Salon Kitty

In the 1930s, “Salon Kitty” was a high-class brothel located at 11 Giesebrechtstrasse in Charlottenburg, a wealthy district of Berlin. Its usual clientele included German dignitaries, foreign diplomats, top industrialist, high-ranking civil servants and senior Nazi Party members. Its madame was Katharina Zammit, better known as Kitty Schmidt, who had been running the brothel since its creation.

The idea to use Salon Kitty for espionage purposes came from Reinhard Heydrich, a leading SS general and police chief within Nazi Germany. Instead of infiltrating the brothel, Schellenberg decided to take it over altogether. The idea was to entertain prominent guests with wine and women, so they would disclose secrets or talk about their real opinions to ensure their support could be relied upon.

Girls of Salon Kitty

For the purpose of espionage, the SS started looking for young women to work in the brothel. In a circular deemed “top secret”, Schellenberg asked administrative offices in Berlin for assistance. The requirement profile read: “Wanted are women and girls, who are intelligent, multilingual, nationalistically minded and furthermore man-crazy. Berlin’s Sittenpolizei (“vice squad”) arrested dozens of Berlin prostitutes and selected the most beautiful and sexually attractive as potential agents to work at Salon Kitty. Among other things, they were trained to recognize military uniforms, and to glean secrets from innocuous conversation. The ladies all had their particular attractions and had been trained to satisfy even the discerning customer.

Another visitor, wanted all the 20 special girls for an all-night orgy, but he revealed no secrets. Additionally, propaganda minister has been marked as a client; he enjoyed “lesbian displays” that were otherwise considered anti-social acts outside of that context.

Air raid and closing

As the war progressed, the clientele of Salon Kitty decreased. In July 1942, the building was demolished during a British air attack and the brothel had to be relocated. Within the year the SD decided to abandon the project and handed the salon back to Schmidt, with the threat that she would keep silent or face retaliation.

Madame Schmidt did not talk about the matter even after the war. She died in 1954 at the age of 71 without revealing the identity of any of her former employees.

True Story xx