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Otto IonGerman statesman, first president of the Federal Service for the Protection of the German Constitution.
Date of Birth: 19.03.1909
Country:  Germany |
Content:
Biography of Otto Ion
Otto Ion was a German statesman and the first President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Germany. Born on March 19, 1909, in Marburg, he came from a family of civil servants and pursued a legal education.
During World War II, Ion worked as a legal consultant in the aviation department of Lufthansa from 1937 to 1944. He also played a significant role in the anti-Hitler conspiracy on July 20, 1944, serving as a trusted member of the resistance. Capitalizing on his position at Lufthansa, Ion frequently traveled to Spain and Portugal to negotiate peace agreements on behalf of the conspirators.
Following a failed assassination attempt on Hitler, Ion fled from Berlin to Madrid and eventually made his way to England. In England, he joined the team of Sefton Delmer, a specialist in psychological warfare, and became an expert on "Radio Calé," an English radio station that operated against the Nazi regime.
After the war, Ion worked in a department responsible for German and Austrian prisoners of war. He played a crucial role in determining the fate of individuals through his decisions. In early 1946, Ion served as an expert and translator for the Western Allies at the trial of Nazi war criminals. He then settled in London and practiced law.
In 1950, Ion returned to West Germany, recommended by prominent CDU official Jakob Kaiser, who knew him from their resistance activities. He was appointed as the President of the newly established Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, essentially a counterintelligence agency.
Disappearance and Return
On July 20, 1954, Otto Ion disappeared from West Berlin, leaving his wife Lucy concerned about the possibility of his abduction. Intensive search efforts revealed that Ion and a doctor named Volgemut had crossed from the western to the eastern sector of Berlin. The surprise came when Ion released a statement via East German radio on July 23, 1954, explaining his decision to defect due to the influence of Nazi elements in his former agency.
However, Ion soon realized that he was not trusted in the Soviet Union and that there was no prospect for a new appointment there. On December 11, 1955, with the help of Danish journalist Bond-Henriksen, he returned to West Germany.
Legal Troubles and Rehabilitation
The Federal Court convicted Otto Ion of treason and sentenced him to four years in prison. However, he was granted amnesty after only a year and a half. Ion continued to fight for his rehabilitation, claiming that Dr. Volgemut had smuggled him across the border while he was asleep.
Specialists have assessed that in 1954, Ion provided significant assistance to the opponents of the European Defense Community. Major KGB defector Petr Deryabin, who defected to the Americans in 1954, revealed that the Soviet intelligence agency had been investigating Ion since 1951. Dr. Volgemut, who had been working for the Soviet Union since 1950, had mentioned Ion's dissatisfaction with the situation in West Germany and his desire to meet with officials from East Germany. An agreement between Ion and the Soviet side was reached in February 1954.
Ultimately, Ion's precarious situation in the Soviet Union compelled him to return to West Germany.
