Gans zu Putlitz was born 16 July 1899 in Laaske,
German Empire, today part of
Putlitz,
Germany. He
came from a noble family in the
Prignitz district of
Brandenburg. He was the heir to Laaske Castle, which included extensive agricultural land. Gans zu Putlitz studied agriculture and economics in Berlin, where he received his doctorate in 1924. Gans zu Putlitz entered the diplomatic service and was first posted to the German Consulate General in
Poznań,
Poland. In 1928, he was transferred to the Embassy in
Washington, D.C. and then, in 1934, to
Paris and then
London, where he was appointed First Secretary Gans zu Putlitz became an agent of the British intelligence services because he did not approve of the war plans of the German
National Socialists. On 1 November 1935, he joined the
NSDAP, according to the records of German Foreign Service, and he was a member of the
SS. When war broke out in 1939, Gans zu Putlitz was the second highest diplomat at the German embassy in the neutral
Netherlands, The
Abwehr recruited an agent within the
MI6 office in the Netherlands, Folkert van Koutrik, who supplied a list of British agents in the Netherlands. Gans zu Putlitz was shown this list and knew he had to seek asylum. In October 1939, he fled from the Netherlands to England, then to Jamaica, Haiti and the United States. Germany sentenced Gans zu Putlitz to death for high treason
in absentia. From January 1944 to April 1945, he was assistant at
Soldatensender Calais in England, a propaganda radio station. With the war's end in 1945, Gans zu Putlitz returned to Germany on behalf of MI6. The British occupation authorities had him appointed senior executive officer and personal assistant to the Prime Minister of
Schleswig-Holstein. However, as a known confidant of the occupying power, he was not tolerated in this position on a permanent basis. Via
Switzerland and Paris, he returned to Britain. In 1948, he became a British citizen. Gans zu Putlitz acted as a witness for the prosecution at the
Nuremberg Trials, testifying against war criminals in the German Foreign Service. Gans zu Putlitz opposed the division of the country and the creation of the Federal Republic. Gans zu Putlitz returned to East Germany in January 1952. He worked as a freelance writer and editor for the publishing house
Verlag Volk und Wissen in Bad Saarow and Berlin, which until German reunification published almost all textbooks in the DDR. He was a consultant for the East German Foreign Ministry and the
Arbeitsgemeinschaft ehemaliger Offiziere, the association of former officers of the
National Committee for a Free Germany (NKFD). He was a member and political associate of the National Council of the East German
National Front. Gans zu Putlitz died 3 September 1975 in
Potsdam,
German Democratic Republic. He was buried in the cemetery of
Groß Kreutz at Potsdam. ==Awards==