and agents to planning anticolonial agitation in the British Empire
and eventually to the explosion at Black Tom Island, contributed to
a dramatic rise in anti-German sentiment.
Key operatives such as Kurt Jahnke and Franz Rintelen disdain-
fully avoided the liberally inclined ambassador, while Bernstorff
revealed a very mixed attitude and generally sought to know as little
about these matters as possible. His tenure abruptly ended with the
revelation of the Zimmermann Telegram in early 1917. Feeling
deeply discouraged that his advocacy of a mediated peace had been
rebuffed, he returned to Berlin and accepted an ambassadorship to
Constantinople. After the war, Bernstorff staunchly supported the
Weimar Republic and the League of Nations, but with the advent of
Nazi rule in 1933, he chose to live in exile in Geneva, where he died
on 6 October 1939. Regrettably, his main autobiographical account—
Erinnerungen und Briefe (The Memoirs of Count Bernstorff)—omits
any mention of wartime espionage in the United States, even those
instances that he had denounced to the Foreign Office.BEST, WERNER (1903–1989). The chief architect of the Reichssi-
cherheitshauptamt (RSHA) as well as the Reich commissioner for
occupied Denmark, Werner Best was born in Darmstadt on 10 July
1903, the son of a postal official. In 1927, he completed a doctorate
in law following studies at Frankfurt am Main, Freiburg, Giessen,
and Heidelberg. A political activist and organizer, he became drawn
to “national revolutionary” circles and was twice imprisoned by the
French during the Ruhr occupation. He joined the Nazi Party in 1930.
In 1931, Best had to resign his position in the Hessian Justice Depart-
ment because of his involvement in the Boxheim affair. Documents
had been found bearing his imprint and outlining measures to be
taken by the Nazis in the event of a communist insurrection.
Despite his momentary fall from grace within the party, he re-
mained a Nazi delegate in the Hessian legislature and, in 1933,
became appointed police commissioner of the state. Yet conflict
soon developed with his new superiors and prompted his removal.
Best’s reputation, however, attracted the notice of SS head Heinrich
Himmler, who directed him to Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Si-
cherheitsdienst (SD). Appointed initially to the SD district based in
Stuttgart that encompassed Baden and Württemberg, Best advanced
36 • BEST, WERNER