Inside The Gestapo. Hitler's Shadow Over the World
By HANSJURGEN KOEHLER (1941)
[An excerpt from the chapter entitled: "The Fatal File". . .]
. . .By stubborn and tenacious work he [ von Papen ] slowly organized his agents
at the police, the law
courts, the different state institutions, and even in the Chancellery. He had
someone everywhere on
whom he could count, " just in case ..."
This was the moment when Germany changed her policy towards Austria. The ground
was well
enough prepared to start a decisive action on a large scale. And then-suddenly
it seemed as if
everything was lost. . . .
That was the reason why von Papen returned to Germany and had a long conference
with Himmler
and Heydrich.
It was almost a catastrophe.
What had happened?
Heydrich only gave the answer to this question when I was left alone with him in
the privacy of his
office. "This Jesuit Schuschnigg," he said, "wants to-blackmail the Fuehrer. I
really wouldn't have
thought that he had it in him. . .He has a file containing data against Adolf
Hitler and now he threatens
to publish it in a ' White Book.' "
" Well, what are the contents of this file? "
Heydrich shrugged.
" This impudent Schuschnigg is so sure of his position, so sure of the data
contained in the File that
he sent a copy through Mussolini to Hitler himself. Your task will be-and that's
why I sent for you-to
get the original documents of the file ... at any cost."
"But..."
" There is no but. This file has cost three lives up to now. It doesn't matter
if it costs a dozen more. . .
we have to get it."
He took a blue file from his desk and gave me the copy of the tragic Schuschnigg
documents.
" Sit down here in my room and go through it," he told me. " These copies are
all typewritten, which
seems to prove that they have not been photographed. This is our only hope,
because otherwise not
only the originals but the negatives, would have to be destroyed."
I sat down and began to read. I want to emphasize here and now that I have never
seen the originals
of these documents. They may have been forgeries. I have no proof that they were
genuine. But they
certainly caused such a havoc as no file in the world has ever caused before.
Heydrich had prepared three groups. The first was headed:
Documents collected by General Schleicher
General Schleicher, who was the last Chancellor of pre-Nazi Germany, and who had
so tenaciously
withstood Hitler's demands, wanted to prevent the Fuehrer's coming to power. At
the last moment
when the Nazis had "become the strongest political party in Germany, he tried to
make Gregor
Strasser Chancellor in Hitler's place. During his own chancellorship he began to
collect the
documents against Hitler.
His file dealt mostly with Hitler's war service.
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian subject. On the 3 rd August, 1914, he sent a
petition to Louis III, King
of Bavaria, asking permission to serve in the Munich 16th Regiment, as he was
living at Munich and
did not want to go to Linz for mobilization. The different propaganda books of
Nazism have always
maintained that Hitler had spent the four years of the war in the front-line
trenches, and fought in
such a heroic way that he had earned the First Class Iron Cross.
But the investigations conducted by Schleicher purported to have ascertained the
following facts:
Hitler never served in a trench or in the front line. After he had been attached
to the 16th Munich
Regiment (called the Lister Regiment after its commanding officer) he was
trained and sent with his
troop to the Western Front. There he was attached to the Regimental Staff, where
he served as a
runner.
Naturally the Regimental Staff was never in the front line; according to the lie
of the land it took up a
position at a distance of 4-5 or 10-15 kilometres from the trenches. Here they
constantly needed a few
efficient and trusted men. These runners had two kinds of service. First they
had to care for the
comfort of the officers and to do all the dull office work; second-and this was
the most dangerous, but
also the most coveted work,-they had to remit orders to the different company
commanders. The
runners liked this work best, because such errands sometimes took them to the
hinterland or the
neighbouring regiments. Of course, sometimes such work could become very
dangerous if the
runners had to pass through ground shelled by the enemy taking the orders to the
front lines.
"There is no doubt," the report continued, "that such service can well be
construed as front line
service. But contrary to the romantic legends that Hitler had fought in the
trenches, it has been
ascertained that he never spent a day there."
The Schleicher documents also dealt with Hitler's rank of corporal. Whoever knew
what a terrible
scarcity of N.C. officers there was in the German Army about the end of the war,
must find it highly
mysterious that Hitler, being a good and efficient soldier, was still a corporal
after four years.
There was only one answer. If he had been promoted to a sergeant he could not
have remained a
runner. The Regiment Staff had a strictly limited strength; all supernumerary
men, especially N.C.
O.'s and officers, had to be sent at once to the front Une.
Now either his superiors liked Hitler so much that they did not want to promote
and thereby lose him;
or it was Hitler himself who avoided promotion to keep his comparatively safe
berth.
The file included the results of the investigation which Schleicher had ordered
to ascertain how Hitler
received the Iron Cross, first class. About the end of the war it was
comparatively easy to get the
second class Iron Cross if a soldier served at the front and was honest. If
Hitler had got that, nobody
would have been surprised. But he owns the first class Iron Cross. ...
