Johann-Nielsen Jebsen, nicknamed "Johnny", was an anti-
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
German intelligence officer and British
double agent
In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...
(code name ARTIST) during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Jebsen recruited
Dušan Popov
Dušan ( sr-Cyrl, Душан) is a Slavic given name primarily used in countries of Yugoslavia; and among Slovaks and Czechs. The name is derived from the Slavic noun ''duša'' "soul".
Occurrence
In Serbia, it was the 29th most popular name ...
(who became the British agent Tricycle) to the and through him later joined the
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
cause. Kidnapped from
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
by the Germans shortly before the
Normandy landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
, Jebsen was tortured in prison and spent time in a
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
before disappearing; he was presumed killed at the end of the war.
In a 2012 reassessment of the Allies' use of double agents in World War II, historian Ben Macintyre called Jebsen a hero.
Jebsen features extensively in Popov's book ''Spy-Counterspy''.
Early life
Jebsen was born in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
in 1917, heir to the shipping firm Jebsen & Jebsen. His parents, who both died while Jebsen was still a child, were of
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
origin, but held German citizenship after they had moved the company to the country. Early in his life, Jebsen considered his citizenship a convenience, with deep roots remaining in his Danish ancestry. During childhood, he visited England and became enamoured with the country, adopting the mannerisms and the language.
[
Jebsen attended the ]University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...
during the 1930s, where he became close friends with Duško Popov. During this time, both showed distaste for the Nazi regime
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
that was emerging in Germany. After graduation, Jebsen moved to England, intending to study at Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, although it appears he never did this. Over the next few years he moved amongst the London social set, befriending P. G. Wodehouse
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...
amongst others.[
]
Second World War
At the outset of World War II, Jebsen joined the German military intelligence agency, the , largely to avoid compulsory service in the army.[ He was given a vague brief as an independent "researcher" and assigned the rank of private. In reality, it meant he could continue his normal activities as an international businessman, so long as he was available to help the when it required.
In 1940, Jebsen arranged an introduction between a senior officer in ]Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
and Duško Popov, whom the Germans hoped to recruit as an agent. The meeting led to Popov's recruitment, upon which he instantly offered his services to the Allies as a double agent. It is likely that Jebsen knew this early on and often passed information to Popov, who believed it was intended for Allied hands.[
During the war, Jebsen travelled freely on business although it was not clear what he did. He married Eleonore Bothilde Peterson, an actress from ]Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
, but had a string of mistresses across Europe.[ Jebsen's anti-Nazi stance led to clashes with the SS and its intelligence office, the .][
Through 1943, Jebsen, Popov and Popov's brother Ivo (also an agent, codenamed DREADNOUGHT) ran an operation to recruit double agents from Yugoslavia. Ivo Popov identified potential candidates who were told they would be working for the British. First, they were sent to Berlin, under the care of Jebsen, for training in the spy school, before ultimately ending up in Britain (via Spain and Portugal) to work for ]MI5
The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Go ...
.[
]
Kidnapping and torture
On , Jebsen was abducted from Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, Portugal, and driven overnight to France. Aloys Schreiber, the head of German counter-intelligence in Lisbon,[ had invited Jebsen to his office on the pretext of discussing his pending War Merit Medal. After a brief struggle, Jebsen and his friend (Heinz Moldenhauer) were overpowered and bundled into a car.][
Jebsen's disappearance was a serious concern for the Allies. He had been privy to a great deal of information, including knowledge of Popov's double agent role and that Agent GARBO's network of subagents was a fiction. He also, most importantly, had familiarity with many details of ]Operation Fortitude
Operation Fortitude was the code name for a World War II military deception employed by the Allied nations as part of an overall deception strategy (code named ''Bodyguard'') during the build-up to the 1944 Normandy landings. Fortitude was di ...
. If he talked, the entire cover plan for the Normandy landings was at risk. After much analysis, the intelligence services decided that Jebsen had been snatched because the believed he was planning to defect, rather than that he had already turned. It is possible that Jebsen was abducted to protect Popov, whom the Germans considered one of their most important agents.[ As a precaution, the Allies suspended Popov's network of fictional subagents and his transmissions to his German handlers.][
Jebsen was first taken to the ]Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
headquarters in Berlin where his torture and interrogation began. After a few weeks, the Allies were encouraged, intercepts of German communications showed the Germans were interested in Jebsen's finances (he had been defrauding a number of SS officers), and there was no mention of his activities as an agent. As time progressed, it appeared that ARTIST had not cracked under pressure and the FORTITUDE deception was safe.[
In July 1944, Jebsen was moved to ]Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...
. When he arrived he had broken ribs and was malnourished, but still harboured thoughts of escape. He told Allied soldiers, also held in the camp, that he had been accused of helping the British and when he had refused to talk, his financial fraud had been investigated. Eventually, he got a message to London via British Commando Jack Churchill
John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, (16 September 1906 – 8 March 1996) was a British Army officer who fought in the Second World War with a longbow, a Scottish broadsword, and a bagpipe. Nicknamed "Fighting Jack Churchill" and "Mad Jack" ...
, but the War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
had no record of Jebsen's name and so the plea for help was ignored. In February 1945, Gestapo agents removed Jebsen from Sachsenhausen, the last sighting of him, and he is presumed to have been murdered soon after. Several attempts to find him after the war were unsuccessful and he was declared legally dead
''Legally Dead'' is a 1923 American drama film directed by William Parke and written by Harvey Gates. The film stars Milton Sills, Margaret Campbell, Claire Adams, Eddie Sturgis, Faye O'Neill, and Charles A. Stevenson. The film was released on J ...
on .[
]
See also
*List of people who disappeared
Lists of people who disappeared include those whose current whereabouts are unknown, or whose deaths are unsubstantiated. Many people who disappear are eventually declared dead ''in absentia''. Some of these people were possibly subjected to enfo ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jebsen, Johann
1917 births
1940s missing person cases
Abwehr
Double agents
Double-Cross System
German people of Danish descent
German torture victims
Missing people
Missing person cases in Germany
People declared dead in absentia
People from Hamburg
Sachsenhausen concentration camp prisoners
Spies who died in Nazi concentration camps
University of Freiburg alumni
World War II spies for Germany
World War II spies for the United Kingdom