Himmler’s daughter worked for Germany’s foreign intelligence agency in 1960s, officials admit

29 06 18

Heinrich Himmler’s daughter worked for Germany’s post-war foreign intelligence agency, it has been revealed.

Gudrun Burwitz, the daughter of the architect of the Holocaust and a fervent Nazi until her death last month, was employed by West Germany’s Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) from 1961 to 1963, the agency has confirmed.

She worked as a secretary at the BND’s offices in Pullach, Munich, but used a different name.

After being captured at the end of the Second World War, Heinrich Himmler killed himself before he could be put on trial (Getty Images)

Her work for the German intelligence service has been revealed by the German newspaper Bild, at the same time that it reported that Ms Burwitz had died aged 88, seemingly from natural causes.

Despite her father having been head of Hitler’s SS and therefore heavily responsible for the murder of six million Jews, as well as the deaths of gypsies and homosexuals, Ms Burwitz remained a committed Holocaust denier to the very end.

As an ageing grandmother, she took a leading role in an organisation called Stille Hilfe (Silent Help), which supported former SS members when they were arrested for crimes against humanity, and gave succour to others who were seeking to evade justice.

The group is thought to have been first created in 1951 by a group of SS officers and right-wing German clergy.

Ms Burwitz’s later leading role in it led to her being referred to in some quarters as the “Princess of Nazism”.

She was also suspected of being a supporter of, and inspiration to modern Neo-Nazi movements.

In 2011 Andrea Ropke, an authority on neo-Nazism, was quoted as saying: “Silent Help is not only about former National Socialists. It collects money too for the neo-Nazi movement.”

The BND told Bild that it didn’t normally comment on personnel issues but had confirmed Burwitz worked there as part of its effort to be transparent about Nazi links in its past.

That such a character could have worked for the post-war German intelligence service should, however, not come as so much of a surprise.

SOURCE: Independent

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