This could be given only by the Kaiser, or the High Command of the Army, to whom
the Kaiser
relegated his prerogative during the war. Even officers received it only for
outstanding achievements,
great personal bravery, and if a corporal became the proud owner of it he must
have done something
quite extraordinary and be a hero of the first rank. Immediately after the war
the history of the Lister
Regiment was published. It enumerated all the outstanding deeds of privates and
non-commissioned
officers and recounted the heroic deeds of all the officers. But there was no
mention of Hitler's name
in this imposing book.
Now all the Nazi propaganda pamphlets and books told the story in great detail
of how Hitler was
awarded the Iron Cross, first class, because single-handed, with only a revolver
in his hand, he
captured twelve French soldiers with their machine-gun. But why this reticence
of the official history
of the Lister Regiment about such a wonderful exploit when much less worthy
deeds were described
at considerable length?
Careful investigation-during which all the comrades of Hitler were
questioned-elucidated the fact that
Hitler had received this high German decoration not during, but after the war.
It was Field-Marshal
Ludendorff, whose connections with the Fuehrer were well known, who awarded the
Iron Cross, first
class, to the Fuehrer, some time after the war.
These were the contents of the Schleicher file. Hitler and his staff knew very
well that the General
was collecting these documents against him. A great many attempts were made to
rob Schleicher of
them. When, a year after his coming to power, on the 30th June, 1934, the time
came to "eliminate"
the enemies of the Nazi regime, Schleicher and his wife were among the victims.
This file was not
the least reason for Schleicher death-but afterwards when the Gestapo went
carefully through his
papers, they discovered to their dismay that the original documents were no
longer in his possession.
He had sent them to Dolfuss, Chancellor of Austria. . . .
Documents collected by Dolfuss
The second bundle in the blue file contained the documents collected by Dolfuss.
The small- statured
but big-hearted Austrian Chancellor must have known that by such a personal file
he might be able to
check Hitler. The great number of the documents showed what care and energy he
spent on gathering
them together.
When Dolfuss became Chancellor of Austria, Hitler had been the cynosure of the
world's interest for
a considerable time, yet strangely enough little was known about him. Nobody
could explain how he
came to bear the name Hitler, as his father had been called Schueckelgruber.
Nobody knew how
many brothers or sisters he had. . . .the greatest mystery enveloped the
Fuehrer's private life, family
relations, origin.
Chancellor Dolfuss, after receiving the documents collected by Schleicher,
started to investigate
Hitler's secret. His task was not very difficult; as ruler of Austria he could
easily find out about the
personal data and family of Adolf Hitler, who had been born on Austrian soil.
Through the original birth-certificates, police registration cards, protocols,
etc., all contained in the
original file, the Austrian Chancellor succeeded in piecing together the
disjointed parts of the puzzle,
creating a more or less logical entity.
And there was one thing-whether true or not-which might have been a dangerous
weapon in Dolfuss'
hands.
This was what he had ascertained:
A little servant maid from Upper Austria called Matild Schueckelgruber came to
Vienna and became
a domestic servant, mostly working for rather rich families. But she was
unlucky; having been
seduced, she was about to bear a child. She went home to her village for her
confinement. Her little
son, being illegitimate, received his mother's name and was called Alois
Schueckelgruber. (In some
documents, Schickelgruber).
In spite of his origin he grew up to be an honest, kindly man entering the civil
service and becoming a
minor clerk in a tax office. He married very early; his first wife was Anna
Glaser-Hoyer. Their only
child, Ida Schueckelgruber, died in infancy; Alois Schueckelgruber buried her at
the side of his first
wife in the graveyard of Braunau.
His second wife was Franciska Malzsalberger. Their union was blessed with one
son who bore his
father's name. He became a waiter, emigrated to England and there married Brigid
Dowling, daughter
of an Irish cobbler. Later he divorced her and returned to Berlin, where he
opened a restaurant. He
also adopted the Hitler name when his father changed his own name. The second
child, born of Alois
Schueckelgruber senior's second marriage was called Angela ; she married a
Viennese named Raupal.
Alois Schueckelgmber was rather unlucky with his wives. Franciska also died; the
honest clerk was
not very young when he met his third wife, Clara Poltzl. Clara's father was a
well-to-do farmer. He
did not want his only daughter who was quite a heiress to marry a middle-aged
man, but Clara
insisted stubbornly. Alois was still a handsome man, and he had such a nice
uniform. At last rich
Poltzl relented; but when his future son-in-law showed him his birth
certificate, he was rather
horrified to see that Alois was illegitimate. The certificate said that the
father's name was unknown,
his mother was Matild Schueckelgmber. After that Poltzl demanded that Alois
should give up his "
shameful name " and take a new one.
