Ludwig von Wohl
| Louis de Wohl | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ludwig von Wohl 24 January 1903 Berlin, German Empire |
| Died | 2 June 1961 (aged 58) Lucerne, Switzerland |
| Nationality | Hungarian, British |
Louis de Wohl, earlier Ludwig von Wohl, was a German-born Catholic author, and had served as an astrologer notable for his work with MI5 during World War II. Sixteen of his popular pre-war novels were the basis of movies. His later novels are literary hagiographies of notable Roman Catholic saints and of different periods of the Bible.
Wohl was born in Berlin to a poor Catholic family, with a Hungarian father and Austrian mother, both of Jewish descent. When he was only 17 years old, his mother pushed him into an apprenticeship to a banker, from which he was dismissed in 1924, at the age of 21. In 1935, he emigrated to England due to his objections to the Nazi regime. Some sources claim that he there had a wife named Alexandra, who fled to Santiago, Chile, where she claimed to be a Romanian princess and was known as "La Baronessa."
Wohl worked as an astrologer for the British intelligence agency MI5 during World War II. His MI5 file was released in early 2008. He was recruited initially by Sir Charles Hambro, then running the Special Operations Executive, to devise black propagando for use against Germany, and allegedly as an informant because he was casting horoscopes for people of interest to MI5.In May 1941 he was sent to America to contribute to astrological magazines and newspapers which at the time were using articles by astrologers favourable to Nazi Germany. Having published many articles, lectured against Germany and given many interviews to the press, he returned to England in February 1942, claiming that he had been promised a commission in the British Army. Sefton Delmer, a notable purveyor of black propaganda, arranged a fake document certifying de Wohl as a Captain in the British Army, and he took to wearing the uniform (though refrained when he realized the position was untenable). His main value to Delmer was his contact with Karl Ernst Krafft, the German astrologer working in Berlin for Dr Goebbels. He assisted Delmer in forging copies of Krafft's magazine Zenit German and other astrologcal magazines dropped over Germany and 'foretelling' the destruction of U-boats. Delmer nevertheless continued to employ him until the end of the war, and considered his contribution valuable.
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