STOTZINGEN MISSION. The covert attempt to establish a German
foothold in southern Arabia during World War I, the Stotzingen Mis-
sion was conceived in late 1915 with Turkish permission and headed
by Othmar von Stotzingen, a reserve officer with proven credentials.
Hoping to take advantage of Great Britain’s recent military defeats
in the Middle East, the elaborate plan called for the construction of a
propaganda and intelligence outpost in the Yemeni port of Hodeida
that would also provide support for German military operations
in East Africa. Yet on 5 June 1915, Stotzingen and his party were
caught unawares in the midst of an anti-Turkish revolt led by Husayn
ibn Ali. While Stotzingen and two of his five men managed to es-
cape and return along the Red Sea coast to Syria, some incriminating
documents were left behind in the melee and were passed on to the
British by Husayn.
STROHMEYER, FRANZ (1815–1848). A one-time radical journalist
who served as an agent for the Mainzer Informationsbüro (MIB),
Franz Strohmeyer began publishing the Wächter am Rhein in the af-
termath of the July Revolution in France in 1830. When the Frankfurt
Central Investigation Committee banned the publication because of
its “revolutionary machinations and journalistic misconduct,” he fled
via Strasbourg to Switzerland and became editor in chief of the Sch-
weizer Freiheitsfreund. In 1834, Strohmeyer joined three other exile
Germans in Bern to found the secret society Junges Deutschland.
His expulsion from Switzerland three years later, however, resulted
in his recruitment by Bernhard Lizius for the MIB. Strohmeyer’s
regular submissions began in 1843, appearing under the cover names
Linder and Dr. West. Forced to leave France, he relocated in London
as the English correspondent for the Badische Zeitung, but by 1844
he was reporting from Paris, Lyon, and Strasbourg. His assignment
to monitor the growing communist movement brought him back to
Switzerland for a short period. His final position was in Constance as
editor of the Tagesherold. Falling gravely ill in spring 1847, Stroh-
meyer died the following year.
STRÜBING, JOHANN (1907–?). A former Gestapo official forced
to resign from the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), Jo-
hann Strübing entered police service in 1927. Assigned to the main
STRÜBING, JOHANN • 451