Hermann Brandl
Hermann Brandl (1896–24 March 1947), sometimes called Otto Brandl, was a German engineer who worked for German intelligence in World War II.
Born in Bavaria, he trained as an engineer and lived in Brussels, where he began his intelligence work.
In June 1940, after setting up an Abwehr branch at the Hôtel Lutetia in occupied Paris, Brandl was summoned by Colonel Friedrich Rudolf and made head of the offices that financed and protected agents (Abwehrstelle, also known as Ast).
The Abwehr had bases in occupied France at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Angers, Bordeaux and Dijon, and by spring 1941 employed about 400 people. All transactions were cash-only, with no bills and no records of sellers or origins.
When southern France came under occupation in November 1942, new bases were opened in Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse.
Hermann Göring urged seizing goods through black markets. Fifteen paintings bought or seized by Brandl’s network were later found in a private house, including two works by Alfred Sisley—the Avenue of Poplars near Moret-sur-Loing and The Small Meadows at By—and a Monet still life, Still Life with Pheasant.
Brandl was arrested in Munich on 6 August 1945 and imprisoned at Stadelheim. He was found hanged in his cell on 24 March 1947.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:13 (CET).