Ilse Stöbe
Encyclopedia
Ilse Stöbe was a German journalist and anti-Nazi resistance fighter.
Ilse Stöbe grew up in a working class home in Berlin. After school, she was first employed in the publishing house of Rudolf Mosse
and then as secretary to the journalist Theodor Wolff in the Berliner Tageblatt
There she met Rudolf Herrnstadt
, to whom she later became engaged. Together, they went early in 1934 to Warsaw
, where she worked as a foreign correspondent. Stöbe was then a member of the National Socialist German Workers Party
(Nazi Party) and in mid-1934 was appointed Cultural Attaché of the Nazi party's foreign office in Poland.
Just before the start of the Second World War
, she returned to Berlin and worked in the Information Department of the Foreign Office. With her brother Kurt, Ilse soon resumed contact with politically minded groups in the fight against the Nazi regime. She kept constant contact with her childhood friend Helmut Kindler. During the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936
Ilse met the Swiss publisher Rudolf Huber who left her most of his fortune in his will when he died in 1940. In autumn 1939 she met Carl Helfrich, with whom she lived until her arrest in an apartment in Berlin.
She was arrested on 12 September 1942 by the Gestapo
, allegedly for spying for the Soviet Union and for membership of the Red Orchestra (Die Rote Kapelle) Soviet espionage ring. A Gestapo report of November 1942 said a radio message from the Soviet Union informed that a parachuted resistance fighter would come to her address. Under torture she was compelled to confess to conspiratorial connections to the Soviet secret service and to persons such as Rudolf von Scheliha
. He was then also arrested in October 1942. Both were sentenced to death for treason on 14 December 1942 by the Reich Military Court, and on 22 December 1942 executed by guillotine in the Plötzensee Prison
in Berlin. The Soviet agent, Heinrich Koenen
, who had landed in Germany by parachute, was arrested at her house by a waiting Gestapo official.
Her mother was also arrested and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp
, where she died is 1943. Stöbe's brother Kurt Müller was able to escape arrest and continue his resistance activities with the resistance group, the European Union Resistance. He was murdered in June 1944.
Warning messages sent by Ilse (code name "Alta") about the impending invasion of the Soviet Union were ignored by the Soviet leadership.
She was the only woman to be featured on a special coin issued by the East German Ministry of State (Stasi) to commemorate important spies in Communist service during the war. The Ilse Stöbe Vocational School in Market Street, Berlin is named in her honour.
Ilse Stöbe grew up in a working class home in Berlin. After school, she was first employed in the publishing house of Rudolf Mosse
Rudolf Mosse
Rudolf Mosse was a German publisher and philanthropist.-Biography:Mosse was born in Grätz, Grand Duchy of Posen, as the son of Dr. Markus Moses, a noted physician...
and then as secretary to the journalist Theodor Wolff in the Berliner Tageblatt
Berliner Tageblatt
The Berliner Tageblatt or BT was a German language newspaper published in Berlin from 1872-1939. Along with the Frankfurter Zeitung, it became one of the most important liberal German newspapers of its time.-History:...
There she met Rudolf Herrnstadt
Rudolf Herrnstadt
Rudolf Herrnstadt was a German journalist and communist politicianmost notable for his anti-fascist activity as an exile from the Nazi German regime in the Soviet Union during the war and as a journalist in East Germany until his death, where he and Wilhelm Zaisser represented the anti-Ulbricht...
, to whom she later became engaged. Together, they went early in 1934 to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, where she worked as a foreign correspondent. Stöbe was then a member of the National Socialist German Workers Party
National Socialist German Workers Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party , commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. Its predecessor, the German Workers' Party , existed from 1919 to 1920...
(Nazi Party) and in mid-1934 was appointed Cultural Attaché of the Nazi party's foreign office in Poland.
Just before the start of the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, she returned to Berlin and worked in the Information Department of the Foreign Office. With her brother Kurt, Ilse soon resumed contact with politically minded groups in the fight against the Nazi regime. She kept constant contact with her childhood friend Helmut Kindler. During the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936
1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...
Ilse met the Swiss publisher Rudolf Huber who left her most of his fortune in his will when he died in 1940. In autumn 1939 she met Carl Helfrich, with whom she lived until her arrest in an apartment in Berlin.
She was arrested on 12 September 1942 by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
, allegedly for spying for the Soviet Union and for membership of the Red Orchestra (Die Rote Kapelle) Soviet espionage ring. A Gestapo report of November 1942 said a radio message from the Soviet Union informed that a parachuted resistance fighter would come to her address. Under torture she was compelled to confess to conspiratorial connections to the Soviet secret service and to persons such as Rudolf von Scheliha
Rudolf von Scheliha
Rudolf von Scheliha was a German diplomat executed by the Nazis during World War II.Scheliha was born in Zessel, Oels, Silesia , as the son of a Prussian squire. He served as an army officer in World War I, studied law and joined the German Foreign Service in 1922...
. He was then also arrested in October 1942. Both were sentenced to death for treason on 14 December 1942 by the Reich Military Court, and on 22 December 1942 executed by guillotine in the Plötzensee Prison
Plötzensee Prison
Plötzensee Prison was a Prussian institution built in Berlin between 1869 and 1879 near the lake Plötzensee, but in the neighbouring borough of Charlottenburg, on Hüttigpfad off Saatwinkler Damm. During Adolf Hitler's time in power from 1933 to 1945, more than 2,500 people were executed at...
in Berlin. The Soviet agent, Heinrich Koenen
Heinrich Koenen
Heinrich Koenen was a German engineer, anti-fascist resistance fighter and agent of the Soviet military intelligence service GRU....
, who had landed in Germany by parachute, was arrested at her house by a waiting Gestapo official.
Her mother was also arrested and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück concentration camp
Ravensbrück was a notorious women's concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück ....
, where she died is 1943. Stöbe's brother Kurt Müller was able to escape arrest and continue his resistance activities with the resistance group, the European Union Resistance. He was murdered in June 1944.
Warning messages sent by Ilse (code name "Alta") about the impending invasion of the Soviet Union were ignored by the Soviet leadership.
She was the only woman to be featured on a special coin issued by the East German Ministry of State (Stasi) to commemorate important spies in Communist service during the war. The Ilse Stöbe Vocational School in Market Street, Berlin is named in her honour.