Stephanie von Hohenlohe
Encyclopedia
Princess Stephanie Julianne von Hohenlohe (16 September 1891 – 13 June 1972) was a member of a German princely family by marriage and a close friend of Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 who spied for Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

.

Early life

She was of partial Jewish descent, born in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, the daughter of Ludmilla Kuranda and lawyer Johann Sebastian Richter, and was named after Crown Princess Stephanie of Austria-Hungary
Princess Stéphanie of Belgium
Stéphanie was a Belgium princess by birth, and then made Crown Princess of Austria through her marriage to the heir of the Habsburg dynasty, Archduke Rudolf...

. In 1906, Stephanie Richter was enrolled in the ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

 school of the Vienna Court Opera
Vienna State Opera Ballet
The Vienna State Opera Ballet, like the opera company, is based at the Vienna State Opera House in Vienna, Austria. The original building was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1945....

. As she developed into a beautiful young lady, her charm and sophistication saw her become a part of Vienna's high society.

In her early twenties, she began an affair with the married Archduke Franz Salvator, Prince of Tuscany, son-in-law of Emperor Franz Joseph I
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...

 through his marriage to Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria
Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria
Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria was the fourth and last child of Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria and Elisabeth of Bavaria . Her given name was Marie Valerie Mathilde Amalie, but she was usually called Valerie.-Early life:Princess Marie Valerie was born at Ofen in Hungary...

. Pregnant with Franz Salvator's child, on 12 May 1914 the delicate matter was covered up through a marriage in London, England to a German prince of the Hohenlohe
Hohenlohe
Hohenlohe is the name of a German princely family and the name of their principality.At first rulers of a county, its two branches were raised to the rank of principalities of the Holy Roman Empire in 1744 and 1764 respectively; in 1806 they lost their independence and their lands formed part of...

 family, Friedrich Franz von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, (15 February 1879 in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

 - 24 May 1958 in Curitiba
Curitiba
Curitiba is the capital of the Brazilian state of Paraná. It is the largest city with the biggest economy of both Paraná and southern Brazil. The population of Curitiba numbers approximately 1.75 million people and the latest GDP figures for the city surpass US$61 billion according to...

, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

). On 5 December 1914, Princess Stephanie's son Franz Josef was born in Vienna. His full name was Franz Josef Rudolf Hans Weriand Max Stefan Anton von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (he bore the surname of his mother's husband, although the latter was not his father).

Between World Wars

Princess Stephanie, (née Stephany Julienne Richter), and her husband were divorced in 1920. He married again in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

, 6 December 1920, Countess Emanuela Batthyány von Német-Ujvár, (Ikervár
Ikervár
-References:...

, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

, 1 April 1883 - Curitiba
Curitiba
Curitiba is the capital of the Brazilian state of Paraná. It is the largest city with the biggest economy of both Paraná and southern Brazil. The population of Curitiba numbers approximately 1.75 million people and the latest GDP figures for the city surpass US$61 billion according to...

, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, 13 December 1964, aged 81), no issue.

From 6 December 1920, her married name became, according to Austrian traditions, zu Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst.

Over the years , Stephanie, let herself, apparently, to be known in society as a Hohenlohe Princess, spending time in Paris, France and in various parts of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 developing friendships and intimate relationships with a number of powerful and influential men as Irish- British tycoon of influential newspapers, Associated Newspapers Ltd, Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere
Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere
Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere was a highly successful British newspaper proprietor, owner of Associated Newspapers Ltd. He is known in particular, with his brother Alfred Harmsworth, the later Viscount Northcliffe, for the development of the London Daily Mail and Daily Mirror....

, (1868–1940), or leading Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

 diplomat, Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop was Foreign Minister of Germany from 1938 until 1945. He was later hanged for war crimes after the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life:...

.

Despite being Jewish, she became closely acquainted with members of the Nazi hierarchy including Adolf Hitler who called her his "dear princess". She developed a very close friendship with Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...

 and 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...

 even declared her an "honorary Aryan
Honorary Aryan
Honorary Aryan is a term from Nazi Germany. It was a status granted by the Nazi Bureau of Race Research to certain individuals and groups of people—who were not generally considered to be biologically part of the Aryan race—which certified them as being part of the Aryan race...

