GESTAPO ELUDED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25458, 12 February 1944, Page 6

GESTAPO ELUDED

o DISILLUSIONED GERMAN FAMILY LONDON, Feb. 10. "Now that Erich von Wermehren and his wife, Countess Elizabeth von Wermehren, first cousin of Herr von Papen, German Ambassador at Ankara, have reached safety, the dramatic story of their escape can be told,” says the Istanbul correspondent of the Daily Mail. "Von Wermehren had been planning for at least six months to come to our side, but the Gestapo watched his family so closely that it was impossible for them to escape together. Eventually, two months ago, secret contact was made with two British intelligence officers, and plans were carefully worked out for their escape. Von Papen dined with his cousin at an Istanbul hotel, last week before leaving for a holiday. The couple made their escape five days after von Papen left on his holiday. He returned immediately his cousin’s disappearance became known, and last week-end the Gestapo hunted high and low for the missing couple. The Germans on Tuesday gave out news that the pair had committed suicide. “The Bulgarians and the Germans are greatly worried over the extent of the information that von Wermehren brought to us. The von Wermehrens are reported to have told our intelligence officers that Nazi ideology was incompatible with their religious and national beliefs.”

An earlier message stated that von Wermehren, who was assistant German military attache in Turkey since December, 1942, is now in Allied territory. Von Wermehren declared that he was disgusted with Nazi brutality.