Leo Roth (Agent)

Leo (Leon) Roth (born 18 March 1911 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, 10 November 1937 in Moscow, was an agent of the German Communist Party (KPD) and significant other by Helga von Hammerstein, a daughter of Kurt von Hammerstein- Equord.

Origin and vocational training [Edit]

Roth was born on 18 March born in 1911 [1] [2] in Rzeszw in the then Austro-Hungarian Galicia. He was the son of a Jewish textile merchant, who emigrated with his family to Berlin in January 1913. Post-secondary education Roth began an apprenticeship, as he sought a practical training for the planned emigration to Palestine.

Political beginning [Edit]

Roth joined already at the age of 13 the left-oriented youth group bndisch Poale Zion. In 1926, he joined the Young Communist League of Germany (KJVD), but a year later he was graduated from similar such as Nathan Steinberger as Korsch trailer from KJVD. Instead, he was a member of the Leninbund and consorted with the outlawed Communist Party at the Ruth Fischer and Arkadi Maslow Hugo Urbahns. In 1929, Roth within the boundaries of the Communist Party of the now "social fascists" fought German Social Democratic Party (SPD), again a member of the KJVD and advanced in the Berlin-Brandenburg region for full-time official in the operating illegally "BB device", the organization operating reporting the KPD. 1930/1931 it won with Erich Mielke an intelligence training in a special school with attached military training ("M-School") in the Soviet Union. [3]

Activity [Edit]

Back in Germany he lived from 1933 illegal under various aliases (especially Ernst Hess and Victor, also Rudi, Stefan Berndt, Friedrich Kotzner, Albert) and was Reichsinstrukteur of BB apparatus of the Communist Party. In 1932 he became secretary of Hans Kippenberger. Under the party name "Victor" he rose in 1933 to one of the most important functionaries of the "M-apparatus", illegal military-political organization of the KPD. [4] As head of "special connections", he organized the so-called tip links between the Communist Party Politburo and the individual members of the Communist Party Secretariat as Kippenberger and Herbert Wehner and informers from the economy, military and politics. On behalf of the Communist Party, he also entertained others with the consent of John Schehr connections the British, French and Czech intelligence to military personnel, diplomats and journalists such as Margret Boveri States [5]. These tasks led to frequent travel with forged documents from Western and Eastern countries and in neutral countries like Switzerland. The incoming information at Roth arrived with the intelligence service of the KPD usually as encrypted radio messages about the Soviet Embassy in Moscow. Since 1934, Roth was head of the "defense" in the apparatus of the Communist Party.

Albert Einstein [Edit]

Einstein's secretary Helen Dukas and her sister had sublet a portion of their Berlin apartment to Luise Kraushaar, Communist Party secretary for specific tasks, which among other things Decrypted messages, and Leo Roth Kraushaar took office also. Relationship by marriage to Helene Dukas were the members of the KPD Sigmund Wollenberger and Albert Wollenberger. The husband of Einstein's stepdaughter Margot was Dimitri Marianoff, then right hand of Arthur Norman, the chief Soviet spies in Germany. Einstein himself until emigrating taught at the suggestion of Anna Seghers at the Marxist Workers School (MACH) [6], and thus he had constantly dealing with other left-wing figures such as John Heartfield, Egon Erwin Kisch, Jrgen Kuczynski, Willi Mnzenberg, Erwin Piscator , Annie Reich and Karl August Wittfogel. He had also shown sympathy for other "socialist" ideas. [7] is obvious against this background that he of the secret functions of Kraushaar and Roth in the apartment of his secretary not only knew, but she gladly endured.

Family of Hammerstein [Edit]

1928 Roth learned the Socialist Students Federation, the only 15-year-old Helga von Hammerstein, the third child of the then Chief of the Army General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord know. She was interested in at that time already for communist ideas. The two moved in together in Berlin barn area, where Nathan Steinberger, the former friend Helga lived. 1930 Helga left high school, joined the Communist Party and stood her under the alias "Grete Pelgert" available. From 1935 to 1936 also gave Helga Gerd Kaden information. Roth had opposed. Helga over contact with their two older sisters Marie Louise and Marie Therese The former was a member of the Communist Party since 1927, for which she carried out covert assignments since 1930, and for a time allied with Werner Scholem. In total, Roth and other secret information from these sources in politics and the Reichswehr, the father of three daughters, also came after privatization end of January 1934 continue. So probably comes the most complete records of Hitler's speech on 3 February 1933 to members of the army in the official residence Hammerstein from its files, it was only discovered in 2000 in the archives of the Comintern. It is known that Kurt von Hammerstein such handoffs tacitly tolerated. Among the revelations from this source, which at that time also attracted great international attention, was the "Brown Book on the Reichstag Fire and Hitler Terror", the Willi Mnzenberg published in Paris.

The Reichstag fire [edit]

Roth's Division concluded in 1933 photocopies of the top-secret indictment against the defendants in the Reichstag fire trial, Georgi Dimitrov, Marinus van der Lubbe and others. Roth brought the copies personally to Paris, where she was the "committee of inquiry to investigate the Reichstag fire", which had been founded by Willi Miinzenberg "World Committee for the Victims of Hitler's fascism" is passed. Roth also managed, Norman Ebbutt, correspondent of the London Times and spokesman of the foreign press in Germany than to win secret rapporteur for the KPD. The material that Roth was collected, stored at the U.S. consulate in Leipzig, where Roth was able to organize press conferences and illegal.

