Klara Schabbel

Clara Schabbel (born 9 August 1894 in Friedrichshain, Berlin, died 5 August 1943 in Plötzensee Prison) was a German communist and Soviet intelligence officer. During the 1920s and 1930s, Schabbel lived with Henry Robinson, a comintern agent who ran an espionage network that operated between France, Great Britain and Switzerland. Schabbel, working from a house in Hennigsdorf, became the main liaison between the German communist party (KPD) and Johann Wenzel, a radio operator who assisted and also transmitted intelligence for the KPD. However, her clandestine work was eventually discovered and she was arrested by the Gestapo in October 1942 and executed in August 1943 in Plötzensee Prison.

Life Clara Schabbel was the daughter of rope maker Ludwig Schabbel and his wife Emilie Pauline, née Borchert. Her birthplace was located at what was then Landsberger Straße 14 (today approximately 26) Both her parents were politically aligned with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

Career After finishing primary school, Schabbel attended evening classes where she studied stenography, typography and business studies. During World War I her political views crystallised and she joined the communist Spartacus League led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. Through contacts in the Spartacus League she became associated with the International Communists of Germany and then by December 1918 a founding member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Between 1919 and 1920, Shabbel worked at the Western European Secretariat of the Communist International (Comintern) in Berlin. The couple's son Leo was born in 1922. In Berlin, Schabbel was politically inactive. In 1926, she became a member of the Comintern. Amongst her duties was to act as liaison between the underground KPD and Johann Wenzel, a GRU agent and radio man of a Soviet espionage network in Europe later known as the Red Orchestra ("Rote Kapelle"). Schabbel was sentenced by the 2nd Senate of the Reichskriegsgericht to the death penalty 'because of enemy favoritism'. On 5 August 1943, Schabbel was executed in Plötzensee Prison on the same day as Ursula Goetze, Liane Berkowitz, Eva-Maria Buch, Anna Krauss, Hilde Coppi, Maria Terwiel, Else Imme, Cato Bontjes van Beek, Oda Schottmüller, Rose Schlösinger, Frida Wesolek and Ingeborg Kummerow were executed.

In her last letter to relatives she stated:

"Dear girls, dear brother-in-law, dear nephews and nieces, I send you a farewell greeting today. My time is up. Don't worry, I'll soon be over it all. Thank you so much for your love... I'm not afraid and I'll die peacefully. Keep a place for me in your hearts. Give my regards to all my friends you still know and see. Stay healthy, and may you all spend many more happy hours together. I hope the war will end soon... So farewell, farewell. I send you all my deepest kisses in my thoughts. Your sister, sister-in-law, and Aunt Klara." After being interrogated by the Gestapo, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison by the imperial court.

Odonymy In the Biesdorf area of the borough of Marzahn-Hellersdorf of Berlin, a street was renamed Klara Schabbel Strasse.

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