Hermann Görtz

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Hermann Görtz (1890-May 23, 1947) was a German spy in Britain and Ireland before and during World War II.

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[edit] First trip to Broadstairs

Hermann Görtz (also Goertz in English) arrived to Britain in 29 August 1935 with a secretary named Marianne Emig. They spent a few weeks in Suffolk and eventually moved to Broadstairs and rented a house. There they befriended British airman Kenneth Lewis and through him begun to collect information about the RAF Manston air base. Emig asked for letters of the Air Force stationery and photographs of the planes and aerial views. When Lewis became concerned that he might be passing military information, she assured him that Britain and Germany would be on the same side in the next war. Lewis later testified that he was surprised of how much the couple already knew about the RAF.

Near the end of their 6-week tenancy, Görtz visited Germany and telegraphed his landlady Mrs Johnson that he would be gone for two days and asked her to take care of his belongings in the outhouse, including his "bicycle combination". Görtz had meant his overalls, but Mrs Johnson thought he was referring to his Zündapp motorcycle. Mrs Johnson checked the outhouse, did not find the motorbike and reported to police that it had disappeared. When police investigated the apparent theft, they found sketches and documents about Manston airfield.

When Görtz returned to Britain in three weeks later, police arrested him at Harwich. Emig had remained in Germany.

Görtz was detained in Brixton prison. Police accused him of offences against the Official Secrets Act (effectively for espionage). Trial in the Old Bailey began in March 1936 and attracted much publicity. Görtz pleaded not guilty and claimed the documents were part of his research for an intended book about the enlargement of the British Air Force. He intended to write the book to pay off his creditors. Marianne Emig refused to come to Britain to testify for Görtz' defence, fearing that she would be tried as well.

According to evidence, including letters Görtz had sent to his wife, it appeared that Görtz had been acting independently, possibly to impress the German intelligence service. He had already unsuccessfully applied for a position in the German Air Ministry. Further evidence also proved that he had interrogated Allied prisoners at the end of the World War I.

Görtz was convicted for four years penal servitude for espionage and sent to Maidstone Prison. In February 1939 he was released and deported to Germany. German military intelligence did finally employ him and he reached the rank of major.

[edit] Plan Kathleen

At the summer of 1940 Görtz parachuted into Ballivor, County Meath, Ireland in an information-gathering project. He moved to live with a Nazi sympathizer in Templeogue, Co. Dublin.[citation needed] His job was to act as a liaison officer who would try to get assistance of the IRA during a potential German invasion of Britain. However, he soon decided that IRA was too unreliable. On landing he lost the 'Ufa' transmitter he had parachuted with.

In May 1940 the Irish police raided the home of IRA member of German descent, Stephen Carroll Held who was working with Görtz. They confiscated a parachute, papers, Görtz's World War I medals, and a number of documents about the defence infrastructure of Ireland. Papers included files on possible military targets in Ireland, including airfields and harbours and plans of the so-called "Plan Kathleen", an IRA plan for the invasion of Northern Ireland with the support of the German military. Held had brought this plan to Germany prior to Görtz's departure but his superiors had disregarded it as unfeasible.

Görtz went into hiding, staying with sympathizers in the Wicklow area and purposefully avoided contact with IRA safehouses. He remained at large for a total of eighteen months. When another IRA member, Pearse Paul Kelly, was visiting his hiding place in Dublin in November 1941, police arrested them both.

Görtz was interned until the end of the war. He was first detained in Mountjoy Prison but later moved to Athlone Military barracks with 9 others. When he was paroled in 1947, he went to live with friends in Dublin but was soon informed he would be deported to Germany. On May 1947 Görtz reported to Aliens Registration Office in Dublin. Terrified that he would be turned over to the Soviets, he then swallowed a cyanide capsule. He died at Mercer's Hospital soon after.

Görtz was buried three days later in Dublin cemetery. In 1974 his remains were transferred to the German Military Cemetery at Glencree, Co. Wicklow.

In 1983, RTÉ made a dramatised television series ("Caught in a Free State") about German spies in Ireland; Görtz was played by the actor Peter Janovsky.

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