Hans Schimpf

Hans Friedrich Wilhelm Schimpf (1897 in Esslingen – 10 April 1935 in Breslau) was a German Reichsmarine and intelligence officer. During the interwar period he helped co-found, on instruction from the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, the Signals intelligence organization called the Forschungsamt (Abbr. FA); along with Hermann Göring and Gottfried Schapper. He was responsible for the organization between 1933 and 1935.

Life Schimpf was the son of the entrepreneur Ernst Schimpf and Rosa Helene Schimpf née Fink. He had a sister Elisabeth Eugenie Rosa Merz. Schimpf married Margaretha Helena Schimpf née Deffner and had four children, including actor Rolf Schimpf.

Career He entered the German Navy at a young age. He had reached the rank of Korvettenkapitän by 1933. In 1933, Schimpf came to the notice of Hermann Göring who was looking for new trained personnel for his new agency, the Forschungsamt. Schimpf had been acting as a liaison officer between the Reichsmarine Signals intelligence service, B-Dienst and the German Army signals intercept service, the Abwehr cipher bureau. At that time, Schimpf was a personal friend of Göring and a Nazi.

Death

In mid-April 1935, Schimpf, who could always be reached by telephone, had gone away for an indefinite period. Rumours began to circulate, due to the conflicting information that was coming from the agency, then it was confirmed: Schimpf was dead. Several versions of his death were reported, including a car accident, that happened in Silesia, then in Berlin, then in Künigsberg. Later people were informed he committed suicide, with a dozen locations mentioned as the place of death, with one story that he killed himself with a lady friend.

Wilhelm F. Flicke, a German World War II veteran cipher officer who was commissioned by General Erich Fellgiebel to write a history of German cryptography and cryptanalysis during the war, wrote in his book War secrets in the ether the following:

for his eavesdropping on the Reichswehr, Schimpf had recruited and organized an agent network within the organization for his work. In March 1935, one of these agents had extracted an exceedingly important document from a safe in the Reichswehr in order to turn it over to the FA for Mimeographing and inspection. The documents were needed by the Reichswehr, a few days before Easter and they couldn't be located. An investigation was initiated, with the results reported to Werner von Blomberg, who was in opposition to Hermann Göring and Schimpf, made a case before Hitler, who ended up disavowing Schimpf.

On the 10 April 1935, when Göring was getting married, Schimpf was found in Grünewald with a bullet hole in his head. There can be no doubt that Schimpf did not commit suicide but was assassinated by the Gestapo. Schimpf was a generally happy individual who was extremely fond of life, but became dangerous to both Göring and Himmler, and had to be killed.

Schimpf was cremated in a crematory in Wilmersdorf in an elaborate ceremony carried out by Göring. A large wreath was delivered with the inscription:

To my Faithful Collaborator Hans Schimpf, In Gratitude Hermann Göring

This was followed by an address by State Secretary Erhard Milch and a salute of honour.