The Venlo incident was a covert operation carried out by the German Nazi Party's (SD) on 9 November 1939, which resulted in the capture of two British Secret Intelligence Service agents from the German border, on the outskirts of the Dutch city of Venlo."The Scotsman", 25 November 1939, p. 13.
The incident was later used by the German government to link Britain to Georg Elser's failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich, on 8 November 1939, and to help justify Germany's invasion of the Netherlands (then a neutral country) on 10 May 1940.Hitler first mentioned the possibility of using the Venlo incident as an excuse for invading the Netherlands at a military conference on 23 November 1939. See Documents on German Foreign Policy, Series D, Vol. VIII, 445.
Background
After the British declaration of war on Nazi Germany on 3 September 1939, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was still interested in seeking a compromise peace with Germany before too much blood had been spilt.Martin A. Allen, Himmler's Secret War: The Covert Peace Negotiations of Heinrich Himmler, Robson Books, London, 2005, p. 54. The British Government was well aware of the existence of widespread opposition among the leaders of the German Army.see also Blomberg–Fritsch affair.
During the autumn of 1939, the German opposition was extending feelers to the British government. In October, Munich lawyer Josef Müller contacted the British through the Vatican with the connivance of Colonel Hans Oster. Theodor Kordt, the younger brother of Erich, pursued similar objectives in Bern.
The Swedish industrialist Birger Dahlerus tried to establish peace through an early form of shuttle diplomacy, partly performed on Dutch soil. And in early October the Dutch ambassador in Ankara, Philips Christiaan Visser, was communicating peace proposals on the line of the Dahlerus proposals, made by Hitler's former deputy chancellor and then ambassador to Turkey, Franz von Papen, to the British ambassador Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen.Bob de Graaff, The Venlo Incident, London, 1990, S. 2–13
All diplomatic efforts to avoid a Second World War in Europe during the days preceding the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 had come to nothing. So when a German refugee named Fischer succeeded in winning the confidence of the exiled German Catholic leader, Karl Spiecker, a British intelligence informant in the Netherlands, the British SIS became interested in the information Fischer was offering.Nigel Jones, Introduction to The Venlo Incident, Frontline Books, 2009, p. xii.
Covert meetings
In early September 1939, a meeting was arranged between Fischer and the British SIS agent Captain Sigismund Payne Best. Best was an experienced intelligence officer who worked under the cover of a businessman residing in The Hague with his Dutch wife.Nigel Jones, Introduction to The Venlo Incident, 2009, p. xi.
Subsequent meetings included Major Richard Henry Stevens, a less-experienced intelligence operative who was working covertly for the British SIS as the passport control officer in The Hague. To assist Best and Stevens in passing through the Dutch mobilised zones near the border with Germany, a young Dutch Army officer, Lieutenant Dirk Klop, was recruited by Chief of the Dutch Military Intelligence, Major General Johan van Oorschot. Klop was permitted by Van Oorschot to sit in on covert meetings but could not take part because of his country's neutrality.
At the early meetings Fischer brought participants who were posing as German officers who supported a plot against Hitler, and who were interested in establishing Allied peace terms if Hitler was deposed. When Fischer's success in setting up the meetings with the British agents became known, Sturmbannführer Walter Schellenberg of the Foreign Intelligence section of the Sicherheitsdienst began to attend these meetings. Masquerading as a "Hauptmann Schämmel", Schellenberg was at the time a trusted operative of Heinrich Himmler and was in close contact with Reinhard Heydrich during the Venlo operation.Martin A. Allen, Himmler's Secret War: The Covert Peace Negotiations of Heinrich Himmler, Robson Books, London, 2005
At the last meeting between the British SIS agents and the German SD officers on 8 November, Schellenberg promised to bring a general to the meeting on the following day. Instead, the Germans brought the talks to an abrupt end with the kidnapping of Best and Stevens.
Press reports The Venlo Incident was first reported in the British Press on 10 November 1939, as follows:
While the British press were unaware that two British SIS agents were involved in the border incident, Sir Alexander Cadogan, Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, was aware, as he recorded in his diary: November 10. Our men, who met, or were to have met, Gen[eral] yesterday, bumped off on Dutch-German frontier. Discussed matter with H. [Lord Halifax] and Menzies [Stewart Menzies]. ... Numerous reports of imminent invasion of Holland.
Chronology
The covert meetings leading up to the kidnapping, as remembered by Captain S. Payne Best in his book The Venlo Incident, are summarised below.
