December 17, 1940
Princess Stephanie of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst has to leave the country, according to the Justice department, whch has denied her request for an extension of her visitor's permit. She was with Capt. Fritz Weidemann, the German consul in San Francisco, when federal agents located her and told her that she would face a deportation order if she did not leave the United States by December 21. The princess arrived in the USA on December 22, 1938 on a Hungarian passport. She received one extension to her visitor's visa, and requested a second extension on November 18. This extension was denied.
She is known to have a "close association with the Nazis."
A British Labour MP described the princess as a "notorious member of Hitler's spy organization."
No reason was given for the denial of the extension.
There was no comment from Princess Stephanie, who was born Stephanie Richter. In 1914, she married Prince Franz of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürt. They were divorced several years later.
Wow, thanks Marlene!
ReplyDeleteApparently, that's not half of it.
To read the Wikipedia biography of Pss Stephanie, her life of intrigue, spying and bed-hopping would make a great movie!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_von_Hohenlohe
At the bottom of the Wikipedia link is a reference (and further link) to a 1941 Memorandum on Stephanie von Hohenlohe for President Roosevelt (in the FDR Presidential Library), which states, following her divorce, that she entered the "field of international intrigue and, following her reputation as a 'gold digger', endeavored to marry John Darden of the Standard Oil family and later became the mistress of Donald Malcolm, an international banker.".
http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/psf/box3/a31a01.html
The Wiki site also says she arranged the 1937 visit to Germany of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
But the Princess seems to have been a double agent: "Documents released after her death, show that for the newly formed Office of Strategic Services (OSS), Princess Stephanie provided considerable insight into the character of Adolf Hitler that helped Professor Henry A. Murray, Director of the Harvard Psychological Clinic, and psychoanalyst Dr. Walter C. Langer prepare the 1943 OSS report titled the 'Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler.'"
I would never ever trust a Wikipedia entry, actually. However, there is a very good bio on Steph called Hitler's Spy Princess by Martha Schad. Her son served in the the US military, and wrote his memoirs, GI Prince.
ReplyDelete