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Erich Vermehren, also known as ''Erich Vermeeren de Saventhem'' or ''Eric Maria de Saventhem'', (23 December 1919 – 28 April 2005) was an ardent anti-Nazi, an
agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...
of the
Abwehr The (German language, German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', though the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context) ) was the German military intelligence , military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ...
, the German military intelligence organization, and later a leading Catholic Traditionalist.


Early life

Vermehren was born in
Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...
to a family of lawyers whose opposition to the
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
regime was such that they were considered politically unreliable. Erich's repeated refusal to join the
Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth ( , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth wing of the German Nazi Party. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. From 1936 until 1945, it was th ...
marked him as unfit to "represent German youth", and he was prevented from taking up a
Rhodes scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Established in 1902, it is ...
at
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
; his
passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign country, access local aid ...
was revoked, making it impossible for him to travel outside Germany. Vermehren converted to
Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
in 1939, shortly after his elder sister Isa, when he met the Countess Elisabeth von Plettenberg, a member of one of Germany's leading Catholic families. They married in October 1941. The Plettenbergs were also opposed to Hitler, and clandestinely distributed the banned anti-Nazi Papal
encyclical An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally fr ...
''
Mit brennender Sorge ''Mit brennender Sorge'' ( , in English "With deep it. 'burning'anxiety") is an encyclical of Pope Pius XI, issued during the Nazi era on 10 March 1937 (but bearing a date of Passion Sunday, 14 March)."Church and state through the centu ...
'' in 1937. As a result of this, Elisabeth's parents were imprisoned by the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, 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 F ...
, but she was able to secure their release after three weeks. In addition, she herself was repeatedly questioned about her "subversive" activities.


As an Abwehr agent

Despite the Vermehrens' unwillingness to openly resist the Nazi regime, they inevitably found themselves in anti-Nazi circles, several of which centered on Vermehren's cousin
Adam von Trott zu Solz Friedrich Adam von Trott zu Solz (9 August 1909 – 26 August 1944) was a German lawyer and diplomat who was involved in the conservative resistance to Nazism. A declared opponent of the Nazi regime from the beginning, he actively participated in ...
, and both felt that their lives were at risk while they remained in Germany. Vermehren 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 Leverkühn, the Abwehr station chief in
Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
. At that time, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, head of the Abwehr, was making peace overtures to the
Americans Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Law of the United States, U.S. federal law does not equate nationality with Race (hu ...
with the help of the German
ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...
to
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
,
Franz von Papen Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen, (; 29 October 18792 May 1969) was a German politician, diplomat, Prussian nobleman and army officer. A national conservative, he served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932, and then as Vice-Chancell ...
, who had been asked to meet Archbishop (later Cardinal)
Francis Spellman Francis Joseph Spellman (May 4, 1889 – December 2, 1967) was an Catholic Church in the United States, American Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Archbishop of New York from 1939 until his death in 1967. F ...
. Von Papen was a cousin of Elisabeth Vermehren, and as a result of this family tie, Vermehren was assigned to Istanbul as a junior-grade agent after two weeks' training in secret inks. Elisabeth, however, was detained by the Gestapo as a hostage.


