GIRLS BLACKMAILED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20544, 20 February 1935, Page 1

GIRLS BLACKMAILED.

How Polish Spies Obtained Information. BERLIN, February 18. Behind the beheading of two aristocratic German women, Baroness ton Berg and Frau von Natzner, lies a story ,of espionage never before equalled. , News of the trial was suppressed, and no one knew of the executions until after they were carried out. It was then also' revealed that the ringleader, Baron Sosnowsky, had escaped the axe and would be repatriated to Poland in exchange for three German prisoners, and that Fraulein von Jena had been sentenced to life imprisonment. Later in the day, while the evening papers were still not permitted to publish the report of or sequel to the trial, crowds gathered in kiosks and at street hoardings, where were huge scarlet posters on which big black type, headed “To Death,” announced that Benita von Falkenhayn, divorced wife of Baron von Berg, and Frau Remte von Natzner had been executed by the

axe for betraying German secrets to an enemy. The twenty-three-year-old h raulein von Jena is a descendant of the Hohenzollerns. Baron Sosnowsky had an amazing influence over women, particularly Benita, whom he met at a party in 1925, when she was married to von Falkenhayn, a son of the famous wartime General. Von F alkenhayn I divorced her and Benita was about to marry Baron Sosnowsky when she found he was having another love affair. Consequently, she married Baron von Berg, a former Russian aviator, who later fought with Germany after the Rtissian Revolution. Baron Sosnowsky soon again captivated Benita, whose mother had, after the death of Benita’s father, married Baron von Richthofen, a cousin of the aviator and a member of the Crown Prince s |

staff. • Girls Were Trapped. Benita acted as intermediary between Baron Sosnowsky and girls whom he trapped into his service. They held gav parties. Their favourite method was to invite girls connected with the Reichswehr and then, when the partv was at its height, Benita would take a flashlight of them in a compromising position and would threaten to send photographs to their families unless they revealed Reichswehr secrets. Frau von Natzner, who was aged

thirty-two, belonged to an aristocratic German family. She divorced her husband and became a Reichswehr typist in order to keep herself and her father. In her defence, it was urged that her pay was so poor that she fell an easy prev to Benita’s threats and promises. Similarly, Fraulein von Jena was also a Reichswehr typist. Both allegedly took carbon copies of documents to Benita, other documents being secretly photographed. Marriage Prohibited. It is understood that Baron Sosnowsky had earlier refused to be exchanged for three German spies imprisoned in Poland because Baron von Berg had agreed to divorce Benita to allow Baron Sosnowsky to marry, but prison officials refused to permit the marriage. Baron Sosnowsky started espionage when he wrongly believed that the Nazis had adopted a hostile policy towards Poland. The Reichswehr plot was revealed when the mother of a Reichswehr typist questioned her as to how she obtained money to dress as extravagantly as she did.