The Spider in Hitler’s South African Web: Luitpold Werz’s Attempts to Create a Fifth Column in South Africa and Topple Jan Smuts’ Government – and His Astonishing Career in Post-War Germany

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cris.lastimport.scopus2025-11-01T04:11:25Z
dc.abstract.enBased on extensive archival research and some records that have not been available or examined by researchers until now, this article examines the career of Luitpold Werz, a German diplomat who served as the central figure in Nazi espionage operations in South Africa during World War II. The article challenges the conventional focus on Rudolf Karlowa in some of the existing scholarship and sources. Born in 1907, Werz joined the German Foreign Office in 1933 and was stationed in various diplomatic posts before arriving in Pretoria. After the outbreak of war in 1939, he was evacuated to the German Consulate General in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese East Africa, from where he coordinated extensive intelligence operations targeting the Union of South Africa. The article reveals for the first time how Werz successfully navigated denazification proceedings by portraying himself as a resistance fighter rather than a collaborator and resumed his diplomatic career in the 1950s. He served as ambassador to various countries including Indonesia and Argentina until his mysterious suicide in 1973, which occurred amid investigations involving West German intelligence chief Reinhard Gehlen and suspected East German intelligence interest in his wartime activities.
dc.affiliationCenter for the Study of History and Justice
dc.affiliationWydział Nauk Społecznych w Warszawie
dc.affiliationInstytut Nauk Społecznych
dc.contributor.authorBachmann, Klaus
dc.date.access2025-10-29
dc.date.accessioned2025-10-29T09:15:09Z
dc.date.available2025-10-29T09:15:09Z
dc.date.created2025-10-03
dc.date.issued2026
dc.description.accesstimeat_publication
dc.description.grantnumber2020/37/B/HS3/00643
dc.description.granttitleTransnationalism and Colonialism: Settler Communities in Southern Africa between NS Ideology and Apartheid’,
dc.description.sdgNoSDGsAreRelevantForThisPublication
dc.description.versionfinal_published
dc.identifier.doi10.1080/02582473.2025.2571965
dc.identifier.eissn1726-1686
dc.identifier.issn0258-2473
dc.identifier.urihttps://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/1906
dc.identifier.weblinkhttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02582473.2025.2571965?src=
dc.languageen
dc.pbn.affiliationnauki o polityce i administracji
dc.rightsClosedAccess
dc.rights.explanationzamknięty dostęp
dc.rights.questionNo_rights
dc.share.articleOTHER
dc.subject.enMozambique
dc.subject.enNazi movements
dc.subject.enWorld War II
dc.subject.enLuitpold Werz
dc.subject.enespionage
dc.subject.endiplomacy
dc.subject.enpostwar Germany
dc.subject.endenazification
dc.swps.sciencecloudnosend
dc.titleThe Spider in Hitler’s South African Web: Luitpold Werz’s Attempts to Create a Fifth Column in South Africa and Topple Jan Smuts’ Government – and His Astonishing Career in Post-War Germany
dc.title.journalSouth African Historical Journal
dc.typeJournalArticle
dspace.entity.typeArticle