And Alois Schueckelgruber wrote a petition himself (this was also contained in
Dolfuss' file) asking
the " hochwohlgeoren " Ministry to permit him to change his name. Instead of "
Schueckelgruber " he
would like to become " Hitler." But why Hitler?
This was a totally unusual name among Upper Austrian peasants. It was no more
familiar in Galicia
where several Jewish families called Hitler were living. How did the honest
Alois hit on this rather
Jewish name?
Schueckelgruber himself gave the answer in his petition when he mentioned that
the maiden name of
his mother-in-law was Johanna Hitler, and he chose it at the request of his
father-in-law.
The Ministry granted the petition of the well-deserving minor clerk in the tax
office. His original
name was a rather funny one in Austria, hardly fitting a " civil servant."
After the legal formalities had been complied with, Alois Hitler married Clara
Poltzl, She bore him
three children: Gustav, Adolf, and Paula. All three of them bore the name
Hitler.
Gustav died young and was buried in the Linz public cemetery. The second boy
became the "
Fuehrer," while Paula had been living in Vienna for a long time before she
joined her brother in
Berchtesgaden.
Now followed the most important and perhaps most compromising piece of the
Dolfuss " collection."
I must repeat that I have no proof of its genuineness. It may have been
manufactured as a fitting
weapon against the Nazi chief, who was not squeamish about his own weapons.
Certainly it was
rather shattering in all its consequences.
This document aimed at clearing up the great life tragedy of a small Upper
Austrian maid-after more
than sixty years. Matild Schueckelgruber, grandmother of Adolf Hitler, had come
to Vienna to get a
job. And there something happened to her which was a common thing in the great
capital, and yet a
private catastrophe; she was bearing a child under her heart; she had to go home
to her village and
face the disgrace.
Where was the little maid serving in Vienna? This was not a very difficult
problem. Very early
Vienna had instituted the system of compulsory police registration. Both the
servants and the
employers were exposed to heavy fines if they neglected this duty. Chancellor
Dolfuss managed to
discover the registration card. The little, innocent maid had been a servant at
the. . .Rothschild
Mansion. . .and Hitler's unknown grandfather must be probably looked for in this
magnificent house.
The Dolfuss file stopped at this statement. But in the margin of the protocol
there was a note in the
Chancellor's characteristic handwriting:
" These data ought to cheer the writers of history who may want to publish some
time in the future
the true life story of Hitler. Here is the psychological explanation of Hitler's
fanatical hate of the
Jews. Hitler, born in peaceful Upper Austria where there was hardly any anti-semitism,
was filled
already in his childhood with a burning hatred of the Jews. Why? This may be the
answer. ..."
And now I was reading the third bunch of documents in the file, the data
collected by Schuschnigg.
He had continued the work started by Schleicher and Dolfuss. He knew very well
that this file had an
immense importance for Hitler. Hadn't it already cost the life of two eminent
poUticians? And
Schuschnigg wanted to continue his investigations in the most dangerous
directions.
His collection was in two parts.
The first consisted of documents trying to elucidate the origin of Johanna
Hitler, the Fuehrer's
grandmother, and the facts of when and how the Hitlers came to Upper Austria.
The second part contained documents referring to the mysterious suicide of
Hitler's niece, Greta
Raupal. Schuschnigg had succeeded in finding out more about this tragic affair
than anyone else,
although even he could not discover all the motives and details.
These were the main contents of the blue file which I read in Heydrich's room. I
must confess that I
was rather shocked when I closed it. This file had killed men and now I had read
it. What would be
my fate-after being initiated into all these uncomfortable secrets?
Only four living persons knew its contents-Schuschnigg, MussoUni, Heydrich, and
myself.
Who would be the first to suffer for this dangerous knowledge?
For the time being I " only " had the seemingly impossible task of robbing
Schuschnigg of the
original documents.
Twenty-four hours later a BerUn stamp merchant, Karl Krause, took a room in the
Viennese Hotel
Metropole. It was a very modest room. Karl Krause-your humble servant-had
arrived with a regular
passport in the Austrian capital; he had a bona fide Austrian visa; he was an
honest stamp merchant
standing above all suspicion. Should they search his hotel room during his
absence they would find
nothing incriminating; just a man interested in stamps who intended to spend a
few weeks on
business in Vienna.
I met von Papen at the German embassy. He explained the situation frankly. Up to
the time he had
succeeded in getting two members of Schuschnigg's closest entourage into his
services. One of them
was the Baron Froehlichstal of whom it was common knowledge that he was not only
Schuschnigg's
friend, but his intimate, personal secretary and alter ego.
The Chancellor did not make a single step without him; he could not bear the
absence of the well-
dressed, suave, gay young man for a single day. They had become friends during
their student days.
