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Hans Friedrich Wilhelm Schimpf (1897 in Esslingen – 10 April 1935 in Breslau) was a German Reichsmarine and intelligence officer. During the interwar period he helped co-found, on instruction from the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, the Signals intelligence organization called the Forschungsamt (Abbr. FA); along with Hermann Göring and Gottfried Schapper. He was responsible for the organization between 1933 and 1935.
During his time at the Reichswehr cipher bureau, Schimpf was somewhat of a dark horse, who had organized within it a Nazi Party cell, in secret. He undertook several trips abroad to link the Abwehr cipher bureau with Italian Armed Forces, e.g. Servizio Informazioni Militare and also set up a small illicit German intercept station on a private estate near Barcelona in Spain. The intercept station was configured to intercept shipping traffic in the Mediterranean, for the Reichsmarine. It also monitored French radio stations in North Africa and southwestern France.
Schimpf has made a large number of contacts, and leading personalities with Fascism organizations in Italy and Spain, which attracted Göring. Schimpf was entrusted to start the new agency. He selected 8 people, along with Gottfried Schapper, who had the original idea for the FA agency to be the new key people in the unit. All were Nazi Party members. Schimpf started the new FA agency, in March 1933.
By 30 June 1934, during the Night of the Long Knives, Schimpf had been promoted to ministerial rank (), which ensured for himself a position of great power.
In early 1933, Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the Reich Security Main Office, who was competing with Goering's research office, tried to persuade Schimpf to work for him and Heinrich Himmler and the Schutzstaffel, without the knowledge of Göring, which he refused. Instead, Heydrich is supposed to have tried to extort abuse because of his numerous foreign affairs. (1991). 9783430147606, Econ-Verl. ISBN 9783430147606
The American historian Jonathan Petropoulos, who in his book 'Royals and the Reich: The Princes of Hesse in Nazi Germany', also discussed Schimpf's successor, Prince Christoph of Hesse, who was a SS member, and was appointed new director of the FA the day after Schimpfs' body was discovered, argues that the most likely scenario is an assassination of Schimpf as office chief () on behalf of Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich, seeing the FA as an unwelcome competitor to the security service of the SS, which was under their control.
Wilhelm F. Flicke, a German World War II veteran cipher officer who was commissioned by General Erich Fellgiebel to write a history of German cryptography and cryptanalysis during the war, wrote in his book War secrets in the ether the following:
On the 10 April 1935, when Göring was getting married, Schimpf was found in Grünewald with a bullet hole in his head. There can be no doubt that Schimpf did not commit suicide but was assassinated by the Gestapo. Schimpf was a generally happy individual who was extremely fond of life, but became dangerous to both Göring and Himmler, and had to be killed.
Schimpf was cremated in a crematory in Wilmersdorf in an elaborate ceremony carried out by Göring. A large wreath was delivered with the inscription:
To my Faithful Collaborator Hans Schimpf, In Gratitude Hermann Göring
This was followed by an address by State Secretary Erhard Milch and a salute of honour.
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