Reinhard Spitzy

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

Reinhard Spitzy, the son of Hans Spitzy, was born in Graz, Germany, on 11th February 1912. Spitzy was educated in Vienna. He then attended a military school. A supporter ofAdolf Hitler he joined the Nazi Party in October, 1931 and the SS in January, 1932.

In 1936 he was appointed secretary to Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German Ambassador in London. In 1938 he returned to the Foreign Office in Berlin with Ribbentrop. He was a regular visitor to the Reich Chancellery where he met Eva Braun. He later recalled: "Hitler wanted to be absolutely free, and she should give him a small bourgeois home with cake and tea. Hitler didn't want to have a socially high person. He could have had them, but he didn't want to have a woman who would discuss with him political questions or who would try to have her influence, and that Eva Braun never did. Eva Braun didn't interfere in politics." He claims that Eva Braun had some privileges that enabled her to do what was forbidden to others: "She was allowed to sing, to dance, to paint her nails with red paint, and she was allowed to smoke a cigarette outside. Meanwhile, we had to go to the loo to smoke... Hitler had a very good nose, and it was forbidden to smoke. But Eva Braun was allowed everything."

After the outbreak of the Second World War he was involved in negotiations with United States companies in Germany. By the summer of 1941, he was was working with Wilhelm Canaris, head of German military intelligence, the Abwehr. Spitzy worked from 1943 with Walter Schellenberg and Prince Max Egon zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg in the Reich Security Main Office.

After the war, Spitzy, who was on the wanted list and for a couple of years hid in Spanish monasteries. He fled toArgentina in 1948. He did not return to Germany until January 1958.

Reinhard Spitzy died on 2nd November, 2010.

© John Simkin

(1) Reinhard Spitzy, interviewed by Cate Haste for her book, Nazi Women (2001)

Hitler wanted to be absolutely free, and she should give him a small bourgeois home with cake and tea. Hitler didn't want to have a socially high person. He could have had them, but he didn't want to have a woman who would discuss with him political questions or who would try to have her influence, and that Eva Braun never did. Eva Braun didn't interfere in politics... She was allowed to sing, to dance, to paint her nails with red paint, and she was allowed to smoke a cigarette outside. Meanwhile, we had to go to the loo to smoke... Hitler had a very good nose, and it was forbidden to smoke. But Eva Braun was allowed everything.