Sven-Hedin-Strasse 11

Faces 1915 to 1945

• 1. ROBERT HABERLING – *30.01.1857-10.03.1929+ Germany – founder in 1907 of today’s Haberling GmbH, international movers/relocations.  Probably planned, owned and first resident of the villa.
• 2. LEO SCHEIBNER. – Germany – *?.?.18??-11.01.1931+ Director of the Reichskredit Gesellschaft AG – Photographer: Dephot – 1929. All rights reserved by Granger, New York, NY. www.granger.com
• 3. HJALMAR SCHACHT. *22.01.1877-03.06.1970+ Banker, Politician, Germany – with his first wife Luise and Minister of Justice Franz Guertner (right) attending a concert at Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick’s home – Photographer: Max Ehlert – Published by: ‘Die Dame’ Nr. 2/1935. All rights reserved by Granger, New York, NY. www.granger.com
• 4. WALTHER FUNK. – *18.08.1890-31.05.1960+  Business Journalist, Politician, Germany – in newsreel congratulates ADOLF HITLER on surviving the 1944 assassination attempt.
• 5. FRANTIŠEK CHVALKOVSKÝ. – *30.07.1885-25.02.1945+ Diplomat, Foreign Minister, Czechoslovakia at left, in newsreel seen arriving Berlin-Anhalter Bahnhof with President EMIL HÁCHA (center) on 14.03.1939 to sign the agreement establishing the German “Protektorat”.

I lived in the expropriated villa at Sven-Hedin-Strasse 11 from autumn of 1970 through summer 1971.  As I typed my letters home in the elegance of the wood-paneled library I thought it fit with the folklore that Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht — one of the 20th century’s most complex figures — had lived there.  But recently — its role in Cold War and New World Order intelligence work having ended — it is now possible to look at its entire history.  The following work is incomplete, but still contains enough surprises.  An attached PDF will provide a chronology and references for scholars.  And did Schacht really ever live there?  Did General Eisenhower stop in for a drink there?                      — rwr

by R. W. Rynerson

On orders from Berlin, a “Fahrbefehl” (travel order for a motor vehicle) was issued in German-occupied Prague to three Czechs.  It was tightly restricted so that no subversive acts would be facilitated.  The SS-Standartenführer knew that the Führer had promised cooperation with the residual puppet Czech government, but Berlin did not have to deal with them every day!

The date was 2 March 1945.  He added the requirement that the travel directly between Prague and Theresienstadt be completed by 8:00 a.m. the next day.  The document then must be returned to his office.

The men’s mission: to bring home the body of František Chvalkovský, recently residing in Berlin at Sven-Hedin-Strasse-11.  As the Third Reich was crumbling around them, the Führer sent a floral wreath and recommended a medal in honor of the diplomat who in 1939 betrayed his country in the belief that he was saving it.