Salon Kitty

Salon Kitty was a high-class Berlin brothel used by the Nazi intelligence service, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), for espionage purposes during World War II. Created in the early 1930s by Katharina "Kitty" Schmidt, the salon was taken over by Nazi secret service and senior SS officer Reinhard Heydrich and operated by his subordinate Walter Schellenberg in 1939. The brothel was overtly managed by original owner Kitty Schmidt throughout its existence. The plan was to seduce top German dignitaries and foreign visitors, as well as diplomats, with alcohol and women so they would disclose secrets or express their honest opinions on Nazi-related topics and individuals. Guests included Heydrich himself, SS General Joseph Dietrich, Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano, and Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The salon had to relocate after an air raid in 1942, but eventually, as the war progressed, the project lost its importance due to the decreased number of clientele. Salon Kitty has been the inspiration or subject of brothels featured in films involving Nazi espionage.