| The Palo Alto History Project |
| The Nazi Princess 360 Forest Avenue |
| The Nazi Princess and Her Palo Alto Hide-Out In 1941, as the United States was inching toward an eventual war with Germany, U.S. authorities attempted to deport a member of The Fuhrer’s inner circle, the so-called “Nazi Princess,” Stephanie Hohenlohe. Her hiding place: An apartment building on Forest Avenue in Palo Alto. Born in Austria, Princess Stephanie was a member of Vienna society when she became pregnant with the son of married Franz Salvator. As a cover-up for the affair, she was married to a German prince of the Hohenlohe family in London in 1914. Divorced six year later, the Princess became a key member of British high society as she developed friendships with powerful men all over Europe. By the 1930s, she had become very closely acquainted with many Nazis including Himmler, Goring, and Adolph Hitler---who once called her “his dear princess.” Despite being Jewish, the Nazi inner circle considered her an “honorary Aryan” and according to British intelligence at the time, was “frequently summoned by the Fuhrer, who appreciates her intelligence and good advice. She is perhaps the only woman who can exercise any influence on him." In the late ‘30s, the Princess, now considered Hitler’s most influential woman friend, struck up many valuable relationships with Nazi-leaning Brits and helped pass their secret messages along to the German high command. At the outbreak of World War II, Princess Stephanie entered the United States fearing she might be arrested in England as a German spy. By 1940, U.S. intelligence told President Roosevelt that she was “extremely dangerous, a spy worse than 10,000 men.” That same year, the Justice Department asked her to leave the country. When the deadline passed without her departure, she was placed under arrest and bail was set at $25,000. The Princess turned up living under the alias “Mrs. Francis” at the building at 360 Forest Avenue in Palo Alto. Her 26 year old son, Prince Franz was taking a break from attending Stanford. Her attorney at this point claimed she was extremely ill and bedridden “because of the false charge that she is a Nazi spy.” Her doctor confirmed that she was "suffering from shock, very similar to shell shock and was highly hysterical.” Many suspected this illness was feigned to avoid deportation. A debate continued in the press over whether she was with the Allies or Hitler. Her lawyer argued "that she is not now and never was connected with the Nazi Government. Actually she is anti-Nazi, her home in Austria was confiscated by the Nazis." Friends of the princess told the papers that she was living in terror of being deported---that she’d be beheaded by Hitler if she set foot on German soil. But as the government attempted to deport Stephanie it seemed that no one would have her. Over 50 countries refused to grant her a passport visa, thereby making her deportation all but impossible. While the government shopped her on the world market, her son Prince Franz attempted to negotiate. He offered himself to join the army to fight the Nazis and later volunteered his mother to serve as an Allied nurse to help the British in Free France. In answer, the Brits called her a “Nazi spy.” Overseeing the case for the U.S. Immigration Service was its chief, Major Lemuel Schofield. He remained confident that he would still be able to deport her. By April, he had plans to send her back to Hungary through Siberia, where he said the Soviets promised her safe passage. But in May, after a day-long interview of the Princess, Schofield changed his mind. Why? Well, that’s quite a story. First the official explanation: On May 20th, the issue was dropped and Stephanie was allowed to stay in the U.S. Schofield said the government reversed course when Stephanie gave them some “interesting information” and promised to “co-operate” in the future. Interestingly, she suddenly seemed to recover from her nervous ailment and emerged smiling and shaking hands with the press. When the press asked Schofield, if he could explain what this interesting information was, he replied, rather tersely, “obviously not.” What was the information? Basically, a primer on the character of Adolf Hitler, from her time in his intimate circle. It helped two university psychoanalysts prepare a report titled “An Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler” for the Allied forces in 1943. But there may have been another reason that Schofield no longer wished to deport Stephanie via Siberia. It turns out that like so many dignitaries in Europe, Schofield had been seduced by the glamour of the Princess. After dropping the charges, Schofield put the Princess up in a Washington D.C. hotel and they carried on a secret love affair for many months. Talk about aiding and abetting the enemy. -Matt Bowling |
| The Princess in her younger days |
| Major Lemuel Schofield |
| 360 Forest Avenue from across the street |
| A newspaper shot on the day she was allowed to go free |
| The Casa Real Apartments, where the Princess hid |
| The map below shows the City Hall Area |
| Hitler's Spy Princess about Stephanie Hohenlohe |
| Her apartment was on the sixth floor, the building's highest |
| Princess Stephanie at bottom left in a photo with Hitler |
| Palo Alto: Then & Now |
| 2007 |
| circa 1975 |
| 360 Forest Avenue from above (PAHA) |
| Sources: Palo Alto Times, Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Times, Palo Alto Historical Association, San Mateo Times |