section deals with the actual event. For Hitler, the gains were nu-
merous. Besides dealing a severe blow to British intelligence, he
managed to link the incident in the mind of the German public with
the attempt on his life and—in light of Klop’s involvement—use it
as a pretext for the invasion of the Netherlands the following year.
Moreover, given the improbability that the British would again trust
a German professing anti-Hitler connections, it proved to be added
insurance for the regime. For Schellenberg, who regretted not being
able to develop the relationship with Best and Stephens further, the
incident helped to advance his career significantly. He was awarded
the Iron Cross First Class by Hitler himself.VERBER, OTTO. See PONGER, KURT.
VERMEHREN, ERICH (1919–2005). A senior Abwehr official who
defected to the British during World War II, Erich Vermehren was
born in Lübeck on 23 December 1919, the son of a lawyer. Because
of his repeated refusal to join the Hitler Youth, the Nazi government
forbade his acceptance of a Rhodes scholarship to attend Oxford
University. His passport was also revoked, thus precluding any travel
outside Germany. Vermehren, who became a lawyer, converted to
Roman Catholicism in 1939 after meeting his future wife, Countess
Elisabeth von Plettenberg, who earlier had clandestinely distributed
the anti-Nazi encyclical “Mit brennender Sorge” and was briefly
imprisoned by the Gestapo.
In late 1943, despite an exemption from military service because
of a childhood injury, Vermehren obtained a position in the Abwehr
with the assistance of a cousin in the Foreign Office, Adam von Trott
zu Solz, and Paul Leverkuehn, the station chief in Istanbul. Fol-
lowing a brief course in espionage techniques, Vermehren arrived in
Istanbul with the intention of defecting with his wife to the British. In
light of an earlier approach in Lisbon, Nicholas Eliot, the representa-
tive of Secret Intelligence Service’s counter espionage subsection in
Istanbul, was already aware of Vermehren’s desire. Hardly had Ver-
mehren been joined by his wife than a summons was issued by the
Gestapo to return to Berlin in connection with the arrest of his friend
and anti-Hitler conspirator Otto Kiep. They, however, refused and, in
early February 1944, made final plans for their escape. Traveling via
VERMEHREN, ERICH • 473