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Ivar Lissner
Ivar Arthur Nicolai Lissner (23 April 1909 – 4 September 1967) was a German journalist and author, and a Nazi spy during World War II.
Born to a German-Jewish father, Robert Lissner, and mother Charlotte Lissner (née Gensz), Lissner was a Baltic German of Jewish ancestry. His father was a Kommerzienrat (commerce councillor) and businessman who owned cork factories and other enterprises. Before the First World War the family moved to Moscow. They were exiled in 1917 to the Volga region and returned to Moscow after the war. The political upheavals of the postwar period resulted in the family fleeing to Riga and then to Berlin, where Lissner attended high school. He studied languages, history, anthropology and law at Greifswald, Berlin, Göttingen, Erlangen, Lyon (1931–1932) and at the Sorbonne in Paris. He obtained his PhD in Foreign Trade Law in April 1936 in Erlangen.
On 1 April 1933, Lissner joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Only one year later Lissner claimed party membership since the beginning of 1932 and also pretended to be a member of the SS since the end of 1932. These claims were designed to conceal his Jewish background and to prevent any doubts as to whether he was an "Aryan".
In 1935 he published his first book (Blick nach Draußen, "Looking Outside") which was commercially unsuccessful but achieved the desired goal: creating the perception that he was loyal to the Nazi regime. By writing this book he was able to style himself as an "ambassador" of German "values". One year later, in 1936, Ivar's father Robert Lissner was able to get hold of a forged Aryan certificate from the St. Peter's Church in Riga. It seems that this led to a more relaxed situation for the Lissner family. Ivar Lissner started a trip around the world on behalf of his publishing house "Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt" and visited the US, Canada, the Far and the Near East. His second (Völker und Kontinente ("Peoples and Continents") and third book (Menschen und Mächte am Pazifik ("People and Powers in the Pacific Region"), published 1936 and 1937, became commercially successful and had the character of travel reports. Unusually for this period his books largely abstained from any pro-Nazi views. Lissner wrote for the Hanseatic Service, the press service of his publisher, and some of his articles were, according to Heinz Höhne, also printed in Der Angriff.
When Lissner returned to Germany in January 1937, his father Robert was arrested by the Gestapo. They suspected him of being a Jew but were unable to prove it. So his father was released in poor health. Only after this episode Lissner, who, according to Höhne, never knew about his Jewish descent until the arrest of his father, began to distance himself from Nazism, but maintained an anti-Soviet attitude as a result of his experiences in Russia. This description of Höhne is contradicted by an article published on the Lissner website. According to this, Lissner always knew about his Jewish origins and never had a pro-Nazi attitude.
In 1938 he returned to East Asia on behalf of Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt and the Abwehr (the German secret service). He reported on the Japanese fighting on the Korean-Soviet border, was interviewed by Japanese newspapers and provided information to the German ambassador. He also initiated contacts between the Japanese and German military intelligence, and during his stay in Manchuria in 1938 he acted as interpreter at the defection of the KGB chief for the Far East, Genrikh Samoilovich Lyushkov. He was given exclusive rights to publish the story in the press. In 1939, while in Japan, he used as cover that he was a correspondent for Völkischer Beobachter and Der Angriff. He established contacts with the Propaganda Department and the German Embassy in Tokyo (historian Höhne describes him as an unofficial press attaché) and was at that time a respected member of the Nazi-aligned German community in Tokyo. In September 1939 the Gestapo once again investigated the case of Lissner's father and arrested him, as they believed they now had reliable evidence. Lissner consequently lost his post in Tokyo and a proceeding was opened to exclude him from the NSDAP. Lissner urged the Abwehr to release his Jewish father from Gestapo prison. This task was managed by Karl Sack and Hans von Dohnányi. Three weeks after his arrest, Robert Lissner was released. After this, Robert's wife Charlotte sold their whole furniture by auction. In mid 1940 Robert and Charlotte Lissner left Germany for Shanghai, where Percy Lissner worked for AEG. Lissner's sister Sigrid remained in Berlin despite the promise of the Abwehr that the whole Lissner family would be allowed to leave Germany. In 1941 she was murdered by the Gestapo.
Ambassador Eugen Ott employed Lissner for four more months "for reasons of expediency" after he urged the German Foreign Office that this would be "the only way to prevent Lissner from going over to the enemy" (the Allied Forces). The German Embassy in Shanghai and the leader of the NSDAP in Japan ("Landesgruppenleiter") were continuously informed by Ott about the lawsuit against Lissner. Ott also tried to expatriate him because of his Jewish origins. This was the basis of the persecution of Lissner in Manchuria. It seems that Josef Albert Meisinger later circulated the false accusations that Lissner was a Soviet spy based on Ott's idea.
In the summer of 1940 (according to Höhne) "Werner Schulz" recruited Lissner for the Abwehr after they promised to release his father from prison and let him move with his wife to Shanghai where his brother Percy was working for AEG. They also promised to restore his reputation in Tokyo.
