the jurisdiction of Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...
.
The couple's families were not spared either, for numerous members of them were arrested. A few days after their defection Erich's parents, his elder brother Michael and sister Isa — a minor film actress and cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
singer — as well as Elisabeth's youngest sister Gisela were interned in various concentration camps until the end of the war. Miraculously, all of them survived.
In England
The Vermehrens meanwhile were given accommodation in the South KensingtonSouth Kensington
South Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....
flat of the mother of Kim Philby
Kim Philby
Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby was a high-ranking member of British intelligence who worked as a spy for and later defected to the Soviet Union...
, where they provided him with lists of personalities of the Catholic underground in Germany. However, it was unsurprising that when the British tried to link up with them at war's end, they found that most of them were liquidated.
They also tried to persuade the British Foreign Office to allow leading members of the German opposition to help in rebuilding the country as the government was in support of the Morgenthau Plan
Morgenthau Plan
The Morgenthau Plan, proposed by United States Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., advocated that the Allied occupation of Germany following World War II include measures to eliminate Germany's ability to wage war.-Overview:...
, but to no avail. They then asked their status as "Guests of the Foreign Office" be annulled and be left to their own devices. Despite the scarcity of jobs Elisabeth soon found employment as an assistant teacher in Worth Priory, a preparatory school
Preparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
run by the Benedictine Order while Erich founded a small export company. The early success (which went away too soon) of the company enabled them to settle for a while near the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, popularly known as Brompton Oratory, is a Roman Catholic church in South Kensington, London...
in Brompton Road
Brompton Road
Brompton Road is a street in Knightsbridge, London, in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea .It starts from Knightsbridge tube station and runs south-west through an extremely wealthy residential area until it reaches Egerton Gardens and the area to the east of South Kensington tube station...
, but it was five years before Erich was able to find a decent job with a firm of brokers with Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's, also known as Lloyd's of London, is a British insurance and reinsurance market. It serves as a partially mutualised marketplace where multiple financial backers, underwriters, or members, whether individuals or corporations, come together to pool and spread risk...
. It was during their stay in England that they changed their surname to Vermehren de Saventhem for genealogical reasons. Henceforth they were known as Eric and Elisabeth de Saventhem.
Later years
After many years in the UK, the de Saventhems settled in ZürichZürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
in the 1960s with Eric managing the firm's Swiss subsidiary until he was promoted as Director for Europe in 1964. Because of this they lived in Paris for two years before moving back to Switzerland in 1966. In the meantime they became active in the Catholic Traditionalist Movement in the wake of the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
, with Eric becoming one of the founding members of the Una Voce
Una Voce
Una Voce is an international federation of Catholic lay organizations attached to the Tridentine Mass....
movement, being its first president.
The couple decided to move back to Germany in view of Elisabeth's failing health, and she died there in 2000. Eric himself died in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
in 2005 at the age of 85.
Main source
Bassett, Richard. "A Lion of the Faith". Obituary of Erich Vermehren de Saventhem in The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, 3 May 2005.