Best met with Fischer at an unspecified location in the Netherlands at the beginning of September 1939. At the second meeting, Fischer brought a Major Solms to meet Best. Best believed that Solm was a major in the Luftwaffe. They met at a small hotel in the town of Venlo. (Date unspecified) Best met with Fischer and Major Solms a week later. (Location and date unspecified) Solm told Best there was a conspiracy to remove Hitler from power in which some of the highest-ranking officers of the Wehrmacht were involved. Solms could give no further details as the 'ringleaders' would deal directly only with Best. However, before they would meet, they required certainty that Best was a bona fide British agent and requested that he arrange for a certain paragraph to be broadcast in the German News Bulletin of the BBC. That was done twice on 11 October, about the same day that Best was informed by Major Solms he feared he was being watched by the Gestapo and needed to 'lie low'. On 20 October, together with Fischer, Major Stevens and Lieutenant Klop, Best met with two German officers, Captain von Seidlitz and Lieutenant Grosch, in a private house that was owned by a friend of Best in Arnhem. The meeting was interrupted by Dutch police and little progress was made. 'The two Huns seemed scared out of their wits and it was very difficult to get anything out of them except that they wanted to go home', Best recalled. On 30 October, Best, Major Stevens and Lieutenant Klop met with three German officers: Lieutenant Grosch, Colonel Martini and Major Schaemmel at The Hague. (Klop had collected the three Germans near Dinxperlo after they were arrested by Dutch police near the frontier.) Schaemmel, speaking for the Germans, outlined current conditions in Germany and the losses of men and material in the Polish campaign and how it was imperative the war be ended quickly. Schaemmel went on to say Hitler would not take advice from his General Staff and needed to be got rid of, but his assassination would lead to chaos. The intention was to take him prisoner and force him to give orders authorising a junta of officers to start negotiations for peace. 'We are Germans and have to think of the interests of our own country first. Before we take any steps against Hitler we want to know whether England and France are ready to grant us a peace which is both just and honourable', Best recollects Schaemmel saying at the meeting. To facilitate further dialogue, a wireless transmitting and receiving set was given to the Germans. Stevens referred Schaemmel's question to London, and a day or two later, a noncommittal reply came back. More messages were exchanged on a daily basis by wireless before another meeting was arranged. On 7 November, Best, Major Stevens, Lieutenant Klop met with two German officers: Lieutenant Grosch and Major Schaemmel. Klop was instrumental in holding the meeting in the Cafe Backus, on the outskirts of Venlo, as the venue better suited the Germans, as it was close to the border crossing. Best and Stevens gave the Germans a verbal résumé of London's answers to their questions. Though the answers appeared not to come up to their expectations, the Germans said they would pass them on to their 'chief' and proposed a meeting with him the next day, as he was anxious to entrust 'secret papers' to Best and Stevens for safekeeping if the plot against Hitler failed. On 8 November, Best, Major Stevens and Lieutenant Klop met only with Schaemmel at the Cafe Backus. Schaemmel said the general, who was to have come, had been called by Hitler to urgent meeting in Munich to consider an appeal for peace made by the Queen of the Netherlands and the King of Belgium. Schaemmel asked Best and Stevens to meet again on the following day at the same venue to enable the general to be present, adding that as an 'attempt' against Hitler was to be made on Saturday, the next day would be the last chance for a meeting. On 9 November, the meeting was planned for 16:00. As for the last meeting, Klop arranged for a Dutch police guard to be present at the border. Unlike previous meetings, Best and Stevens armed themselves with Browning automatics in case something went wrong.
Aliases Fischer was known to Best as Dr Franz, a German refugee. According to Martin A. Allen, Fischer's real name was Morz, a former follower of Otto Strasser, who was coerced by threat of death to be an agent of the SD (Agent F479).Martin A. Allen, Himmler's Secret War: The Covert Peace Negotiations of Heinrich Himmler, Robson Books, London, 2005, p. 58. Major Schämmel was the alias of Walter Schellenberg, as stated above. Major Solms was the alias of Johannes Travaglio, a German major in Division 1 (Air Reconnaissance) of the Abwehr in Munich, the head of which was a close collaborator and friend of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris.Hitler's Last Chief of Foreign Intelligence: Allied Interrogations of Walter Schellenberg, edited by Reinhard R. Doerries, 2003.Battleground Western Europe: Intelligence Operations in Germany and the Netherlands, edited by Beatrice de Graaf, Ben de Jong, Wies Platje, 2007. Colonel Martini was the alias of Dr. Max de Crinis, an SS officer involved in the euthanasia program "mercy killing", in the Central Tiergartenstraße 4, in 1939–1941. Captain von Seidlitz was the alias of SS-Sturmbannführer von Salish, a long-serving SD officer trusted by Walter SchellenbergMartin A. Allen, Himmler's Secret War: The Covert Peace Negotiations of Heinrich Himmler, Robson Books, London, 2005, p. 65. Lieutenant Grosch was the alias of SS-Hauptsturmführer Christian, a long-serving SD officer trusted by Walter Schellenberg. Lieutenant Klop was given the name of Captain Coppens by Best and Stevens to pass him off as a British officer.
Capture of British agents
Early on 9 November 1939, Schellenberg received orders from Himmler to abduct the British SIS agents, Best and Stevens. SS-Sonderkommandos under the operations command of SD man Alfred Naujocks, carried out the orders.Bob de Graaff, "The Venlo Incident", World War Investigator 13/1990, London 1990, S. 2–13 Best drove his car into the car park at the Cafe Backus for the meeting planned for 16:00 with Schellenberg. Stevens was sitting beside him while Dirk Klop and Klop's driver, Jan Lemmens, sat in the back seat.
Before Best had time to get out of the car, Naujocks' SD men arrived. In a brief shootout, Klop was mortally wounded. After being handcuffed and stood against a wall, Best and Stevens, together with Jan Lemmens, were bundled into the SD car. Klop was put into Best's car and both cars were driven off over the border into Germany.