Schuschnigg had been educated at the famous Stella Matutina College of Feldkirch;
when he became
Chancellor he recruited his closest collaborators from the former pupils of this
ancient institution.
Baron Froehlichstal was known everywhere as the most devoted soldier of the
Austrian ideology who
proudly wore the red- white-red emblem of the Vaterlaendische Front; he was
known as a man ready
to die for the ideals of Dolfuss, the great thought of an independent Austria
and who enjoyed the
fullest confidence of the Chancellor. When von Papen told me that he had " won
over" this man to
our side, I could hardly restrain my admiration for his diplomatic talents.
The other man was none other than Guido Schmidt, the young diplomat, also a
former pupil of the
Stella Matutina. He was the son of a very rich family. While in the case of
Baron Froehlichstal I
could not imagine what had made him change his loyalty, I realized what good
reasons Guido
Schmidt had for such a step. The family estates and factories of the Schmidts
were all situated in the
Sudeten German territories of Czechoslovakia. Germany was already preparing her
drive and Guido
Schmidt wanted to be sure that his patrimony would be safe in case of a German
annexation.
The situation was rather difficult at the moment. Both Guido Schmidt and Baron
Froehlichstal
informed von Papen that Schuschnigg kept the fatal file in his own flat. My task
was to find out the
best way to open the small safe in the Chancellor's study and to steal the
famous documents. All this
had to happen without attracting attention.
But for the time being our plans were foiled before we began. It was Mrs.
Schuschnigg who proved
the obstacle with an almost miraculous intuition. Once one of my men succeeded
in getting into the
Chancellor's study disguised as a telephone mechanic, but Mrs. Schuschnigg would
not leave the
room for a moment till he had finished his "work."
At the same time Froehlichstal and Schmidt brought disquieting news to von Papen.
" Something's wrong," both of them said. "Schuschnigg trusts us, but he's
sensing some danger. Up to
now he has written even his most confidential letters in the Chancellery and
conducted his most
secret discussions there; but of late he has taken his important papers home and
either he writes his
letters himself or dictates them to his wife. His private conferences are at his
flat, the only witness his
wife. The same appHes to the confidential telephone conversations he has with
Paris, London,
Rome..."
The counter-measures we took against Schuschnigg's new tactics proved only
partially successful. I
succeeded in organizing a "watcher's group" in the Viennese telephone exchange,
but its efficiency
was not continuous. Only when our people were on duty could we control the
telephone talks; the
same applied in the General Post Office. Sometimes we managed to get one of
Schuschnigg's
personal letters for an hour, to copy it before sending it on-but this was not
enough. Nor did we
succeed in placing a microphone into Schuschnigg's study or in tapping his
telephone line.
Our progress was extremely slow and I was afraid of losing Heydrich's confidence
and favour. I
returned to Berlin to report to him and he gave me advice-almost classic in its
simplicity.
" If a man doesn't succeed, use a woman. Why didn't you try it? You must find
someone who can win
Schuschnigg's confidence-or his wife's."
The idea was brilliant. It conformed to the best standard of spy stories. The
beautiful blonde spy who
spins her silken net around her victim, ferreting out all his secrets. ...Yes,
the idea was brilliant, but
there was no way to realize it. We could have easily found a lady-but
Schuschnigg was the type of
man who was completely unassailable even by the charms of the loveliest woman on
earth. A strong
believer, a deeply religious Catholic, an intimate friend of Prelate Seipel, he
lived almost a monkish
life; he was a recluse who seldom went to parties, did not drink. . . .he was
almost a priest himself.
And greatest of all our trouble; he was in love with his wife. . .deeply in
love. She was the only being
with whom he discussed everything, to whom he dictated his confidential letters.
Sometimes when he
talked to Rome or Paris, his wife went along to the telephone exchange and
watched the operator to
ensure absolute secrecy.
As for Mrs. Schuschnigg-she lived almost exactly like her husband. She was
suspicious, reserved; it
would be very difficult for the most cunning woman to gain her confidence.
And yet I had already found the woman who was destined to seal Schuschnigg's
fate. She was the
ideal choice for the difficult part. Countess Vera von Fugger. . . .
This lovely woman in the early thirties had almost been born into high politics.
Her uncle was the
famous Count Czernin, the last Foreign Secretary of the Emperor Francis Joseph.
Before the war he
was considered as one of the chief actors in European politics. Countess Vera
was educated in the
atmosphere of high diplomacy-but after the war the famous family became very
poor indeed. Only
the illustrious name and the high rank were left. The Czernins had trusted the
Monarchy too much—
they forgot to send their money to neutral states. Czechoslovakia confiscated
all their estates. It was
the duty of the lovely Vera to re-gild the somewhat faded glory of the Czernins.
And so she married
Count Leopold Fugger von Babenhausen.
The Count was also the scion of an ancient family. His people were very rich,
but Vera's husband
would only become so after his mother's death, and the old lady kept a tight
hold on the purse-strings.
