all officers and their agents after German reunification. He died in
Berlin on 1 January 2006.JEBSEN, JOHANN (?–1944). An Abwehr defector involved in the
British Double Cross system, Johann Jebsen was born in Hamburg
and studied at the University of Freiburg, where he developed a
friendship with Dusan Popov. In 1940, Jebsen joined the Abwehr to
avoid frontline duty and was instrumental in recruiting Popov (code
name iwan), unaware that he had already concluded an agreement
with the British. Three years later, stationed in Lisbon, Jebsen voiced
his growing disenchantment with the Nazi regime to Popov, which
led to his enlistment by MI5 beginning in September 1943 (code
name artist). The British especially valued his detailed informa-
tion about Abwehr operations and procedures and its problematic
relationship to the Sicherheitsdienst (SD). In late April 1944, in a
joint Abwehr-SD operation, Jebsen was kidnapped and brought to
Germany for interrogation in the false bottom of a trunk. The charges
concerned alleged currency violations, not his double allegiance, as
was greatly feared in London. He presumably died shortly thereafter
in the Oranienburg concentration camp.
JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES. A Christian sect targeted by both Nazi
Germany and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) as a sub-
versive organization, the Jehovah’s Witnesses adhere to a strict
set of nonconformist and apolitical beliefs. They numbered about
25,000–30,000 in Germany when they came under early attack by the
Third Reich on ideological grounds. Already in 1933, police twice
occupied their offices and printing site in Magdeburg and confiscated
their religious literature. A nationwide ban came into effect two years
later. Because of their absolute refusal to bear arms for any political
regime, many were placed in concentration camps and kept segre-
gated from other prisoners. Of the 2,000 sent to the camps, roughly
1,200 lost their lives, despite their disavowal of political resistance
and reputation for general trustworthiness. Heinrich Himmler even
held up their “fanatical faith” as an example to his own SS troops.
The GDR banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses early on in August
- According to official propaganda, they served as agents of
American imperialism and therefore posed a grave danger to the new
210 • JEBSEN, JOHANN