Himmler’s ‘Nazi princess’ had postwar German intelligence role

THE daughter of Heinrich Himmler was employed by Germany’s intelligence service in the Sixties despite remaining a fervent Nazi until her last breath, it has been disclosed.

Gudrun Burwitz, known by some as the “Nazi princess”, died aged 88 last month in Munich. She had worked for Germany’s BND spy agency as a secretary from 1961 to 1963, Germany’s Bild newspaper reported yesterday.

“The BND confirms that Ms Burwitz was a member for a few years until 1963 under an assumed name,” Bodo Hechelhammer, the head of the BND’S history department, confirmed yesterday. “The timing of her departure coincided with the onset of a change in the understanding and the handling of employees who were involved with the Nazis.”

Up until now, the BND has been unable to speak about the role Mrs Burwitz played, due to its policy of not commenting on active or former employees, Mr Hechelhammer added.

Mrs Burwitz, who was active in farright extremism and who attended and spoke at Nazi marches, was one of the few “Nazikinder” to remain fiercely loyal to her father throughout her life.

Himmler’s only child born in wedlock, Mrs Burwitz was 16 when her father, the commander of the SS, killed himself with a cyanide pill to evade capture and execution by British forces in 1945.

At just 12 years old, Mrs Burwitz visited Dachau concentration camp with her father. While there she allegedly wrote in her diary: “Today we went to the SS concentration camp at Dachau. We saw everything we could … We saw all the pictures painted by the prisoners. Marvellous. And afterwards we had a lot to eat. It was very nice.”

In later years, Mrs Burwitz became heavily involved with Stille Hilfe (Silent Help), an organisation that supported arrested, condemned and fugitive SS members.

Her time in this organisation was what led her to be named by some as the “princess of Nazism”.

Germany has come under criticism in recent years for its lenient treatment of far-right extremists after the Second World War, with some historians suggesting that many retained positions of power and authority in the security services of West Germany.

The BND security service was founded in 1956 by Reinhard Gehlen, a former Nazi military intelligence commander, who led it until 1968. It has been suggested that, under his influence, employees may have used their power to protect far-right sympathisers such as Mrs Burwitz.

In recent years, Germany has been attempting to come to terms with its Nazi past and with the postwar treatment of former Nazis.

In 2013, the trial of the far-right National Socialist Underground group, which killed 10 people between 2000 and 2007, uncovered racist attitudes within the country’s domestic spy agency, prompting reforms.

This week, a court in Detmold sentenced 89-year-old Ursula Haverbeck, nicknamed the “Nazi grandma” by German media, to 14 months in prison for denying the Holocaust.