How MI5 used astrologer to help beat Hitler

Published on Monday 3 March 2008 21:13

HE CLAIMED to be descended from Hungarian nobility, was fond of vivid silk dressing gowns and spoke to the spirits while flourishing a large cigar.

But during the Second World War, the outlandish figure of Louis de Wohl was taken seriously by the British secret service, who believed he could cast light on what German astrologers were saying to Hitler.

Now new evidence unearthed by MI5 historian Professor Christopher Andrew shows the British also used de Wohl as a weapon in the propaganda war to persuade the US to enter the war.

Prof Andrew said de Wohl, who claimed to have inside knowledge of Hitler's astrological advisers, was consulted in 1940 about the most likely date for an invasion of Britain.

"They took his advice on which days an astrologer would consider propitious for a Taurus with Libra rising, which Hitler was.

"Then in 1941, when what everyone wanted most was to get the Americans to enter the war, Louis de Wohl went to the US. He went round radio stations and newspapers casting Hitler's horoscope and predicting things were all going to go very badly."

Prof Andrew said British authorities used de Wohl as a propagandist, but also "in a serious way – to understand the mind of an extraordinarily talented but baffling man".

But he said while Rudolf Hess and Heinrich Himmler may have been influenced by astrology, there was now "overwhelming evidence" that the Fhrer himself was not.

The newly unearthed papers show that de Wohl, whose real name was Ludvig von Wohl, was distrusted by the security service officers who were charged with keeping an eye on him.

One of his handlers wrote: "I have never liked Louis de Wohl. He strikes me as a charlatan and an imposter."

Another called him a "complete scoundrel" and another a "dangerous charlatan and confidence-trick merchant".

"He claims in his books to have travelled widely in the East in Arab disguise and to have often frequented cafs in Berlin in feminine attire," wrote yet another. Several wrote that they thought he was a former Nazi.

Paul Winter, a Cambridge researcher who has studied the papers in detail for his forthcoming book Fathoming the Fhrer, said: "There is no doubt de Wohl was a charlatan – but his influence went all the way to the top.

"What's ironic about this is that British Intelligence were going down this cul de sac at the same time as people at Bletchley Park were doing amazing and useful scientific work."