Defection

When Vermehren returned to
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
on leave, the couple agreed they would defect to Britain. So that Elisabeth could travel to Istanbul, she procured an official assignment from the Foreign Office in connection with the Archbishop's visit to Turkey. They travelled by train to Istanbul, but at the border crossing into
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
, Elisabeth was arrested by Gestapo agents and taken to the German embassy in
Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
, though Vermehren was permitted to continue to Istanbul. In Sofia, the ambassador was a family friend who (in cooperation with the Abwehr station chief) sneaked her on board a diplomatic courier plane to Istanbul. Meanwhile, Erich had made overtures to the British
Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (MI numbers, Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of Human i ...
, which already had a file on him, through its
counter-espionage Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting ac ...
representative Nicholas Elliott. The couple received word that a friend from the Foreign Office, Otto Carl Kiep, had been arrested on 12 January 1944 in connection with his attendance at the Frau Solf Tea Party. The Gestapo summoned them to Berlin in connection with the case, but anticipating what was in store for them, they refused, and defected in early February 1944. In the hope that their families would be protected from ''
Sippenhaft ''Sippenhaft'' or ''Sippenhaftung'' (, ''kin liability'') is a German term for the idea that a family or clan shares the responsibility for a crime or act committed by one of its members, justifying collective punishment. As a legal principle, it ...
'' (detention for the crimes of a family member) as a result of their defection, their defection was made to appear to be a kidnapping by the British. The Vermehrens were smuggled to England via
İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...
,
Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...
,
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
and
Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...
. British
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...
organisations broke the news of the defection, knowing that it would cause havoc in Germany's intelligence services, especially since the invasion of Western Europe was imminent. It was believed that he had absconded with the Abwehr's secret codes. This was untrue, but according to British records, Vermehren nevertheless gave much valuable information to the Allies about German intelligence operations. Hitler now distrusted the Abwehr and Canaris, and on 18 February 1944 the Abwehr was abolished and its intelligence functions taken over by the SS Security organisation (RSHA), under the jurisdiction of
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 â€“ 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...
. Several members of the couple's families were arrested and interned, including Erich's parents, his elder brother Michael and sister Isa Vermehren, and Elisabeth's youngest sister Gisela. All of them survived the war. Isa wrote of her time in prison camps in the book, ''A Journey through the Final Act: Ravensbrück, Buchenwald, Dachau: A Woman Reports.''


In England

The Vermehrens were given accommodation in the
South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...
flat of the mother of
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 that had divulged British secr ...
, where they provided him with lists of personalities of the Catholic underground in Germany. As these Catholic figures were as equally opposed to Communism as Nazism, Philby, a Soviet spy, handed the list over to his handlers; when the British tried to contact the list of personages at the end of the war, it was found that most of them had been killed.Macintyre, Ben. 2015. ''A Spy among Friends : Philby and the Great Betrayal.'' London: Bloomsbury. The couple also tried unsuccessfully to persuade the British Foreign Office to allow leading members of the German opposition to help in rebuilding the country. They then asked for their status as "Guests of the Foreign Office" to be annulled and to be left to their own devices. Elisabeth found employment as an assistant teacher in Worth Priory, a preparatory school run by the
Benedictine Order The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly Christian mysticism, contemplative Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), order of the Catholic Church for men and f ...
while Erich founded a small export company, which had limited success, and later found employment with a firm of brokers with
Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is a insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gover ...
. They settled near the Church of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in
Brompton Road Brompton Road is a street located in the southern part from Knightsbridge and in the eastern part from Brompton, London, Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and partly the City of Westminster in London. It starts from ...
, and changed their surname to Vermehren de Saventhem for genealogical reasons.


Later years

The de Saventhems settled in
Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
in the 1960s with Erich managing his firm's Swiss subsidiary until he was promoted as Director for Europe in 1964. They then lived in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
before moving back to Switzerland in 1966. They became active in the Catholic Traditionalist Movement following the
Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...
. Erich was one of the founding members of the Una Voce movement, becoming its first president. The couple returned to Germany in view of Elisabeth's failing health, and she died there in 2000. Erich died in
Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...
in 2005.


Main source

*Bassett, Richard. "A Lion of the Faith"
Obituary of Erich Vermehren de Saventhem
in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', 3 May 2005.


References


External links


A biography of Elisabeth de SaventhemWartime Activities of the German Diplomatic and Military Services During World War II, The C.I.A archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vermehren, Erich 1919 births 2005 deaths Abwehr personnel of World War II German defectors German Rhodes Scholars German traditionalist Catholics People from Lübeck Converts to Roman Catholicism Roman Catholics in the German Resistance