Ernst Misselwitz

Ernst Misselwitz (1909-?) was a twentieth century German police official. He was a member of the Gestapo (Secret State Police). He became head of RSHA -Reich Main Security Office of the Paris Gestapo at 84 Avenue Foch on Avenue Foch.

Gestapo

The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. Ernst Misselwitz was in charge of the Gestapo section that fought against the French Communists and French Resistance. As a senior Sicherheitsdienst (SD) officer, he was given freedom of action and autonomy to hunt anyone thought to be anti-Nazi. He became a trusted agent of the SD and led numerous operations against the French Resistance. Misselwitz ran the interrogation and torture chamber in Paris Gestapo HQ. Before working in Paris, Misselwitz worked in Gestapo HQ in Lyon.

Gilberte Brossolette, the widow of the legendary Resistance hero, Pierre Brossolette, testified to Misselwitz' war crimes. In February 1944 Pierre Brossolette was arrested and then interrogated and tortured by Misselwitz. He told how Brossolette was afraid of talking and betraying his cause under further torture. Instead he jumped out of a sixth-floor window to his death.

French agent

With the Liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944, Misselwitz moved from Paris to Germany. In October 1945, the 36-year old Misselwitz reported to the French security services in northwest Berlin. Misselwitz was arrested and imprisoned for a short time and offered to spy among his inmates, starting in early 1946. In 1952 Misselwitz was convicted in a Paris court In absentia. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment for the torture of Brossolette, but was never found or arrested, as he had become a secret agent for the French special services. The time and place of his death are unknown.