Hilde Krüger

Hilde Krüger was born on November 9, 1912 in Köln-Kalk, Germany as Katerina Matilde Krüger.

Some records say she was born in Berlin in 1912, while others say only that she was born in Germany on 11 September 1914. Katerina Matilde Krüger was a -er - demonstrative child. From what little is available about her early life, she appears to have demanded to be the center of attention from the time she was three.

Her first movie role (as a secretary to a psychiatric patient) was in 1934. That was a significant year for the German film industry. Josef Goebbels, as Minister of Propaganda (and Film) saw it as part of his official duties to "mentor" young, blond, big-breasted Aryan starlets. While it was other assets than her brains that first brought her to Goebbels attention, even he recognized that her real talents lay elsewhere than on the casting couch. Besides, Magda Goebbels, who was no slouch when it came to deviousness herself, told Joe (Goebbels) to get rid of the bimbo.

She was an actress, known for Stradivari (1935), Rheinische Brautfahrt (1939) and Der Mann, der nicht nein sagen kann (1938).

From January 1940, she lived in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Her admirer J. Paul Getty allegedly paid the rent.

In March 1942, Kruger was , like many other German spies, arrested thanks to clues and instructions of the United States . Probably due to her good relations in politics she was released soon afterwards. She married Nacho de la Torre , the grandson of former President Porfirio Díaz to prevent their expulsion . After all she left her husband and went with to the tycoon Julio Lobo , known as " Sugar King of Havana " , [6 to Spain . Later on she married Lobo , but the marriage was divorced after a year.

In the second part of the 30's followed her last cinematical appearances in Germany. Afterwards she went to Mexico where she acted in front of the camera again for "Adulterio" and "El que murio de amor" (1945).

Hilde Krüger, who was known to both the United States and Mexican secret services as a foreign agent was allowed to simply fade away. While most presume her enrollment at UNAM was simply to avoid the restrictions on the movement of German nationals, and to stay out of the slammer, there's another mystery there. She dumped the boy friends and really did become a scholar. She continued to act in Mexican films for a few years, and had a role in a 1958 German movie, but any mention of her after 1942 is as a scholar.

She died in 1991 on a visit trip to Germany ; by the death certificate she was residence an apartment in New York City.

Juan Alberto Cedillo's "Nazis en Mexico" (Quo, Octubre 2009) suggests Krüger was protected by her boy-friends. However, most of the agents in Mexico were not working for the Abwehr, but for the Gestapo, and Von Schleebrugge and Nicolaus were Nazis. Admiral Canaris was passing along information to the Allies at the time, and had already been involved in several attempted anti-Nazi coups.