Ilse Stöbe

Ilse Stöbe (17 May 1911 in Berlin – 22 December 1942 in Berlin) was a German journalist and anti-Nazi resistance fighter.[1][2]

Ilsa Stöbe

Life

Ilse Stöbe grew up in a working-class home in Berlin. Stöbe was the only daughter of carpenter Max Stöbe and his wife Frieda, née Schumann. She had an eight-year-older half-brother from her mother's first marriage, Kurt Müller. She grew up in Mainzer Straße 1 in Lichtenberg Berlin[3] There is little information about their youth; many of them come from later interrogations of their half-brother accused by the National Socialists as traitors.[4]

Stöbe attended a trade school to learn a profession as a shorthand typist. After school, she was first employed in the publishing house of Rudolf Mosse and then worked as secretary to the journalist and writer Theodor Wolff in the Berliner Tageblatt. Wolff wrote the novel The Swimmer in the US in 1937, in which he described his love of age to Ilse Stöbe and which he wanted to film. There she met Rudolf Herrnstadt, to whom she would later become engaged.[5]

In 1929, Stöbe joined the Communist Party of Germany. From 1931, she worked with Herrnstadt, who built up an intelligence group of the Am Apparat (Military section) of the Communist International, which in addition to him and Stöbe, Gerhard Kegel and his wife Charlotte Vogt, at times also the publisher Helmut Kindler and the lawyer Lothar Bolz all belonged. Together with Herrnstadt in 1934, they moved to Warsaw, where she worked as a foreign correspondent for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung until September 1939 and also wrote for other Swiss newspapers. Stöbe was then a member of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and in mid-1934 was appointed Cultural Attaché of the Nazi party's foreign office in Poland.

According to Helmut Kindler, she remained in contact with him as her childhood friend.[6] During the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Stöbe met the Swiss publisher Rudolf Huber, who left her a major part of his fortune in his will when he died in 1940.[7]

Shortly before the German invasion of Poland, she returned to Berlin from Warsaw and worked in the information department of the Foreign Office. There she met the journalist Carl Helfrich, with whom she lived until her arrest in 1942. According to her will, he was the tenant of her flat in Ahornallee 48 in Charlottenburg, Berlin.[8]

Career

Gerhard Kegel, who was an employee of the Foreign Office in Berlin from 1935 to 1943, wants to have supported Stöbe in her clandestine intelligence activities after returning from Poland.[9] She allegedly continued this activity until her arrest in 1942.[10]

She was arrested on 12 September 1942 by the Gestapo, allegedly for spying for the Soviet Union and for membership of the Red Orchestra (Die Rote Kapelle) Soviet espionage ring. A Gestapo report of November 1942 said a radio message from the Soviet Union informed that a parachuted resistance fighter would come to her address. After seven weeks of torture she was compelled to confess to conspiratorial connections to the Soviet secret service and to persons such as Rudolf von Scheliha.[11] He was then also arrested on 12 October 1942. Both were sentenced to death for treason on 14 December 1942 by the Reichskriegsgericht, and executed on 22 December 1942 in the Plötzensee Prison in Berlin, she by guillotine and he by hanging from a meathook. The Soviet agent, Heinrich Koenen, who had landed in Germany by parachute, was arrested at her house by a waiting Gestapo official.

Her mother was also arrested and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she died in 1943.[12] Stöbe's brother Kurt Müller was able to escape arrest and continue his resistance activities with the resistance group, the European Union Resistance. He was murdered in June 1944.[13]

Stöbe (code name "Alta") repeatedly sent warning messages to the Soviet Union about the impending German invasion of the Soviet Union well in advance of the attack.[14]

Reception

She was the only woman to be featured on a special coin issued by the East German Ministry of State (Stasi) to commemorate important spies in Communist service during the war. The Ilse Stöbe Vocational School in Market Street, Berlin is named in her honour. [15]

In July, 2014, Germany's Foreign Ministry honoured Ilse Stöbe for her actions against the Nazis.[16]

Literature
Memorial plaque, Frankfurter Allee 233, in Lichtenberg, Berlin

Witnesses
  • Wolff, Theodor (1937). Die Schwimmerin. Ein Roman aus der Gegenwart [The swimmer. A novel from the present.]. Zürich.
  • Gerhard, Kegel (1984). In den Stürmen unseres Jahrhunderts : ein deutscher Kommunist über sein ungewöhnliches Leben [In the storms of the century: a German Communist about his unusual life] (3rd ed.). Berlin: Dietz Verlag. ISBN 3-320-00609-6.
  • Helmut, Kindler (1992). Zum Abschied ein Fest : die Autobiographie eines deutschen Verlegers [To leave one party: the autobiography of a German publisher]. Munich: Droemer Knaur. ISBN 3-426-75042-2.