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Ivar Lissner AI simulator
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Ivar Lissner
Ivar Arthur Nicolai Lissner (23 April 1909 – 4 September 1967) was a German journalist and author, and a Nazi spy during World War II.
Born to a German-Jewish father, Robert Lissner, and mother Charlotte Lissner (née Gensz), Lissner was a Baltic German of Jewish ancestry. His father was a Kommerzienrat (commerce councillor) and businessman who owned cork factories and other enterprises. Before the First World War the family moved to Moscow. They were exiled in 1917 to the Volga region and returned to Moscow after the war. The political upheavals of the postwar period resulted in the family fleeing to Riga and then to Berlin, where Lissner attended high school. He studied languages, history, anthropology and law at Greifswald, Berlin, Göttingen, Erlangen, Lyon (1931–1932) and at the Sorbonne in Paris. He obtained his PhD in Foreign Trade Law in April 1936 in Erlangen.
On 1 April 1933, Lissner joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP). Only one year later Lissner claimed party membership since the beginning of 1932 and also pretended to be a member of the SS since the end of 1932. These claims were designed to conceal his Jewish background and to prevent any doubts as to whether he was an "Aryan".
In 1935 he published his first book (Blick nach Draußen, "Looking Outside") which was commercially unsuccessful but achieved the desired goal: creating the perception that he was loyal to the Nazi regime. By writing this book he was able to style himself as an "ambassador" of German "values". One year later, in 1936, Ivar's father Robert Lissner was able to get hold of a forged Aryan certificate from the St. Peter's Church in Riga. It seems that this led to a more relaxed situation for the Lissner family. Ivar Lissner started a trip around the world on behalf of his publishing house "Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt" and visited the US, Canada, the Far and the Near East. His second (Völker und Kontinente ("Peoples and Continents") and third book (Menschen und Mächte am Pazifik ("People and Powers in the Pacific Region"), published 1936 and 1937, became commercially successful and had the character of travel reports. Unusually for this period his books largely abstained from any pro-Nazi views. Lissner wrote for the Hanseatic Service, the press service of his publisher, and some of his articles were, according to Heinz Höhne, also printed in Der Angriff.
When Lissner returned to Germany in January 1937, his father Robert was arrested by the Gestapo. They suspected him of being a Jew but were unable to prove it. So his father was released in poor health. Only after this episode Lissner, who, according to Höhne, never knew about his Jewish descent until the arrest of his father, began to distance himself from Nazism, but maintained an anti-Soviet attitude as a result of his experiences in Russia. This description of Höhne is contradicted by an article published on the Lissner website. According to this, Lissner always knew about his Jewish origins and never had a pro-Nazi attitude.
In 1938 he returned to East Asia on behalf of Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt and the Abwehr (the German secret service). He reported on the Japanese fighting on the Korean-Soviet border, was interviewed by Japanese newspapers and provided information to the German ambassador. He also initiated contacts between the Japanese and German military intelligence, and during his stay in Manchuria in 1938 he acted as interpreter at the defection of the KGB chief for the Far East, Genrikh Samoilovich Lyushkov. He was given exclusive rights to publish the story in the press. In 1939, while in Japan, he used as cover that he was a correspondent for Völkischer Beobachter and Der Angriff. He established contacts with the Propaganda Department and the German Embassy in Tokyo (historian Höhne describes him as an unofficial press attaché) and was at that time a respected member of the Nazi-aligned German community in Tokyo. In September 1939 the Gestapo once again investigated the case of Lissner's father and arrested him, as they believed they now had reliable evidence. Lissner consequently lost his post in Tokyo and a proceeding was opened to exclude him from the NSDAP. Lissner urged the Abwehr to release his Jewish father from Gestapo prison. This task was managed by Karl Sack and Hans von Dohnányi. Three weeks after his arrest, Robert Lissner was released. After this, Robert's wife Charlotte sold their whole furniture by auction. In mid 1940 Robert and Charlotte Lissner left Germany for Shanghai, where Percy Lissner worked for AEG. Lissner's sister Sigrid remained in Berlin despite the promise of the Abwehr that the whole Lissner family would be allowed to leave Germany. In 1941 she was murdered by the Gestapo.
Ambassador Eugen Ott employed Lissner for four more months "for reasons of expediency" after he urged the German Foreign Office that this would be "the only way to prevent Lissner from going over to the enemy" (the Allied Forces). The German Embassy in Shanghai and the leader of the NSDAP in Japan ("Landesgruppenleiter") were continuously informed by Ott about the lawsuit against Lissner. Ott also tried to expatriate him because of his Jewish origins. This was the basis of the persecution of Lissner in Manchuria. It seems that Josef Albert Meisinger later circulated the false accusations that Lissner was a Soviet spy based on Ott's idea.
In the summer of 1940 (according to Höhne) "Werner Schulz" recruited Lissner for the Abwehr after they promised to release his father from prison and let him move with his wife to Shanghai where his brother Percy was working for AEG. They also promised to restore his reputation in Tokyo.