." In a 1938 MI6 report, British intelligence said that "She is frequently summoned by the Führer
Führer
Führer , alternatively spelled Fuehrer in both English and German when the umlaut is not available, is a German title meaning leader or guide now most associated with Adolf Hitler, who modelled it on Benito Mussolini's title il Duce, as well as with Georg von Schönerer, whose followers also...

 who appreciates her intelligence and good advice. She is perhaps the only woman who can exercise any influence on him."

Taking up residence at the exclusive Dorchester Hotel
Dorchester Hotel
The Dorchester is a luxury hotel in London, opened on 18 April 1931. It is situated on Park Lane in Mayfair, overlooking Hyde Park.The Dorchester was created by the famous builder Sir Robert McAlpine and the managing director of Gordon Hotels Ltd, Sir Frances Towle, who shared a vision of creating...

 in Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...

, London in 1932, as a member of higher German nobility, Princess Stephanie socialized with the British elite, soon making her an extremely valuable propagandist
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....

 and spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...

 for Adolf Hitler's
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 new government.

Her close friends included Lady Margot Asquith
Margot Asquith
Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith , born Emma Alice Margaret Tennant, was an Anglo-Scottish socialite, author and wit...

, the wife of the former prime minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 Herbert Henry Asquith, Lady Ethel Snowden
Ethel Snowden
Ethel Snowden, Viscountess Snowden, born Ethel Annakin , was a British socialist and feminist politician. From a middle-class background, she became a Christian Socialist through a radical preacher and initially promoted temperance and teetotalism in the slums of Liverpool...

, the wife of a former Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...

, and Lady Londonderry and her husband Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry
Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry
Charles Stewart Henry Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry, KG, MVO, PC, PC , styled Lord Stewart until 1884 and Viscount Castlereagh between 1884 and 1915, was an Anglo-Irish peer and had careers in both Irish and British politics...

.

As stated above, Princess Stephanie also befriended and received astonishing amounts of money from Lord Rothermere
Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere
Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere was a highly successful British newspaper proprietor, owner of Associated Newspapers Ltd. He is known in particular, with his brother Alfred Harmsworth, the later Viscount Northcliffe, for the development of the London Daily Mail and Daily Mirror....

, the influential owner of London's Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...

and Daily Mirror newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

s who admired Hitler and advocated an alliance with Germany.

The savvy Princess Stephanie played her cards perfectly with Lord Rothermere and astonishingly, she was able to get him to pay her a £5,000 annual retainer (£200,000 today) for her services. However, by 1939 their association had deteriorated to the point where Rothermere stopped paying her. In a lawsuit in a British court that she ultimately lost, Princess Stephanie alleged that the publishing tycoon had promised to provide the annual retainer for life.

Beyond her involvement with Lord Rothermere, Princess Stephanie also kept very busy passing secret messages back and forth between various other high-ranking British men who were sympathetic to the Nazi regime and in 1937 she arranged for Lord Halifax
E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, , known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and as The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was one of the most senior British Conservative politicians of the 1930s, during which he held several senior ministerial posts, most notably as...

 to travel to Germany and meet with her friend Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...

. Even more important to the German cause, Princess Stephanie was also instrumental in arranging the 1937 visit by Edward
Edward VIII of the United Kingdom
Edward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...

, Duke of Windsor
Duke of Windsor
The title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for Prince Edward, the former King Edward VIII, following his abdication in December 1936. The dukedom takes its name from the town where Windsor Castle, a residence of English monarchs since the Norman Conquest, is...

 and his wife Wallis, The Duchess of Windsor
Wallis, The Duchess of Windsor
Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, previously Wallis Simpson, was an American socialite whose third husband, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom and the Dominions, abdicated his throne to marry her.Wallis's father died shortly after her birth, and she and her...

.

In 1937 Princess Stephanie began an affair with Fritz Wiedemann
Fritz Wiedemann
Fritz Wiedemann was a German soldier and Nazi Party activist. He was the personal adjutant to Adolf Hitler, having served with him in World War I.-War service:...

, (Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...

, 16 August 1891 - Postmünster
Postmünster
Postmünster is a municipality in the district of Rottal-Inn in Bavaria, Germany.-References:...

