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Edith Von Coler | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Edith Heinemann 9 July 1895 |
| Died | 14 May 1949 |
| Other names | Edit Von Coler |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Known for | "Salon spying" |
| Spouse | Ulrich von Coler |
| Children | Jutta Schröder |
| Parent(s) | Fritz Heinemann, Alice Heinemann |
| Espionage activity | |
| Country | Germany, Romania |
| Allegiance | Nazi Germany |
| Agency | Gestapo, German Foreign Office, Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle |
| Service years | 1933–41 |
Edith von Coler (also: Edit Von Coler; née Edith Heinemann, 9 July 1895 – 14 May 1949) was a German propagandist and embassy employee who acted as an unofficial diplomatic conduit in the Kingdom of Romania before and during World War II.
Family connections brought Von Coler to the attention of the Nazi Party, leading to the German Foreign Office sending her to Romania. There, she helped to resolve infighting in the German community and helped to negotiate the 1939 German–Romanian Economic Treaty which subjugated Romania to Nazi Germany.
Later, after Von Coler incurred the displeasure of Joachim von Ribbentrop, he recalled her to Germany, ending her career as a Nazi agent. The Allies briefly interned her at the end of World War II, and she died in 1949.
Described in the Anglo-American press as a "femme fatale" and a "German Mata Hari", Von Coler's work for Germany was more complex – one journalist who knew her said she was "as remote from Mata Hari as a panzer division of 1942 is from the cavalry of 1914".