Nora von Fugger, the mother, gave him an allowance on which he could barely
subsist-if he wanted
to live according to his rank.. His mother did not like Vera very much; she
would have preferred a
better match and rather despised the poverty-stricken Czernins.
So after all this marriage was not a success. Vera did not attain the goal she
had set herself. She was
thirty-two. . . and old Countess Nora clung so tenaciously to life that she
seemed likely to hold on for
another thirty years. Would she have to live in poverty for all that time?
Countess Vera had other
plans-one day she simply left Countess Fugger. When a woman is thirty-two she
cannot afford to
wait if she wants to realize her dreams. ...
But what could a divorced lady do if she had no money? The war had ended;
standards had changed
and work was no disgrace for ladies of the aristocracy. The name of Czernin
sounded well enough to
get a job for Countess Vera with the Phr»nix Insurance Company where she became
a department
leader. No work was expected of her; she simply " loaned out " the Czernin name
so that the
salesmen could do better business in the circles of landowners and monarchists.
I could pride myself on my choice.
Vera Fugger- Czernin was ideal from every point of view. Excellent family,
wonderful manners, great
beauty, widespread connections. She had a cunning, refined brain-and, as for the
most important part,
the whole family was very poor and so she would be willing to play the part
which we set her.
Still Schuschnigg was unapproachable. Von Papen gave a big party at the embassy
and presented the
two to each other. But they exchanged only a few, commonplace words. Nothing
more. . . .
"A very difficult task..." said Vera. "This man's defenses are too strong."
" Yes, even she may fail," said von Papen.
But fate came to our aid.
Next day startled Vera read the tragic news of Schuschnigg's motor accident.
Mrs. Schuschnigg, his
devoted wife and faithful helpmate, was killed. . . .
I know perfectly well that to this very day many people attribute this stupid
and inexplicable accident
to the Gestapo. But although I know that apart from Himmler and Heydrich nobody
could tell what
the Gestapo had done, I must maintain that in this case it was pure accident
which cost Mrs.
Schuschnigg's life. The Gestapo had nothing to do with it.
On July 13th Schuschnigg lost his wife. While the whole of Austria sympathized
with him in his
bereavement; while von Papen visited him officially to offer the condolences of
the Third Reich- we
knew that we had made a great step forward. . .
That hidden safe and the fatal file would be ours as soon as the Chancellor,
suffering from a heavy
spiritual depression, left his flat for the first time. His study would remain
unguarded-and we could
get the documents at last.
For long days Schuschnigg dio not leave his rooms. When, at last, he returned to
the Chancellery, we
were startled to find out that he had cautiously removed the file himself and
taken it along-not to the
Chancellery, but to the Vienna branch of an important American bank.
Short of burgling the vaults of the bank and killing a great many people we
could not get hold of the
coveted documents.
Twenty-four hours later I left Vienna, disappointed in my hopes. There was
nothing I could do and
Heydrich had new work awaiting me.
It looked as if all our work had failed.
But three months later I was again in Vienna. And now I could see with
satisfaction that we were
again making progress.
Von Papen had again ,worked brilliantly.
After Mrs. Schuschnigg's death the road was more or less open for Countess Vera;
now she had been
able to get into Schuschnigg's confidence.
During my second visit I met von Papen only for a short time. I gave him
Heydrich's message;
Countess Vera was not to forget for a moment the fatal file; she had to find
some pretext and
persuade Schuschnigg to remove it from the safe of the American bank.
Her relation to the Chancellor was close enough by this time to make such a
request possible. . .she
could even find some plausible reason for it. Her task had been not so difficult
after all. Even a
woman of less brains and beauty could have tackled it.
The Chancellor was a lonely man, almost broken by the blows of fate; he was
living helplessly,
unhappily in a large town; he still guarded the memory of his wife and took care
of his ailing little
son...
It was child's play for a skillful woman to spin a net for him. And Vera solved
her problem in less
than four weeks.
She visited the Chancellor ostensibly on behalf of the League of Austrian
Catholic Women and
expressed the deep sympathy of her whole sex. Next day she had a discussion with
Schuschnigg
representing a committee of distinguished ladies who wanted to take care of the
orphaned little boy. ...
A new orphanage had been built by the League of Austrian Catholic Women-they
wanted to call it
after Mrs. Schuschnigg who had died so tragically and, of course, needed the
consent of the
Chancellor. . .The home for crippled children wanted to invite the little
Schuschnigg boy to a party.
The Chancellor was very busy-and Countess Vera, who had brought the invitation,
took the small boy
in her own car. . .
