Sigismund Payne Best

Captain Sigismund Payne-Best (1885–1978) was a British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, more commonly known today as MI-6) agent during World War I and World War II. As head of the highly secret Section Z in the Netherlands, Best was captured by the Gestapo in the November 9, 1939 Venlo Incident.

Best's operations in the Netherlands stood at the crosswinds of a political storm. He had, on the orders of London but against all tradecraft, combined his NOC operations with those of Major Richard Stevens, a less-experienced operative who operated from the British Embassy as the head of a notional "Passport Control Office". The PCO (which, like Section Z, operated throughout Europe) was compromised before its operations were combined with those of Section Z, and thus it was a simple matter for the Germans to mount sting and counterintelligence operations against British agents throughout Europe.

A young Nazi lawyer, Walter Schellenberg, had joined the Gestapo in August 1939, and the ambitious Sturmbannfuehrer became head of counterintelligence for the Reichssicherheitshauptamt. In that capacity, he proposed a "false flag" operation against Best and Stevens. Best was approached by a Dr. Fischer, a double agent in the employ of the Sicherheitsdienst, who pretended to represent a disaffected cadre of high-ranking military officers.

Best, Stevens and Dutch Lieutenant Dirk Klop (pretending, for neutrality's sake, to be a British national) began a series of meetings, which, despite Best's misgivings about Fischer and his putative friends (who were in fact SD agents), culminated in what pretended to be an agreement to form, post-Hitler, a united German-British front against the Soviet Union. The agreement included a period in which Hitler would be kept as a figurehead, then a restoration of democracy and legal protection for Jewish citizens.

In London, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, having seen Hitler violate the Munich agreement by seizing Czechoslovakia, was more than ready to foment a German coup. However, Best's suspicions that their German contacts might be double agents had been passed up the intelligence chain and the operatives were warned to stay away from the German border. In Britain, the top secret talks were seen by many — including the new First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill — as another Munich.

In any case, not only were the talks a complicated German bluff, but the entire operation was brought to an abrupt end. Hitler had decided, over Schellenberg's objections, to have the British operatives abducted; the attempt by Georg Elser to assassinate Hitler at the Bürgerbräukeller, believed by Hitler to be the result of British machinations, forced the matter. The next day, in a daring and violent abduction, Best and Stevens were kidnapped from the Café Backus — Klop was fatally wounded in the shootout with Gestapo agents — and rushed to Berlin. Under interrogation, Best and Stevens gave up detailed information on British espionage activities. Worse, Stevens was carrying on him a plain text list of SIS agents in Europe.

Imprisonment

Best and Stevens were imprisoned at Sachsenhausen, and later at the Dachau concentration camp. During his imprisonment, Best came into contact with a number of famous figures, including not only Elser, but also the famed theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose last message he related to Bonhoeffer's friend Bishop George Bell. Bell and Bonhoeffer's efforts to interest the British government in supporting German anti-Nazi forces failed in large part because of Churchill's distaste for Chamberlain's actions and the fear of another Venlo Incident.

Best died in Britain, in 1978, having written a bestselling account of his war experiences.

References

*Andrew, Christopher. "The Mobilization of British Intelligence for the Two World Wars" in the Collection "Mobiliztion for Total War: The Canadian, American, and British Experience" ISBN 0889201099
*Owen, David. "Hidden Secrets: The Complete History of Espionage and the Technology Used to Support It" ISBN 1552975649