Elsbeth Schragmüller (7 August 1887, Schlüsselburg near

Petershagen Petershagen is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies on the Westphalian Mill Route. The core is formed by the districts of Petershagen and Lahde, located opposite each other on the Weser. Geography ...

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) constituted the German state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: ...

, German Empire — 24 February 1940,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

Nazi Germany 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 ...

), also known as Fräulein Doktor and Mademoiselle Docteur, as well as Fair Lady, La Baronne and Mlle. Schwartz, was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

university professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

-turned-

spymaster A spymaster is the person that leads a spy ring, or a secret service (such as an intelligence agency). Historical spymasters See also * List of American spies *List of British spies *List of German spies The following is a list of people e ...

for Abteilung III b in German-occupied Belgium during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Early life

Schragmüller was the eldest of four children born to

Prussian Army The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power. The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...

officer and bailiff Carl Anton Schragmüller and his wife Valesca Cramer von Clausbruch. Her younger brother was the future

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment (military), Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing pro ...

(SA) police chief of

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label= Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Mag ...

, Konrad Schragmüller. Schragmüller spent her childhood first in Schlüsselburg and then in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state d ...

with her grandmother, who educated her. From 1909 to 1914, she studied political science at

Albert-Ludwigs-Universität The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

. She finished her studies in 1913 and was one of the first women in Germany to acquire a university degree. After her studies, she worked for the Berlin

Lette-Verein Lette-Verein (Lette Association or Lette Society) is a German educational organization for applied arts. Founded in 1866 in Berlin, the idea of Dr. Wilhelm Adolf Lette, it was initially a technical school for girls. Its motto was "Dienen lerne bei ...

as a lecturer in civic education.

First World War

After the outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, Schragmüller moved to occupied

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, where the German

governor general Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy ...

Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered a ...

Colmar von der Goltz Wilhelm Leopold Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz (12 August 1843 – 19 April 1916), also known as ''Goltz Pasha'', was a Prussian Field Marshal and military writer. Military career Goltz was born in , East Prussia (later renamed Goltzhausen; now ...

, assigned her to Section VII, wherein she opened and assessed private letters in search of coded messages to the

Allies 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 ...

. She later switched to intelligence collection and worked, after a short training period, in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the Nord ...

for the General Staff's

counterintelligence Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or o ...

wing,

Abteilung IIIb ''Abteilung III b'' was the domestic counterintelligence branch of the Imperial German Army from 1889 until the end of the First World War. Initially created as a section in the Prussian General Staff in 1889 and named ''Sektion III b'', it was u ...

. In 1915, Colonel

Walter Nicolai General Walter Nicolai (August 1, 1873 – May 4, 1947) was the first senior IC ( intelligence) officer in the Imperial German Army. He came to run the German military intelligence service, Abteilung IIIb, and became an important pro-war p ...

, the head of Abteilung IIIb, promoted her to

of the ''Kriegsnachrichtenstelle Antwerpen''. When the war ended, Schragmüller held the rank of Oberleutnant in the

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the ...

and had been awarded the

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia e ...

First Class.

Later life

After the armistice in 1918, Schragmüller resumed her academic career and became the first female assistant chair at

Freiburg University The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...

. A few years later, she moved with her family to

. Soon afterward, her father and her brother Konrad, a senior SA officer, were shot during the

Night of the Long Knives The Night of the Long Knives (German: ), or the Röhm purge (German: ''Röhm-Putsch''), also called Operation Hummingbird (German: ''Unternehmen Kolibri''), was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany from 30 June to 2 July 1934. Chancellor Ad ...

. Soon, she ended her career abruptly for unknown reasons.

Death

Schragmüller died in 1940 at the age of 52 of bone

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

in her Munich apartment.

Legacy

Her activities were the subject of various

urban legends An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

during the

, but since she was neither captured nor unmasked during her lifetime, much of her life story remains obscure and speculative, and it is unclear to what extent the various fictional treatments of her life story are accurate. For many years, she was invariably known as ''Mademoiselle Docteur'' or ''Fräulein Doktor'', her actual name being revealed only in 1945 from German

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as the a ...

documents captured by the

after

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, when she had already died of

miliary tuberculosis To disseminate (from lat. ''disseminare'' "scattering seeds"), in the field of communication, is to broadcast a message to the public without direct feedback from the audience. Meaning Dissemination takes on the theory of the traditional view ...

in 1940. Her nickname acknowledges the fact that she had a

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...

degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

, not

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

as some fictional portrayals have claimed, from 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 research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württe ...

. Her death early in the

Second World War 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

makes it unlikely that she contributed materially to the war effort even if some have claimed that she again engaged in espionage activities.

References

Notes

External links

The Films of 'Fraulein Doctor'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schragmuller, Elsbeth German women in World War I World War I spies for Germany Female wartime spies 1887 births 1940 deaths Tuberculosis deaths in Germany People from Petershagen University of Freiburg alumni German Army personnel of World War I Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class Academic staff of the University of Freiburg 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Spymasters German women academics