Höttl, Wilhelm

Höttl was born in Vienna , Austria-Hungary , on March 19, 1915. In 1938, at the age of 23, he received his doctorate in history from the University of Vienna . While still a student, he joined the Nazi party (membership card No. 6309616) and the SS (membership card No. 309510). From the end of 1939 until the end of World War II in Europe, Höttl worked almost continuously at the Reich General Security Directorate ^[1]

Höttl first worked in Vienna in a foreign bureau of the SD, and then moved to Berlin, where he was awarded the title of SS Sturmbannführer (major). In 1944, Höttl became the acting head of Ausland-SD (intelligence and anti-espionage department in Central and Southeast Europe). In March, he was appointed to Budapest , where he served as the second official in the service of the SS representative in Hungary, the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler . In addition, Höttl served as political adviser to the German ambassador to Hungary, Edmund Wesenmeier , who, in particular, reported to Berlin about the large-scale deportation of Jews from Hungary in 1944. During his stay in Budapest, Höttl communicated with the Americans in Bern , Switzerland . ^[2]

In March 1945, Höttl contacted the OSS authorities in Switzerland, and in May 1945 surrendered to the American authorities in Bad Aussee . He was then taken to Germany, where he was imprisoned until October 1947, after which he was transferred to Austria and imprisoned in the Klessheim camp near Salzburg. ^[2] During this time, Höttl was an important witness for the prosecution at the Nuremberg trials . In a statement dated November 25, 1945, the 30-year-old Höttl spoke of his conversation with Adolf Eichmann in August 1944 in the last months of the war. Their face-to-face meeting took place at the Höttl office in Budapest, and the following was mentioned during the conversation:

About 4,000,000 Jews were killed in various concentration camps, while another 2,000,000 were killed in other ways, most of which were shot by operational units of the Security Police during the campaign against Russia. ^[3]

Höttl was released from custody in December 1947. The US military authorities refused to extradite him to the Austrian People's Court, which at that time was engaged in the prosecution of Nazi criminals. ^[4] In March 1948, he made contact with the CIC and subsequently became head of the two spy operations department, namely, MOUNT VERNON and MONTGOMERY. ^[2]

In 1952, Höttl opened a school in Bad Aussee and until 1980 was its principal. Under the pseudonym Walter Hagen, he wrote the books The Secret Front (Enigma Books, 1954) and Operation Bernhard. Historical report on the largest counterfeiters ’action of all time” (Welsermühl Verlag, Wels 1955), historical report on the largest currency counterfeiting operation in history, the so-called Operation Bernhard, during which several hundred million fake high-quality pounds were issued.

Höttl received the Cross of Merit for his work as a historian and as director of the school, despite the protest of the surviving victims of Nazism. He died on June 27, 1999 in Altaussee , Austria, at the age of 84.

• Höttl, Wilhelm. The Secret Front , Enigma Books, 1954, ISBN 1-929631-07-3
• The Trial of Adolf Eichmann , Vol 4, Session, 88. [1]
• Kahn, David. The Secret History of the Author of the Secret Front , Online publication. [2]
• The SS: 1923–1945. - Amber Books Ltd.
• Army of Evil: A History of the SS. - Caliber Printing.