She was inexhaustible in producing new and new ideas. Old General Schuschnigg
felt very flattered
when the beautiful Countess Vera Czernin visited him in his villa at the shores
of Lake Garda and
asked him to accept the presidency of a new patriotic association. The retired
father of the Chancellor
was happy that he had not been wholly forgotten; a warm and pleasant friendship
was born between
him and the young Countess. After a few weeks she was a familiar guest at the
villa. . .and when the
Chancellor visited his father, he found Countess Vera there in the company of
his brother, Walter
Schuschnigg, manager of the Radio Ravag. The lovely young woman almost belonged
to the family;
the old general addressed her as his daughter, little Kurt had come to love her
dearly. . . .
It was fine and highly skilful work. . . .Countess Vera had reason to be proud.
She had certainly earned
her reward her "act" would become a classic example.
Vienna began to take notice. There was no doubt about it ; a fine and gentle
romance was being born
at the Belvedere. The jovial Viennese were not at all shocked by the behaviour
of their popular
Chancellor. They had shared his misery and now when he seemed to find new
interest in life, they did
not grudge him his happiness. They thought that with the lovely, gay Countess
Vera at his side he
would be better able to carry on the fight for an independent Austria.
And the later news coming from the Belvedere seemed to confirm the idea. . .
.this lonely man, who
had nobody to support and befriend him, had found the great romance of his life.
He hardly made a
secret of his feelings.
The Chancellor and Countess Vera spent three weeks together in St. Gilgen. . .
.It was only for
appearance' sake that she kept her flat on the Graben; she spent most of her
time in the Belvedere.
Schuschnigg bought her a beautiful villa near Vienna where they stayed over the
week-ends.
And Vienna slowly got used to the idea; after the year of mourning Schuschnigg
would marry the
beautiful Countess. After all there could be no difficulty. Schuschnigg was a
widower, the Countess
legally divorced. Of course, the Church did not acknowledge such a divorce-but
the Pope was free to
give his consent in exceptional cases.
Would Schuschnigg, the Roman Catholic Chancellor, create such an example? Yes,
he would. He
started the necessary proceedings. The Archbishop of Vienna was the first forum;
he sent it on to the
Primate of Salzburg and then the petition went on to Rome. No doubt, the Holy
See will
understand....
An idyllic time followed-the finest months in Schuschnigg's tragic life. There
was no cloud on
Austria's sky. Quiet and order within the frontiers. Since von Papen had become
ambassador,
Germany had behaved herself. He reassured Austria again and again that Germany
did not want the
Anschluss ; she only wanted to live in peace with her Austrian kinfolk.
Guido Schmidt, the Foreign Secretary, gave optimistic interviews to the Press.
There was no danger;
Austria's independence had been guaranteed-not by the Western Powers, but by
MussoHni. MussoUni
had already shown Hitler that ten millions of Italian soldiers would occupy the
Brenner if the German
Fuehrer dared to attack Austria.
Schuschnigg seemed to have changed. Those who met him during these months
noticed the change.
His face became brighter, he could laugh again, he had new plans and ideas...
the horizon seemed to
have opened to him, showing far and fine vistas.
He was only in his late thirties and on the pinnacle of his career. Did the
thin, bespectacled law-
student who was taken a prisoner by the Italians during the War ever dream that
twenty years later he.
would become the dictator of Austria? Austrian school-children were already
learning his Ufe-story.
It was a brilliant career. When he returned from the Italian prison-camp, most
of his fellow-students
were idling helplessly, trying to find some place in the new life. He had
already finished his studies in
law; a few years later he became an M.P.-and the favourite of Prelate Seipel. It
was Seipel who raised
him from the rank and file; and when he lay dying he nominated Schuschnigg as
his successor.
He was hardly thirty when he became Minister of Justice in the Buresch cabinet.
When Dolfuss was
killed, he was a member of the triumvirate guiding Austria's destiny. He seemed
to be the weakest,
the softest of the three-everybody thought so and the newspapers voiced the same
opinion. But a
short time afterwards this weak man was holding the helm of the ship of state
alone. Who could
doubt that Schuschnigg was Austria's real ruler?
During these happy months he went about his work with an easy heart. Everything
seemed to be quiet
and settled.
A happy and contented man is always less suspicious-less cautious-than one
oppressed by grief. That
was the only explanation why the Chancellor did not notice the things going on
around him.
Von Papen had continued his tremendous work. A few months passed and there was
hardly a man in
Schuschnigg's closest circle who was not in Papen's pay. There was no magic
about it; such things
could be organized quite simply with some money and more tact. Schuschnigg had
no conference,
did not write a letter about which Germany would not have known. Appointments of
civil servants
were subject to von Papen's secret approval. If Schuschnigg chose someone,
either his secretary.
Baron Froehlichstal, or Countess Vera or Guido Schmidt notified von Papen; and
the German
ambassador always found ways and means to win the candidate for his purposes. If
he did not
knuckle under, the Countess could easily prevent his appointment.
"This man visited von Papen yesterday," she would say.
