The Gestapo and the German Political Exiles in Britain during the 1930s

This paper considers some of the ways in which foreign propaganda and espionage were organised by the National Socialists and the methods employed by the Gestapo abroad against their opponents. In particular, it looks at the workings of the Gestapo in Britain as illustrated by the case of Hans Wesemann, who managed to infiltrate both Socialist exile and progressive British circles in order to report back to Germany on the anti‐Nazi activities he observed there. Wesemann’s espionage career culminated in the abduction of the journalist Berthold Jacob, an incident that was linked in British press and parliament to the mysterious death in London of two refugees involved in investigating Wesemann’s nefarious exploits. These events and their wider ramifications are examined here, as are the British and German official reactions to them

Espionage · German · Nazi Germany · Nazism · Order (exchange · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Refugee · Classics · European history and politics · French Historical and Cultural Studies · History · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law