Fememord [Edit]

Roth had early in 1934 concerned the weapon to assassinate the Gestapo "inverted" Alfred Kattner, then provided the killer with a fake passport and put him in the company of Helga von Hammerstein out of the country. [7]

Travel and contacts [Edit]

1934 Roth was under the code name "Ernst Hesse" temporarily speaker at the "M" school of the Comintern in Moscow, then defensive leader of the Communist Party in the Saar, where he ran ahead of the Saar plebiscite of January 1935 the communist agitation and example, Herbert Wehner a journalist card and a safe place to stay worried. Presumably in consultation with Erich Honecker was there he also participated in armed attacks against institutions of the German front. [5] After the failed vote was in favor of joining the German Empire, he met in Prague with Wilhelm Pieck and Walter Ulbricht. Thereafter, he moved to Amsterdam as Wehner, lived there with Helga von Hammerstein and led from there for a year the entire defense apparatus of the Communist Party of West Germany.

Herbert Wehner [Edit]

As part of its intelligence activities Roth had often since 1932 at the latest exchange with Herbert Wehner aka "Kurt Funke". [5] particularly close cooperation between the two during their work was in the Saar. Wehner characterized "Viktor" in his "witness" as follows: [8]

"Victor, who then led the work of Kippenberger's terminal in this section was one of the most capable organizers, who I met. He managed and maintained ties to an extent, as I have found before or since matched by any other ... All his youthful vigor, his enormous desire to revolutionary activity, his extraordinary grasp of political nuance he placed at the service of this work, in which he came up. "

Victims of the purge [Edit]

The "Brussels" conference of the Communist Party in 1935 in Moscow was in the Central Committee controversial M apparatus partially dissolved and the former head Kippenberger removed from the Central Committee. [9] It also weakened the position of Roth's, since he is the confidant Kippenberger and trailers been off Politburo members Hermann Schubert and Fritz Schulte was. Roth was dismissed from his post in the Communist Party and called to Moscow. [10] From the beginning of 1936 he worked as a "Ernst Hess" in a Soviet research institute for cars and tractors. Unfortunately for him, was the fact that since the assassination of the first secretary of the Leningrad party organization Sergei Kirov end of 1934 a further Stalinist purge alleged "Trotskyist elements" began, which then led to the Great Terror. In June 1936 the party a concrete denunciation written by Roth was Grete Wilde (aka "Erna Mertens") before (which should weigh later Herbert Wehner), 22 November 1936 he was therefore arrested by the NKVD in Moscow. The charges against him was that he was the military attach of the British, French and Czech embassies in Berlin also informed about the internals of the Communist Party and to regularly receive money. During interrogations, he stressed Hans Kippenberger hard but tried to relieve and Helga Marie-Luise von Hammerstein, by making false statements to Marie-Therese von Hammerstein, the then already out of danger, was there emigrated to Japan. On 30 August 1937 Wehner responded in a multi-page presentation on allegations of the Comintern, he was closely familiar with Roth. In it, he distanced himself from some of Roth's actions and attitudes, while others he justified. [5] The Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR Roth said on 10 November 1937 the preparation of terrorist attacks and espionage guilty and sentenced him to death. Leo Roth was shot on the same day in the basement of the Lubyanka.

Family [Edit]

Leo Roth probably had no children. Helga von Hammerstein escaped the fate of her partner in the "Trapped Moscow" because Walter Ulbricht spoke out against the desired of her emigration to the Soviet Union. They married in 1939 Walter Rossow and died in 2003.

References [edit]First Roth, Leo (Viktor). In: Hermann Weber, Andreas Herbst: German communists. Biographical Handbook 1918 to 1945. 2nd, rev. and strongly heated. Edition. Karl Dietz Verlag, Berlin, 2008, ISBN 978-3-320-02130-6.2nd Hans Magnus Enzensberger 2008: The Hammerstein or obstinacy. A German Story. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt, ISBN 978-3-518-41960-1 third Bernd Kaufmann inter alia 1993: The news service of the Communist Party from 1919 to 1937. Dietz, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-320-01817-74th Franz Feuchtwanger: The military-political apparatus of the Communist Party in the years 1928-1935. Memories, in: 'International Scientific Correspondence of the history of the German workers' movement (IWK), Vol 17 Issue 4, December 1981, pp. 485-5335th abcd Reinhard Mller 1993: The Act Wehner. Moscow until 1937 1941st Rowohlt Berlin, 1 Edition, ISBN 978-3-871-34056-76th Gabriele Gerhard Sonnenberg 1976: Marxist Workers Education in the Weimar period (MACH). Pahl-Rugenstein Verlag, Cologne, ISBN 978-3-760-90245-67th from Siegfried Grundmann 1998: Einstein's record: 978-3-540-63197-2 Einstein year in Germany from the perspective of German policy, Springer, Berlin, ISBN8th Herbert Wehner 1982, testimony. Personal notes, 1929 - 1942. Edited by Gerhard Jahn, Cologne: Kiepenheuer & Witsch 1982, ISBN 3-462-01498-69th G. v. Schnehen (OD): Revisionist or Marxist-Leninist? Ulbricht - a documentary. [1] 10th Reinhard Mller 2001: Trapped Moscow. Stalinist persecution and exile. Hamburger Edition, 1st Edition, ISBN 978-3-930-90871-4