Gerhard von Mende

Gerhard von Mende (December 25, 1904 – December 16, 1963) was a Baltic German who was head of the Caucasus division at the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territory, or Ostministerium, in Nazi Germany. He was a scholar on Asiatic and Muslim minorities within the Soviet Union and was considered the pioneer of mobilising them as a fifth column against the Communists, while being one of their staunchest advocates within Nazi Germany and post-war West Germany. Following World War II, he established the Research Service Eastern Europe through financing by the West German foreign office, a company which replicated his activities at the Ostministerium, becoming an intelligence asset for the CIA and BND.

Early life von Mende was born on December 25, 1904, in Riga, Latvia, the son of a banker. Following the invasion by the Soviet Union during the Latvian War of Independence, his father was rounded up with the bourgeoisie and executed. His mother and six siblings would flee to Germany, where he took an interest in studying oppressed minorities in Russia. He studied at Schulpforta from 1920 to 1923, and at the University of Berlin from 1927 to 1932, focusing on Russian, history, and Turkish. about the struggles of German minorities in the Soviet Union.

Academia After traveling through the Balkans following his studies, University of Posen, and University of Hamburg. who was Alfred Rosenberg's specialist on minorities in the Soviet Union. With the outbreak of World War II and subsequent invasion of the East by the Wehrmacht, von Mende was appointed head of the Caucasus division at the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territory, although he kept his university position at the University of Berlin. they were frequently invited into his home in Berlin for long dinners, and he worked with Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg to provide them equal status in receiving care, compensation, quarters, and other measures. His work within the General Policy Office of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territory led to him being considered the pioneer of using minorities as a fifth column against the Communists in the Soviet Union. Some authors suggest von Mende was the origin of modern "Jihad" through his work at the Ministry.

Research Service Eastern Europe Eventually the West German foreign office would fund his company called the "Research Service Eastern Europe" in Düsseldorf, where von Mende would employee many former Nazis specializing in anti-Communist propaganda along with his fifth columnists.

Fallout with CIA In 1956 von Mende increasingly became hostile toward the CIA following the creation of their front-group which would rival his RSEE, the American Committee for Liberation from Bolshevism. This group employed former Muslim Nazi Ibrahim Gacaoglu, who would also work for Radio Free Europe. von Mende however resented foreign interference with West German residents and believed that Muslims living in West Germany should be aligned with their operations.

However, by 1960, the commission in Munich had fallen under control of Said Ramadan, a U.S. asset and associate of Gacaoglu, who weakened the West German government's influence by introducing Munich as a center for European Muslims instead of just West German Muslims. a Norwegian author, and had children, including Erling von Mende. von Mende died at his desk in Düsseldorf on December 16, 1963, of a heart attack.