Stephanie von Hohenlohe, thanks to her intelligence, became the master of seduction and guiding the actions of men. The princess was a person full of personal charm who could not resist the greatest European aristocrats, as well as Adolf Hitler himself. The Führer completely ignored her Jewish origins, entrusting essential missions to the Nazis.
Stephanie von Hohenlohe was born in 1891 in Vienna as Stephany Julienne Richter. Stephanie's parents were of Jewish descent. Stephanie dreamed of becoming the wife of a prince from an early age . To this end, she undertook a series of activities, full of intrigues, thanks to which she was gradually moving towards the realization of her dream.
In May 1914 in London, she married the prince. Her husband is Fryderyk Franciszek Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst. Only a few years later, she divorced Prince Frederick Francis because she felt she had found a role for herself that would bring her greater benefits . She retained the title and surname of her ex-husband, as well as considerable fortune, thanks to which she remained among the richest women in the European continent .
Nazi spy
After parting with Prince von Hohenlohe, she decided to become a Paris Nazi spy. The French services quickly realized the situation and expelled her from the country. Stephanie moved to London, where she maintained a close relationship with the cream of England.
Coat of arms of the Hohenlohe family
Among her close friends were, among others Harold Harmsworth, First Viscount Rothermere. The Nazis believed that the knowledge of the Austrian princess among the island aristocracy might be useful in pursuing their policy.
Acquaintance with Hitler
In late 1933, Stephanie von Hohenlohe forced her lover to arrange a meeting with Adolf Hitler . It was possible because the princess was captain Fritz Wiedemann, Hitler's personal adjutant. Stephanie made a great impression on the Reich Chancellor. She dazzled him not only with her grace and aristocratic pose, but also with intelligence, good knowledge of international affairs and several languages . Soon Adolf Hitler invited Stephanie von Hohenlohe for tea. They spent this time sitting close to each other, and the Führer himself stared at Stephanie as in a picture.
The princess wrote her observations about Hitler in a private diary:
He hardly ever smiles, unless he is making sarcastic remarks. He can be, and often is, extremely bitter. I guess I won't be mistaken if I say that, with the exception of his closest friends, I'm the only person he normally talks to. I mean a situation in which both sides alternately express themselves:an ordinary conversation between two people. It usually doesn't look like that at all. Hitler is giving a speech and everyone has to listen to him or he is sitting there looking deadly without even opening his mouth.
Captain Fritz Wiedemann and Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe
Stephanie and Adolf increasingly spent time in private screenings of melodramas and musicals, which were among Hitler's favorite film genres. The atmosphere of these cinematographic trysts grew hotter, often while watching movies together, Hitler stroked Stephanie's face and hair. If their romance saw the light of day then, the Führer could be discredited internationally.
Surveillance by British intelligence
The special services of Great Britain were under surveillance of Stephania von Hohenlohe's life. One of the reports from 1938 stated that:
[Stephanie] is regularly summoned by the Führer, who appreciates her intelligence and good advice. Probably the only woman who has any influence on him.
According to another MI6 top secret report from 1933, the princess was to earn £ 300,000 (today it would be around 13 million in this currency) for convincing Harold Harmsworth, a British aristocrat and media magnate, to support the idea of including to Germany the areas that were annexed to Poland in 1919.
Jewish princess in Hitler's service
One of the princess's first tasks was to win the favor of Harold Harmsworth, the first Viscount Rothermere, for the German cause. In addition to the aforementioned £ 300,000 salary from the Nazis, Stephanie also received a salary from a British magnate of £ 5,000 a year (in today's pound it would be around 200,000 in this currency) for mediating in contacts with the Führer's people.
Harold Harmsworth
The princess was so important to Hitler's plan that she was given the role of "unofficial ambassador" and all whims were granted , ranging from sumptuous dinners to whatever luxury von Hohenlohe could wish for.
In 1937, Stephanie, under the care of Captain Fritz Wiedemann, was instructed to travel to the United States to support the activities of the German-American Federation sympathetic to the Nazis. Less than two years later Hermann Göring brought her to the magnificent Schloss Leopoldskron palace in Salzburg , where its task was to receive foreign visitors and important personalities to "soften" them before important talks with the Nazi leader.
Hitler's Ace in Deck
Three facts confirm the importance of the role played by Stephanie von Hohenlohe in the concept of the Nazis. The first is to award the princess the Gold Medal of the Nazi Party, and the other two are press articles. One of them appeared in Time magazine in 1938:
During the Czechoslovak crisis, she contributed to the cause of the Nazis as a soldier. When Chamberlain sent Lord Runciman to find out about the situation in Czechoslovakia, Princess Stephanie hurried to Prince Max Hohenlohe's castle in the Sudetenland, where a British mediator was attending.
The second of the New York Times summed up Stephanie accurately:
The princess is undoubtedly a real star among the former German aristocrats recruited by Hitler to carry out various operations, often of a secret nature. These women spy, serve as propagandists or party souls (...) By order of the Nazi party, Princess Hohenlohe placed the heads of lords, counts and other important personalities at Hitler's feet.
From left to right:Lord Rothermere, George Ward Price, Adolf Hitler, Fritz Wiedemann and Joseph Goebbels, and from left to right:Princess Stephanie and Magda Goebbels (1936)
Shortly after receiving the award from Hitler, Stephanie was sent on a key mission to London to investigate the ground for possible talks between the Nazis and the British authorities. The Nazis tried to adopt tactics to enter the countries neighboring Germany while avoiding open warfare. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain refused because he did not want to negotiate with Göring, and the princess's image as a trusted intermediary in diplomatic affairs was severely tarnished . Despite this situation, Captain Fritz Wiedemann tried to attribute to her merits, such as Neville Chamberlain's signing of consent to Hitler's annexation of the Sudetenland. These attempts by Captain Wiedemann were not unfounded, as there was still a secret romance between him and Stephania ...
Hitler's disappointment
Hitler, thanks to a network of his informants, received a report in which the friendship between Captain Wiedemann and Princess von Hohenlohe was discovered. The Reich Chancellor gave his aide-de-camp an offer he could not refuse - a well-paid position at the German Embassy in San Francisco. Fritz Wiedemann agreed to the ultimatum, but his beloved Stephanie von Hohenlohe escaped with him to the United States.
Upon her arrival in America, the princess was under surveillance by the FBI as a serious threat , J. Edgar Hoover himself, director of the FBI commented on her:
Worse than even 10,000 men (...) I would like to emphasize here that in my opinion her visa should not be renewed. I therefore suggest that she be deported from the United States at the earliest convenience.
However, the US authorities did not deal with Stephanie until the declaration of war on Nazi Germany. Von Hohenlohe was first imprisoned in Philadelphia, later transferred to a camp in Texas, where citizens of hostile nations were kept . Immediately after the end of World War II, the princess regained her freedom and continued her love affairs among the American society. In 1959, she decided to return to Germany, where she became a star that was constantly reported in the newspapers. In 1972 she died in Geneva.