Fritz Wiedemann once Hitler’s personal adjutant and later Consul General

Fritz Wiedemann Consul General

Fritz Wiedemann (16 August 1891 – 17 January 1970), the former adjutant of Hitler and later Consul General in San Francisco were arrested in July 1947 at his country residence in Neuhofen. From 1933 to 1939, he was Hitler’s personal adjutant, head of the Reich Office of the NSDAP, brigade leader of the NSKK, and holder of the Golden Party Badge. According to his statement, he was transferred to San Francisco because of differences of opinion with Hitler. Wiedemann was in China until 1945.

Some of his personal belongings were auctioned in Germany in Dec 2019, including two diplomatic passports from 1939 and 1941.

Wiedemann and Hitler first came into contact during the First World War when Hauptmann Wiedemann, as regimental adjutant, was Corporal Hitler’s superior. Along with Max Amann, he was one of Hitler’s most active supporters in the regiment, nominating him for the Iron Cross, First Class, on several occasions before the medal was given in 1918. While giving evidence at the Nuremberg Trials, Wiedemann suggested that Hitler had failed to gain promotion in the regiment due to commanding officers viewing him as a ‘Bohemian.’ Fritz Wiedemann Consul General

After the war, Wiedemann left the army and became a farmer, initially refusing an offer from Hitler at the regimental reunion in 1922 to help organize the Sturmabteilung (SA). However, when Hitler came to power in 1933, Wiedemann accepted a new offer, initially in the offices of Rudolf Hess before taking up his post at Hitler’s side, as well as Nazi Party membership, on 2 February 1934. From then on, Wiedemann remained at Hitler’s side, accompanying him on state visits, facilitating meetings, and dealing with Hitler’s correspondence. He also attended a meeting with Lord Halifax in July 1938, in which Wiedemann made it clear that Hitler intended to deal with the problem of the Sudetenland by force.

Not long after this, Wiedemann fell out of favor with Hitler as his rival Julius Schaub became the more critical adjutant. After trysting with Stephanie von Hohenlohe, he was “exiled,” in January 1939, to San Francisco as a Consul General to the United States. In public, Wiedemann continued to support Nazism and led a playboy lifestyle, which included attendance at society parties, membership of the exclusive Olympic Club, and regular appearances in the columns of Herb Caen.

He met with the British agent Sir William Wiseman, warning him of Hitler’s unstable personality and urging Britain to attack Germany. He also offered to denounce the German regime publicly, but the White House at that time had no interest in such an offer. Fritz Wiedemann Consul General

Thomas Weber has found the records of Wiedemann’s talks with him in 1940 in which Wiedemann openly warned against Hitler and claimed Hitler had a “split personality and numbered among the cruelest people in the world, saw himself better than Napoleon and that peace with him was impossible.” He told Wiseman of Hitler’s plans to attack and conquer the UK and “recommended strongly” that the British themselves strike as quickly and as “hard as possible” against him.

He told Wiseman that the morale of the German population and the support of Hitler were lower than generally believed. Thomas Weber said if Hitler had known about Wiedemann’s “treason,” he would have given him the death penalty. Fritz Wiedemann Consul General

Wiedemann was subsequently sent to Tientsin, where he was a central figure in German espionage in China, apparently this time without betraying Hitler. After the Second World War, Wiedemann was arrested in Tientsin, China, in September 1945, and flown to the United States. He gave evidence at Nuremberg, although charges made against him were dropped in 1948, and he subsequently returned to farming, disappearing from public life.

 

The Madera Tribune, Volume LXXVII, Number 68 reported on 20 February 1941… Nazi San Francisco Consul Sued By Former Wife of Army Officer

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 20. The divorced wife of a lieutenant colonel in the United States army today demanded that German Consul General Fritz Wiedemann pay her $8000 for acting as his secret agent in Berlin. She is Mrs. Alice Crockett, former wife of Lieutenant Colonel Gilman K. Crockett of Camp Jackson, South Carolina. Mrs. Crockett, 37, a woman with a round, plump face, and dark, bobbed hair, was born in Zurich. She now makes her living as a governess. Her suit, filed in superior court, said that Wiedemann, in 1939, had a misunderstanding with Adolf Hitler, German Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels, and Field Marshal Hermann Goering, regarding his ability to discharge his duties as chief of the Nazi propaganda and espionage services in the United States. $500 PER MONTH SALARY She said he agreed to pay her $500 a month and expenses to sound out Hitler, Goebbels, and Goering, and she stayed in Germany from June until December 1939. She said she saw Goebbels, Goering, and Hitler “five or six times,” and when she returned, she was able to report that Hitler thought he was “the best man for the job we have to do in the United States.” Wiedemann said the suit was “ridiculous.” “My record is clear. The entire suite is without any foundation.” He said that he had repeatedly refused to give Mrs. Crockett a job in the consulate and that she had tried to borrow money from him.

“Matters were arranged on a social basis,” she said, explaining that she had met the consul general when she called at the consulate to inquire about relatives in Germany. ON SOCIAL BASIS Wiedmann’s side o the case was advanced by Otto A. Hoecker, the consulate attorney. He said that she introduced herself at the consulate in 1939, and said she was greatly impressed with Nazism and wanted to work for it in the United States. Hoecker said Wiedemann told her he had nothing for her at the consulate and did not hire agents. Nevertheless, she persisted in calling at the consulate, Roecker said, and in the summer of 1939 told Wiedemann she was going to Germany and needed a letter of introduction. He said Wiedemann gave her a letter to a German Motion picture executive and did not hear from her again until a year ago when she wrote to him from New York that she was sick and friendless and needed $100.