" He is an agent of the Nazis. . .you cannot give him the position."
This was all. Schuschnigg smiled gratefully; he thought he had found a wonderful
collaborator in the
lovely Countess.
Now the problem of the fatal file became important again.
"The documents have been taken back to Schuschnigg's flat. . . .1 hope your trip
will have better results
now." Heydrich told me when he again gave me the task of procuring the
compromising documents.
The next day Karl Krause, a Berlin stamp merchant, arrived again at the Hotel
Metropole and started
to live the quiet, busy life of an honest business-man. Twenty-four hours later
the microphone was
rigged up in Schuschnigg's study which we could never install in there during
the life of his wife. We
had tapped his telephone wire; it was only the question of days or even hours
before the plot which
We had prepared so carefully and systematically would finally succeed.
But even now something went wrong.
The first sign of trouble was when the microphone in Schuschnigg's room became
suddenly silent.
Someone had taken it away and we knew very well that it was not Schuschnigg
himself.
This had happened at the moment when the Chancellor announced that he was going
to marry the
Countess Vera Fugger.
We knew perfectly well that this must not happen. If Countess Vera and the
Chancellor became man
and wife we would not only lose our best agent but no doubt she would unmask the
whole plot. We
had to prevent that- at all costs.
Von Papen had enough dummies in high positions to make the necessary moves.
Schuschnigg
suddenly noticed that everybody was against his marriage. Mayor Schmeitz-a loyal
follower of the
Chancellor- voiced it first.
"This marriage cannot take place. There are a million unhappy matches in Vienna
and husbands and
wives all bear their crosses. All these people will say; if Schuschnigg can do
it, why can't we do it,
too? Schuschnigg must not marry a divorced woman. . .at least as long as he is
Chancellor. . . "
The intelligent Vera soon discovered that this counter-campaign had been started
at the German
embassy.
I was in Papen's room when Countess Fugger was announced. So I became the
witness of the most
dramatic encounter I ever saw during my rather chequered career.
Vera Fugger had to experience the same thing as was experienced by a thousand
different secret
agents if they revolted against their employers. I had to formulate her death
warrant.
"Countess, I am deeply sorry, but if you refuse to cooperate, I shall be forced
to present the
Chancellor with the proof of your past activity. ..."
It was a painful scene; the most distressing I ever lived through.
But von Papen the diplomat spoke a different language.
He offered a seat to the Countess and tried to reassure her.
" You must understand. Countess," he said. "Don't you love the Chancellor? You
do, don't you? Well,
then you must know that you can't become his wife as long as he holds this
office. Our aims are
identical. Go on helping us and you'll see; in a few weeks Schuschnigg will
become a private
individual and there won't be any obstacle to your marrying him. . . .Or do you
want him to share the
fate of Dolfuss ? " he added significantly.
The unhappy woman raised her eyes, deeply startled. But the ambassador continued
mercilessly:
"You're a clever woman and know as much about the situation as we do.
Schuschnigg may still resist-
signing his own death-warrant by his obstinacy. You love him-I understand your
feelings, but you
must make sacrifices for this love. . .all of us have the same goal. Schuschnigg
must leave his place
and in that moment both of us have attained our aims." .
Three days later the famous meeting at Berchtesgaden took place.
Historians and publicists describing the tragedy of Austria mostly maintain that
the catastrophe was
caused by Schuschnigg's acceptance of Hitler's invitation. The Fuehrer received
him, their version
ran, as a real dictator, he showed him brutally the mobilization plan of the
German troops and then
presented him with his ultimatum.
The truth-at least according to my knowledge-was quite different.
The fate of ancient Austria was in a woman's hand.
After many delays Schuschnigg decided to go to the fatal meeting, accompanied by
Guido Schmidt
and von Papen.
He went calmly and composedly because he knew that he could balance Hitler's
exaggerated
demands.
Schuschnigg knew that Hitler had realized what a fatal weapon that file could
be. Should
Schuschnigg publish the documents in a "White Book " he would deal Hitler a
mortal blow. Even if
he did not succeed in bringing him to fall (it was hardly probable that such a
book could be smuggled
in a large number of copies into Germany) any Nazi movement abroad would be
discredited in the
moment when the Fuehrer was shown in the merciless limelight of cold facts. .
.not at all
complimentary to him.
Schuschnigg had no other aims beyond that. After the White Book had been
published there would
hardly be a substantial group of Austrians belonging to the underground Nazi
movement.
This file, this thick bundle of documents, all original, was in Schuschnigg's
study between the steel
walls of his safe.
And it was guarded by Countess Vera Fugger.
Himmler and Heydrich were both at Berchtesgaden and in constant touch with the
Viennese events.
Heydrich's instructions were outspoken, decisive, and strict. I myself had to
open the safe, take the
file and prevent even Countess Vera from looking into it.
