Helmut Clissmann (11 May 1911 – 6 November 1997) was an Ireland-based German Abwehr agent during World War II. He engineered the release of Frank Ryan from a Spanish prison. Before World War II, Clissmann was active in the German academic exchange service in Dublin. He was involved in both Operation Lobster and

Operation Sea Eagle Operation Sea Eagle (''"Unternehmen Seeadler"'' in German) sometimes referred to as Operation Dove II (''"Unternehmen Taube II"'' in German) was a German Foreign Ministry plan conceived in May 1941 after the collapse of planning around Operation Wh ...

which were both failed operations with the intent of getting Clissmann into Ireland. In 2012, a Danish research paper revealed that during his time as an Abwehr agent Clissmann was responsible for training two Danish pro-nazi covert anti-partisan groups called Schiøler Group and

Peter Group The Peter group ( Danish: ''Petergruppen'') was a paramilitary group created in late 1943 during the occupation of Denmark by the German occupying power. The group conducted counter-sabotage, also known as Schalburgtage, in response to the Dani ...

. He was surprisingly let off during the post-war Nazi court cases in Denmark and travelled shortly afterwards to Ireland. He became a businessman and set up an agency to import pharmaceutical products. He was also a founding member of what is now the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association and

Amnesty International Ireland Amnesty International Ireland (commonly known as Amnesty and AI) is the Irish branch of the international non-governmental organisation focused on human rights, Amnesty International. One of its founding members was German Abwehr agent Helmut C ...

. St Killian's German School was co-founded by him and he was made its honorary president-for-life. Clissmann was friends with fellow German spy Jupp Hoven. He married a

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the an ...

republican, Elizabeth "Budge" Mulcahy. They had multiple children.

References

1911 births 1997 deaths People from Aachen World War II spies for Germany {{World-War-II-bio-stub

See also

References