Heinrich Hoffmann: The Fate of a Soviet Agent from Hitler’s Inner Circle
One of the most valuable agents of Soviet intelligence during World War II was Rudolf Ressler. Thanks to him, Stalin received the plan for the German offensive on the Kursk salient, which is known as the “Citadel”. Ressler’s main source was a mysterious spy from the Fuehrer’s inner circle codenamed “Werther.” Most historians are sure that “Werther” is Hitler’s personal photographer and friend Heinrich Hoffmann, who introduced the Führer to Eva Braun.
Personal photographer and friend of the Führer
The German historian Johann Messer found out that there were two photographers in Hitler’s entourage: Hugo Jaeger, who was engaged in reportage photography (he took pictures of congresses and trips), and Heinrich Hoffmann, who photographed the Führer in an informal setting and attended meetings of the General Staff to take pictures. Hoffmann joined the Nazi Party in 1920 and immediately became a party photographer.
In 1929, he introduced Hitler to a young girl, Eva Braun, who worked as a model in his atelier and even posed naked for erotic postcards. The photographer took Hitler to his photographic studio and introduced him to Eva as Herr Wolff. Hoffmann later told Braun that it was the leader of the Nazi Party who was very interested in it.
Pimping paid huge dividends for Hoffmann. A simple photographer was elected to the Munich City Council and received exclusive rights to photograph the German leader. It was he who took the famous pictures of Hitler and Eva Braun’s vacation in the Alps. An important source of Hoffmann’s income was the sale of valuables and works of art confiscated from Jews.
In a safe deposit box in a Swiss bank, Heinrich kept pictures of Braun naked. He was going to use them in case the former model decided to “push aside” her old employer from her current lover.
Photographer Hoffmann – Werther Agent
The German historian Günther von Lung said that German intelligence knew about the existence of a spy in Hitler’s inner circle who “leaked” information to Ressler. On Himmler’s orders, SS-Brigadeführer Schellenberg conducted investigations, and in February 1944 he drew up a report to his superior with several names of alleged agents. Hoffmann was also on the list, but the SS leader did not dare to “develop” a photographer because of his proximity to the Führer.
During a visit to Hitler’s chancellery, almost everyone was searched, including generals and ministers. One of the few untouchables was Hoffmann, who had at his disposal the most modern photographic equipment of the time. During a search of the photographer’s home in the summer of 1945, investigators found almost 300 cameras of various modifications, including a miniature camera that fits into the button of a jacket.
After the war
Thoughts of Hoffmann’s connection with the intelligence of hostile states are also prompted by his post-war fate. In May 1945, the Americans arrested him in Bavaria, and he, along with Goering and Keitel, was sentenced to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property.
Less than a month later, the sentence was reduced to 4 years, and Hoffmann himself participated in the Nuremberg Tribunal to systematize photographs for the trial. The convicted photographer was visited by unknown NKVD officers, and even by the famous Soviet correspondent and writer Boris Polevoy, who presented “Hitler’s friend” with a bottle of schnapps and a can of stew.
Reasons for Betrayal
Argentine researcher Abel Basti is also convinced that Hoffmann was Werther. The photographer had skills in photoengraving secret documents and was personally acquainted with Ressler. He drew no attention to himself, but Hitler’s generals and ministers were afraid to touch the Fuehrer’s arc, to whom he owed his personal happiness.
Abel Basti believes that Hoffmann did not betray for the sake of money. Perhaps the top Nazi’s friend was a Jew hiding his true origins, or he had lost faith in the idea of a German Reich.
The latter version is confirmed by the story of his neighbor Heinrich Hoffmann. After his release from prison, Hoffmann lived in a small town near Munich. Rüdiger Bronn, a neighbor of “Hitler’s friend,” said that during one of the feasts, Hoffmann said that after the defeat at Stalingrad he realized that the Reich was doomed. It is impossible to fight the Russians, and the war must be stopped.