Biographical-historical
  • Coppi, Hans; Kebir, Sabine (2013). Ilse Stöbe : wieder im Amt : eine Widerstandskämpferin in der Wilhelmstrasse : eine Veröffentlichung der Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung [Ilse Stöbe: back in office: a resistance fighter in the Wilhelmstrasse: a publication of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation] (in German). Hamburg: VSA. ISBN 978-3-89965-569-8.
    • Ilse Stöbe: Wieder im Amt : eine Widerstandskämpferin in der Wilhelmstraße [Ilse Stöbe: Back in office: a resistance fighter in Wilhelmstraße - 2nd extended edition with a preface by Gregor Gysi and an appreciation by Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the occasion of the inclusion of Ilse Stöbe on the panel of honor in the Foreign Office] (2nd supplemented and updated ed.). Hamburg: VSA: Verlag. 2015. ISBN 978-3-89965-660-2.
  • Liebmann, Irina (008). Wäre es schön? Es wäre schön! : mein Vater Rudolf Herrnstadt. Berlin: Berlin Verlag. ISBN 3-8270-0589-2.
  • Müller-Enbergs, Helmut (1991). Der Fall Rudolf Herrnstadt : Tauwetterpolitik vor dem 17. Juni [The case of Rudolf Herrnstadt: Thaw policy before 17 June] (in German) (1st ed.). Berlin: LinksDruck Verlag. pp. 31–36. ISBN 3-86153-003-1.
  • Coppi, Hans; Danyel, Jürgen; Tuchel, Johannes (1994). Die Rote Kapelle im Widerstand gegen Nationalsozialismus [The Red Chapel in the resistance against National Socialism] (in German) (1st ed.). Berlin: Edition Hentrich. pp. 262–276. ISBN 9783894681104.
  • Scherstjanoi, Elke (2014). "Verräterin oder Patriotin? Ein Gutachten des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte" [Traitor or patriot? An opinion of the Institute of Contemporary History]. Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte (in German). Munich: De Gruyter Oldenbourg (Deutschland). 62 (1): 139–156. doi:10.1515/vfzg-2014-0006. S2CID 199575964.
  • Brüning, Elfriede (2010). Gefährtinnen : Porträts vergessener Frauen [Companions: portraits of forgotten women] (in German) (2nd ed.). Berlin: Dietz-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-320-02242-6.
  • Brüning, Elfriede (18 May 1986). "Kundschafterin für die Sowjetunion. Zum 75. Geburtstag der Kommunistin Ilse Stöbe" [Scout for the Soviet Union. On the occasion of the 75th birthday of Communist Ilse Stöbe] (in German). Berliner Verlag. Berliner Zeitung.
  • Zimmermann, Kurt (1980). The Big Unknown. Berlin: Militärverlag der DDR.
  • Luise Kraushaar and others: Deutsche Widerstandskämpfer 1933–1945. Biografien und Briefe. [German Resistance fighters 1933-1945. Biographies and letters.] edition. vom Institut für Marxismus-Leninismus beim Zentralkomitee der SED; Dietz-Verlag, Berlin 1970, Volume 1, pp. 657ff; Volume 2, pp. 561f

Historical environment
  • Kraushaar, Luise (1981). Berliner Kommuni ̈sten im Kampf gegen den Faschismus, 1936 bis 1942. Robert Uhrig u. Genossen [Berlin communists in the fight against fascism, 1936 to 1942.] (in German). Berlin: Dietz. OCLC 164623936.
  • Rosiejka, Gert (1986). Die Rote Kapelle : "Landesverrat" als antifaschist. Widerstand [Die Rote Kapelle : "Landesverrat" als antifaschist. Widerstand] (in German) (1st ed.). Hamburg: Ergebnisse-Verlag. ISBN 3-925622-16-0.
  • Lota, Wladimir (2004). Al ta protiv Barbarossy Sluzhba vneshnej razvedki ["Alta" against "Barbarossa"] (in Russian). Molodaya gvardiya. ISBN 5235027264. (online, russisch)

