Willi (Willy) Lehmann (15 March 1884, in Leipzig – 13 December 1942, in Berlin) was a police official and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

agent in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Lehmann was a criminal inspector and SS-''

Hauptsturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Hstuf'') was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organizations such as the SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of ''Hauptsturmführer'' was a mid-level commander and had equivalent seniority to a ...

'' (captain), alias Agent A-201/Breitenbach. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Lehmann was one of the most valuable sources for the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

in Germany.

Biography

Lehmann joined the Berlin Police force in 1911. In 1920 he became deputy division chief of anti-espionage. In 1929 Lehmann began providing information for the

. He did this not out of

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

sympathy, but because he was married, also had a girlfriend, and needed money. In addition, he had a fondness for betting on horses. In 1933 Lehmann joined the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

. The NKVD code name for the Gestapo was ''Apotheke'' (pharmacy). In the Gestapo, Lehmann became director of the division combating Soviet espionage. Thanks to Lehmann's information, the Soviets were able to free their agent

Arnold Deutsch Arnold Deutsch (1903–1942?), variously described as Austrian, Czech or Hungarian, was an academic who worked in London as a Soviet spy, best known for having recruited Kim Philby. Much of his life remains unknown or disputed. Early life He ...

, who later recruited

Kim Philby Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby (1 January 191211 May 1988) was a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union. In 1963 he was revealed to be a member of the Cambridge Five, a spy ring which had divulged British s ...

.Hans Coppi: Willy Lehmann; in: Hans Schafranek und Johannes Tuchel (Eds.):''Krieg im Äther. Widerstand und Spionage im Zweiten Weltkrieg''. Picus Verlag: Wien 2004, Lehmann joined the SS in 1934. Toward the end of June,

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...

asked Lehmann to help organize the Röhm Putsch to liquidate opponents of the regime. Lehmann later told the NKVD that the murders he committed during the

Night of the Long Knives The Night of the Long Knives (German: ), or the Röhm purge (German: ''Röhm-Putsch''), also called Operation Hummingbird (German: ''Unternehmen Kolibri''), was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934. Chancellor Ad ...

sickened him. But at the same time they solidified his position with his Gestapo superiors. In 1939 Lehmann transferred to the

Reich Security Main Office The Reich Security Main Office (german: Reichssicherheitshauptamt or RSHA) was an organization under Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacity as ''Chef der Deutschen Polizei'' (Chief of German Police) and '' Reichsführer-SS'', the head of the Naz ...

(RSHA), division IV. His responsibility was to prevent the Soviets from spying on the German armaments industry. This position enabled Lehmann to provide valuable information to the Soviets about German armaments. On 19 June 1941, Lehmann reported to the NKVD the exact date on which the Germans planned to invade the Soviet Union. Operation

Barbarossa Barbarossa, a name meaning "red beard" in Italian, primarily refers to: * Frederick Barbarossa (1122–1190), Holy Roman Emperor * Hayreddin Barbarossa (c. 1478–1546), Ottoman admiral * Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Uni ...

was launched on 22 June 1941. His message was telegraphed to Beria and Stalin, but the latter dismissed it, like other such reports. That was his last contact, because soon after the invasion all his Soviet contacts left, and all the reserve radios German agents had insufficient range after the capture of

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative stat ...

on June 28th. In 1942, with the Germans' discovery of the Red Orchestra, Lehmann was arrested and shot without trial on orders of

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

, who at the same time had the entire matter hushed up.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lehmann, Willi 1884 births 1942 deaths German spies for the Soviet Union World War II spies for the Soviet Union Executed spies Gestapo personnel Military personnel from Leipzig Red Orchestra (espionage) People executed for treason against Germany Executed German people People executed by Nazi Germany by firearm People from Saxony executed by Nazi Germany People from the Kingdom of Saxony Reich Security Main Office personnel SS-Hauptsturmführer Police of Nazi Germany