PR93085

LONDON, Nov. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

-- Key German plotter was British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) spy who met

regularly with his handlers throughout planning of the infamous attempt

-- Otto John was dispatched to meet with MI6 under instructions of key Valkyrie

leader, Colonel Georg Hansen

-- Exclusive discoveries were made during the course of legal battle to return

Nazi-confiscated property

New evidence has come to light which points for the first time to British

involvement in "Operation Valkyrie" - the infamous failed 20 July 1944 plot to

kill Hitler. Up until now history books presumed that the operation was

exclusively the work of the German resistance.

Intelligence author Nigel West made the discovery while researching a new

history of the "Abwehr", the German wartime intelligence agency. At the heart

of the conspiracy was the grandfather of Prince Frederick Solms-Baruth V, who

is fighting the German government for the return of his family's property.  It

acted as a base for the resistance and was confiscated as punishment by the

Nazis after the plot failed.  

Now the discovery of a British agent recruited by MI6 two years before the

attempt and embedded close to the top of the resistance, shows that MI6 was

fully aware, complicit - if not actively involved - in the assassination

attempt.

THE SPY

MI6's asset, Dr Otto John, was perfectly placed to act as a spy. Undercover as

a Lufthansa lawyer, he travelled frequently to neutral Spain and Portugal at

the behest of Colonel Georg Hansen (who would rise to be appointed head of the

Abwehr) to hold extensive meetings with the British regarding the liquidation

of Adolf Hitler, without arousing suspicion.

HOW THE DISCOVERY WAS MADE

This information was never connected until West made the discovery. His

previous work had already established that MI6 agents Winsor has been in

contact with John, but until now nobody had realised the significance of their

meetings and the role John played for Colonel Hansen. Further confirmation came

from MI5 Oxford-academic and ex-MI5 analyst Herbert Hart (later Professor

jurisprudence at Oxford University), who minuted in John's recently

declassified MI5 file that he had indeed been working for the British since

1942.

WHAT IT MEANS

This casts a new light on the famous plot, which was previously attributed as

exclusively the work of German resistance. As a spy, John´s role was to act as

an intermediary between Georg Hansen, and MI6. Until West's research, to be

published in his forthcoming book, this connection was unclear.

WITHHELD SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE RECORDS STILL NOT PUBLIC – THE MISSING

LINK

MI6 holds a sealed file on Otto John, which it will not declassify on the

grounds that the Service has no legal requirement to do so, and has a duty to

protect the identity of all agents, even those long-dead. Dr John died in March

1997.

THE REASON FOR THE DISCOVERY

Solms-Baruth has carried on his father´s fight to have the family estate,

currently still in possession of the Federal Republic, returned.  It was

confiscated by Nazis for the central role his grandfather Prince Frederick III

played in the July 20th coup. His grandfather acted both as advisor to the new,

post-assassination constitution, based on the British model, and provided his

castle as the HQ for plot preparations.

It was Prince Frederick Solms-Baruth V's team´s extensive research that led

Nigel West to substantiate that the castle of Baruth had become the

headquarters for the resistance, housing the Abwehr conspirators who supplied

the British explosives and time-fuses for the bomb, and then to discover the

link to British Intelligence via Otto John.

"This is unprecedented. The object of this research was to categorically

confirm my grandfather's house as the resistance Headquarters.  I never dreamt

it would also reveal British involvement in trying to bring down one of the

most evil men in history."

Prince Frederick Solms Baruth V

December 9th sees a further legal hearing on the 32-years long Solms-Baruth

restitution case in the German courts and includes this new evidence.

Prince Frederick Solms Baruth V is available for interview

Further information including MI5 file extracts, photographs of spy Otto John,

Resistance leader Georg Hansen, Prince Frederick Solms-Baruth III, the site of

the resistance, the aftermath of Operation Valkyrie and Prince Frederick V are

all available.

ABOUT PRINCE FREDERICK SOLMS-BARUTH V:

More can be read here:

https://www.solms-baruth.com/about-pince-frederick-solms-baruth-v

ABOUT NIGEL WEST

More can be read here: http://nigelwest.com/abouttheauthor.htm

His book Hitler's Nest of Vipers will be published by Frontline Books in 2022.

Source: The Office of Solms Baruth