, 17 January 1970), a personal aide to Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

. When Wiedemann was appointed to the post of Consul-General in San Francisco she joined him there in late 1937. In 1938, the Nazis confiscated the property of Austrian Jews including the Leopoldskron
Leopoldskron
Schloss Leopoldskron is a rococo palace and a national historic monument in Leopoldskron-Moos, a southern district of the city of Salzburg, Austria. The palace is located on the lake Leopoldskroner Weiher. Leopoldskron-Moos, an affluent residential area, reaches to the foot of the 1853m high...

 castle in Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...

 that had been owned by theatre director Max Reinhardt
Max Reinhardt (theatre director)
----Max Reinhardt was an Austrian theater and film director and actor.-Biography:...

. The estate was turned over by Hermann Göring to Princess Stephanie who was given the assignment of transforming it into a guest house for prominent artists of the Reich and to serve as a reception facility to Hitler's Berghof
Berghof (Hitler)
The Berghof was Adolf Hitler's home in the Obersalzberg of the Bavarian Alps near Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany. Other than the Wolfsschanze in East Prussia, Hitler spent more time at the Berghof than anywhere else during World War II. It was also one of the most widely known of Hitler's...

 home.

The Second World War

She returned to England a year later but following the outbreak of World War II
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 left the country, fearful she might be arrested as a German spy. Princess Stephanie went back to her former lover Fritz Wiedemann in San Francisco. On her arrival, the United States government immediately placed her under a security surveillance and a 1941 memo to President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

 described her as "extremely intelligent, dangerous and clever," claiming that as a spy she was "worse than ten thousand men." All the same, her social position and keen sense of self-preservation resulted in her being able to align herself with people who helped her avoid a deportation order when her visitor's visa expired.

Estranged from Fritz Wiedemann by the end of 1940, in March 1941 U.S. immigration authorities detained her for several days. She quickly seduced Major Lemuel B. Schofield, the Director of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service
Immigration and Naturalization Service
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service , now referred to as Legacy INS, ceased to exist under that name on March 1, 2003, when most of its functions were transferred from the Department of Justice to three new components within the newly created Department of Homeland Security, as...

 who put her up in a hotel in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 where the two carried on an affair that lasted several months. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

, she was arrested by the FBI and interned at a facility in Philadelphia, and later at a Texas camp for enemy aliens. She was paroled in May 1945.

Documents released after her death, show that for the newly formed Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...

 (OSS), Princess Stephanie provided considerable insight into the character of Adolf Hitler that helped Professor Henry A. Murray, Director of the Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 Psychological Clinic, and psychoanalyst Dr. Walter C. Langer
Walter C. Langer
Walter Charles Langer was a Cambridge, Massachusetts psychoanalyst best known for his role in preparing a World War II psychological analysis of Adolf Hitler in 1943 for the Office of Strategic Services, that predicted his suicide as the "most plausible outcome" among several possibilities...

 prepare the 1943 OSS report titled the "Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler
Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler
Analysis of the Personality of Hitler: With Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and After Germany's Surrender was a report prepared by Henry A. Murray for the United States Office of Strategic Services during World War II...

."

After the Nazi downfall

In the post-war era, Princess Stephanie built new and influential connections in Germany, working with media executives such as Henri Nannen
Henri Nannen
Henri Nannen was a famous German journalist....

 of Stern
Stern (magazine)
Stern is a weekly news magazine published in Germany. It was founded in 1948 by Henri Nannen, and is currently published by Gruner + Jahr, a subsidiary of Bertelsmann. In the first quarter of 2006, its print run was 1.019 million copies and it reached 7.84 million readers according to...

 news magazine and Axel Springer
Axel Springer
Axel Springer , was a German journalist and the founder and owner of the Axel Springer AG publishing company.-Early life:...

, the owner of the Axel Springer AG
Axel Springer AG
Axel Springer AG is one of the largest multimedia companies in Europe, with more than 11,500 employees and with annual revenues of about €2.9 billion. The Company is active in a total of 36 countries, including Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia and Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland...

 publishing company.

Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe died in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 in 1972 and is buried there.

Footnotes

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