RT by @mikenov: Baron William de Ropp spied for British Intelligence and made his way into Adolph Hitler’s inner circle before the beginning of the Second World War. De Ropp came from an aristocratic German family in present day Lithuania and was born as a Russian subject. After completing the naturalization process in 1914 he became a British citizen and served with the Royal Flying Corps as a Balloon Officer during World War I. Shortly after the war he was recruited by MI6, and in 1924 played a key role in the infamous Zinoviev Letter scandal, which is credited with changing the results of the October 1924 elections in the UK. He went on to work as a journalist and spy in Germany throughou

Baron William de Ropp spied for British Intelligence and made his way into Adolph Hitler’s inner circle before the beginning of the Second World War.

De Ropp came from an aristocratic German family in present day Lithuania and was born as a Russian subject. After completing the naturalization process in 1914 he became a British citizen and served with the Royal Flying Corps as a Balloon Officer during World War I.

Shortly after the war he was recruited by MI6, and in 1924 played a key role in the infamous Zinoviev Letter scandal, which is credited with changing the results of the October 1924 elections in the UK. He went on to work as a journalist and spy in Germany throughout the 1930s and ingratiated himself with many members of the rising National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP), all while reporting to Fred Winterbotham in MI6.

Although his closest relationship was with Alfred Rosenberg, who headed the NSDAP’s Office of Foreign Affairs, he met with Hitler himself on at least a dozen occasions. De Ropp also brought back intelligence on Germany’s rearmament during the interwar period, in particular on new developments in their aviation industry. This was some of the most vital military intelligence possible for the British government.

Once hostilities began, De Ropp spent most of the war in Switzerland where he played a much-diminished role and was practically sidelined by MI6. He left the service entirely after the war and lived out the last few years of his life in relative peace and quiet.

For episode 214 of the Spycraft 101 podcast, I spoke with Tim Willasey-Wilsey, author of The Spy and the Devil: The Untold Story of the MI6 Agent who Penetrated Hitler’s Inner Circle. We discussed De Ropp’s unlikely rise to become one of the UK’s most highly-placed agents in the lead up to war. The episode is available now.

#MI6  #ww2  #warhistory  #spy  #declassified

open.spotify.com/episode/5V6…

— @spycraft101 Oct 17, 2026