Early in the morning of the momentous day a member of the Special Service had
arrived from Berlin
who was an artist in burglary and could open almost any safe within a few
minutes-and without
leaving any traces.
I confess that I felt a strange excitement when I arrived with this man at
Schuschnigg's flat.
His valet led us into the drawing-room. A little later the Countess Vera
appeared, behaving as if she
already were the mistress of the house. She greeted us pleasantly; but there was
some strange
expression on her lovely face which I could not at first fathom.
I was burning with impatience to fulfill my duty and said rather rudely when she
sent the servant for
some refreshments:
" For God's sake, Countess, we haven't got any time for polite small talk.
Everything has been
prepared for the transfer of the documents."
She seemed to be surprised.
" The file? Don't you know that von Papen has made other arrangements?"
I felt my hands growing cold; there was a clammy feeling around my heart. For
heaven's sake, what
had happened-just now when I believed that everything would be all right?
Countess Vera seemed to be rather startled at my lack of information.
" Baron von Kettler, von Papen's secretary, was here some time ago. I gave him
the file and as far as I
know he has left Vienna already. Von Papen thought that the documents would be
in a much safer
place in his secretary's courier's bag which won't be opened at the frontier,
than in your hands. Even if
you had perfectly organized the smuggling of the file into Germany, you might be
exposed to the
danger of an over-zealous customs officer."
I thought she had some particularly deep game of her own.
" I ...I don't believe you," I stammered. " How could you open the safe?"
She smiled and showed me a key.
" Here it is. ..the Chancellor gave me the key. The poor man told me that if
there should be any
danger I should take them away to a safe hiding-place."
In order to convince us she led the way to Schuschnigg's study, opened the safe
and showed us the
empty inner drawer.
What could we do ?
I had to get in touch with Heydrich. . .at once. The whole story was extremely
suspicious. . .von Papen
must have prepared some devilish intrigue. Perhaps his secretary had already
left the country and
now, instead of Schuschnigg, Papen would be able to threaten and blackmail
Hitler. . . .
I rushed to the German embassy to ring up Heydrich. He was furious and almost
roared in his
despair. But he still had enough presence of mind to give me the instructions: I
had to find out which
route von Kettler had taken.
We knew that he was travelling by car and I knew its number. But I did not want
to alarm the
Austrian authorities. What if von Kettler was really going to Berchtesgaden? Our
organization was
not strong enough to have an agent in every town on the Vienna-Berchtesgaden
route, whom I could
have instructed to watch out for von Kettler's car. We were more or less
helpless.
Hours went on in nerve-racking waiting.
The same tension reigned during the famous meeting at Berchtesgaden, described
so often by
different minor actors in the drama. Heydrich told me himself it was not true
that Hitler treated
Schuschnigg rudely and brusquely. But the Fuehrer seemed to be very nervous. He
asked Himmler
every thirty minutes whether there was any news about the file.
Schuschnigg, of course, had no idea what was going on behind his back. He
behaved in a rather
superior manner. He knew that he had a weapon in his hand which he could use to
the fullest
advantage if Hitler should prove difficult.
The forenoon passed and lunch was served.
In the afternoon Hitler broke off the conference; he refused to continue the
discussion till the fatal file
should have arrived.
We had figured out in the meantime that von Kettler-in case he was trying to
reach Berchtesgaden at
all-had to pass the frontier about half-past eight in the evening.
But it was nine o'clock and he had still not crossed the border.
There was deep consternation both at the Viennese embassy and in the mountain
chalet of the
Fuehrer.
Another hour passed.
Still no news of von Kettler.
Another difficult, tense, painful thirty minutes went by.
And at last, after thirty more minutes the news came:
Kettler's car had reached the frontier and. . . .
The fate of Austria was sealed!
About 11 p.m., when Hitler knew that we were in the possession of the accursed
documents, the
discussions could begin again. But they soon took a tragic turn.
". . .and if you do not fulfill my conditions, German troops will occupy
Austria," Hitler ended.
And now tragi-comedy followed.
Schuschnigg replied. . . .alluded cautiously to the publication of a " White
Book," which would. . .
"Consist of empty pages," the Fuehrer interrupted him ruthlessly. He walked to a
cupboard in the
wall, opened it . . . and Schuschnigg paled. He recognized the file which he
thought safely in his own
study....
" What happened?" he asked himself, losing all his poise and assurance.
At the moment when Hitler received the file, my mission had ended. I had
succeeded and Karl
Krause, the Berlin stamp merchant, could return to his home-or rather to the
desk in the Gestapo
building.
In Austria, history marched on with gigantic strides. On a memorable day
Heydrich gave the
command with a beaming face:
" Start for Vienna..."
Dollfuss Grave:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9966
http://cliffordshack-article-archive-storage.blogspot.com/2012/01/inside-gestapo.html