Helmut von Heurten-Mitnitz was provided with an office overlooking the interior garden of the Foreign Ministry, a small staff, authorization for a personal automobile, and other perquisites befitting his rank as Minister.
Talk of his too hasty departure from Morocco quickly dissipated.
He was, after all, a member of the club, and gentlemen do not speak ill of their peers.
That left but one problem still to be resolved, his military status.
After graduation from the Gymnasium in Konigsberg in East Prussia, Helmut von Heurten-Mitnitz served six months as an officer-cadet with the 127th Pomeranian Infantry Regiment. This was expected of him. The 127th Pomeranian Infantry traced its roots back to the Graf von Heurten’s Regiment of Foot (1582). After his six months of cadet service, Helmut received a reserve commission as a lieutenant.
Two months later, he matriculated at Harvard, from which he graduated in 1927. From 1931 until 1933, he was attached to the German Embassy in Washington, first as a cultural attache and later as a consular officer. From 1936 until 1938, he was the consul in New Orleans.
On his return from New Orleans to Berlin, by then already a medium level diplomatic official destined for greater responsibilities in the Foreign Ministry, von Heurten-Mitnitz was courted by both Military Intelligence and the Sicherheitsdienst of the SS, each of which were as much interested in the internal operations of the Foreign Ministry as they were in any external threats to Germany.
Military Intelligence offered him a reserve commission as a major, with the subtle understanding that since he would be of more value to the Army where he was, there was little chance he would ever be called up.
He politely declined the honor.
And the SS offered him a commission as Sturmbannfuhrer (Major) in the Honorary SS-He declined this honor, too, mainly because he was well aware that the Honorary SS consisted of nothing more than those who did favors for or made substantial financial contributions to the SS. While the holders of honorary SS rank were entitled to wear the black uniform with the lightning-bolt runes and the death’s-head, that really signified nothing.
His hope was to keep out of the military altogether and to continue serving his country in the diplomatic service. This required some fancy footwork, however, especially after his return from Morocco, for there were new regulations eliminating many military service exemptions, including those for members of the Foreign Service. It was finally resolved at the highest levels.
Still, it didn’t hurt to be a member of the club, He was offered and accepted a reserve commission in the SS–not the honorary SS–as a Brigadefiihrer-SD, the secret service of the SS, with the understanding that he would not be called to active service and would remain with the Foreign Ministry.
Attired in a quickly tailored black SS uniform, he took the oath of personal allegiance to Adolf Hitler in a ceremony presided over by Reichsfiihrer-SS Heinrich Himmler himself. Afterward, his brother was kind enough to hold a small reception for the new Brigadefuhrer at a home maintained by the family at 44-46 Beerenstrasse in Zehlendorf.
Reichsfuhrer-SS and Frau Himmler put in a brief appearance en route to the symphony, which the Graf von Heurten-Mitnitz told Helmut was an unusual honor.
Helmut von Heurten-Mitnitz considered asking Muller to be present at either the swearing in or the reception, but decided against it. If they appeared too chummy, that might provoke suspicion. After the reception, he took off the SS uniform and hoped that he would never have to wear it again.
After settling into his new work, he labored industriously on the report for the Fuhrer without actually completing it. The point was to keep it on the burner until it was for gotten and they found something else for him to do.
His name almost immediately appeared on guest lists of allied and neutral embassies, and he dined out nearly every night. He was a bachelor and thereby in demand on that account, There were many widows in Germany.
That satisfied what he thought of as bodily demands, but he took care not to form anything approaching an emotional relationship.
And then, on the nineteenth of December, the Americans sent him a message.