SCHRAGMÜLLER, ELSBETH (1887–1940). The sole female intel-
ligence official engaged by Abteilung IIIb during World War I, Els-
beth (originally Elisabeth) Schragmüller was born in Schlüsselburg
(Westphalia) on 7 August 1887, the daughter of a former Prussian
army officer. After attending Germany’s first girls’ school in Karls-
ruhe, she completed a doctorate in political economy at Freiburg in
- Anxious to serve her country at the outbreak of World War
I, Schragmüller pressed authorities for a frontline assignment and
proceeded to occupied Brussels, finding a position with the postal
interception bureau of the German military administration. Her well-
informed reports and strategic understanding led to her transfer as
head of a subsection of the Kriegsnachrichtenstelle in Antwerp.
From early 1915 until the end of the war, Schragmüller’s office had
prime responsibility for intelligence matters involving France and
other areas of the Western theater. She placed particular value on
French deserter-spies as a source of information and also assisted
in the preparation of Mata Hari, whose performance proved to be
a disappointment. According to IIIb head Walter Nicolai, the term
“Mademoiselle Docteur” was coined by Schragmüller and used when
addressing her agents.
After the war, Schragmüller became the object of numerous erro-
neous and exaggerated stories. There was, for example, no dramatic
descent into insanity or morphine addiction. Rather she returned to
a university position at Freiburg and later toured as a lecturer on her
wartime experiences. A short autobiographical piece appeared in - Despite the denial of officer status owing to her gender, Nicolai
believed that Schragmüller would have been recalled to intelligence
service in World War II, but she died in Munich on 24 February - Although the depiction of her life envisioned by Leni Riefen-
stahl fell victim to a 1933 army ban on all German-made spy films,
the director G. W. Papst completed a version in France four years
afterward entitled Mademoiselle Docteur.
SCHULMEISTER, KARL (1770–1853). The foremost spy in
the extensive intelligence network of Napoleon Bonaparte, Karl
Schulmeister was born in Neufreistett (Baden-Württemberg) on
5 August 1770, the son of a Lutheran clergyman. A smuggler in
the Rhenish border region, he was recruited for French service
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