References
  1. Jefferson Adams (1 September 2009). Historical Dictionary of German Intelligence. Scarecrow Press. p. 448. ISBN 978-0-8108-6320-0. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  2. "Ilse Stöbe". Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand (in German). German Resistance Memorial Center. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  3. Helmut Müller-Enbergs (1991). Der Fall Rudolf Herrnstadt: Tauwetterpolitik vor dem 17. Juni [The case of Rudolf Herrnstadt: Thaw policy before the 17th] (in German). Ch. Links Verlag. p. 32. ISBN 978-3-86153-003-9. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  4. Hans Coppi; Jürgen Danyel; Johannes Tuchel (1994). Die Rote Kapelle im Widerstand gegen den Nationalsozialismus [The Red Orchestra in Resistance to National Socialism]. Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand. p. 263. ISBN 978-3-89468-110-4. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  5. Hans Coppi; Jürgen Danyel; Johannes Tuchel (1994). Die Rote Kapelle im Widerstand gegen den Nationalsozialismus. Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand. pp. 262, 264. ISBN 978-3-89468-110-4. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  6. Helmut Kindler (20 October 2017). Zum Abschied ein Fest: Die Autobiographie eines deutschen Verlegers (in German). Rowohlt Repertoire. ISBN 978-3-688-10642-4. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  7. Coppi, Hans; Danyel, Jürgen; Tuchel, Johannes (1994). Die Rote Kapelle im Widerstand gegen Nationalsozialismus [The Red Chapel in the resistance against National Socialism] (in German) (1st ed.). Berlin: Edition Hentrich. pp. 262–276. ISBN 9783894681104.
  8. Hans Coppi; Jürgen Danyel; Johannes Tuchel (1994). Die Rote Kapelle im Widerstand gegen den Nationalsozialismus [The Red Orchestra in Resistance to National Socialism]. Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand. pp. 263–71. ISBN 978-3-89468-110-4. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  9. Gerhard, Kegel (1984). In den Stürmen unseres Jahrhunderts : ein deutscher Kommunist über sein ungewöhnliches Leben [In the storms of the century: a German Communist about his unusual life] (3rd ed.). Berlin: Dietz Verlag. ISBN 3-320-00609-6.
  10. Helmut Müller-Enbergs (1991). Der Fall Rudolf Herrnstadt: Tauwetterpolitik vor dem 17. Juni [The case of Rudolf Herrnstadt: Thaw policy before the 17th] (in German). Ch. Links Verlag. pp. 264, 274, footnote 20. ISBN 978-3-86153-003-9. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  11. Kesaris, Paul. L, ed. (1979). The Rote Kapelle: the CIA's history of Soviet intelligence and espionage networks in Western Europe, 1936-1945. Washington DC: University Publications of America. p. 151. ISBN 0-89093-203-4.
  12. Woermann, Heinrich-Wilhelm (1991). Widerstand in Charlottenburg (PDF) (in German). 5 (2nd updated ed.). Berlin. p. 133. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  13. Hans Coppi; Jürgen Danyel; Johannes Tuchel (1994). Die Rote Kapelle im Widerstand gegen den Nationalsozialismus [The Red Orchestra in Resistance to National Socialism]. Gedenkstätte Deutscher Widerstand. p. 265. ISBN 978-3-89468-110-4. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  14. Article in the Spiegel Online English edition by Klaus Wiegrefe, 2013-10-01
  15. Helmut Müller-Enbergs (1991). Der Fall Rudolf Herrnstadt: Tauwetterpolitik vor dem 17. Juni [The case of Rudolf Herrnstadt: Thaw policy before the 17th] (in German). Ch. Links Verlag. p. 70. ISBN 978-3-86153-003-9. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  16. Article in the Belfast Telegraph, 2014-7-20
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