Himmler’s Pro-Nazi Daughter Was Spy In Postwar Germany
Germany’s intelligence service acknowledged on Friday that it had employed the daughter of top Nazi Heinrich Himmler in the 1960s, although she never renounced her father or Nazism, and remained active in far-right extremism.
The revelation that Himmler’s daughter Gudrun Burwitz had worked for the BND spy agency – confirmed by the BND after it was reported by Bild newspaper – could add to public soul-searching over the tolerance of some Nazis after World War Two.
Himmler, who as commander of the SS was one of the most powerful Nazis and a principal architect of the murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust, killed himself in British custody in 1945. His daughter Burwitz died last month in Munich at 88.
“The BND confirms that Ms. Burwitz was a member of the BND for a few years until 1963 under an assumed name,” Bodo Hechelhammer, the head of the BND’s history department said.
“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,” Hechelhammer said.
Germany’s intelligence services have come under criticism in recent years for failing to root out right-wing extremists in the post-war era. Critical historians say ex-Nazis and far right sympathizers working inside the security agencies of then-West Germany may have protected others.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
