Hermann Görtz

Hermann Görtz (15 November 1890 – 23 May 1947) was a German spy in Britain and Ireland before and during World War II.

Hermann Görtz (also Goertz in English) arrived in Britain on 29 August 1935 with a secretary, Marianne Emig. They spent a few weeks in Suffolk and eventually moved to Broadstairs and rented a house. There they befriended British airman Kenneth Lewis and through him began to collect information about the RAF Manston air base. Emig asked for letters of Royal Air Force stationery and photographs of the planes and aerial views. When Lewis became concerned that he might be passing military information, she assured him that Britain and Germany would be on the same side in the next war. Lewis later testified that he was surprised at how much the couple already knew about the RAF.

Near the end of their six-week tenancy, Görtz visited Germany and telegraphed his landlady Mrs Johnson that he would be gone for two days and asked her to take care of his belongings in the outhouse, including his "bicycle combination". Görtz had meant his overalls, but Mrs Johnson thought he was referring to his Zündapp motorcycle. Mrs Johnson checked the outhouse, did not find the motorbike and reported to police that it had disappeared. When police investigated the apparent theft, they found sketches and documents about Manston airfield.

When Görtz returned to Britain three weeks later, police arrested him at Harwich. Emig had stayed behind in Germany.

Görtz was detained in Brixton prison. Police accused him of offences against the Official Secrets Act (effectively for espionage). The trial at the Old Bailey began in March 1936 and attracted much publicity. Görtz pleaded not guilty and claimed the documents were part of his research for an intended book about the enlargement of the British Air Force. He intended to write the book to pay off his creditors. Marianne Emig refused to come to Britain to testify for Görtz' defence, fearing that she would be tried as well.

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