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113-626: In early 1923 Captain Walter Lohmann , who had acquired international business experience, gained command (Chef der Seetransportabteilung der Reichsmarine) of the Navy's Maritime Transport Department in 28 October 1920, whose primary responsibility was logistical matters. With full confidence and trust of naval Chief Admiral Paul Behncke , Lohmann was transferred to managing naval "black funds" generally used for covert funding. Initially, proceeds of about 100 million gold Reichsmark were garnered from

226-615: A 12million loan to construct two large tankers. But Raeder and Peckert were looking for extra value from the contract and stipulated that two smaller tanker would be built alongside the one large tankers. By buying two smaller tankers, instead of a third large tanker as already planned, Lohmann used the savings to create the Berlin Oil Transport Company that he owned outright, the Bremen Oil Transport Company that he also owned, as well as

339-447: A Berlin branch of the organisation in 1926. In February 1925, Lohman founded Tebag (Technische Beratung und Beschaffung GmbH) to run the naval defence economy with company shares held by Navis. Tebag's remit was to "draw up a comprehensive armament plan that would regulate the securing and distribution of raw materials, manufacturing facilities and workers" and was funded to the tune of 120,000marks that came from various departments within

452-645: A British passport and voted in Britain, Joyce did owe allegiance to the king. Thus, Joyce was convicted of treason, and was eventually hanged . After Napoleon fell from power for the first time, Marshal Michel Ney swore allegiance to the restored King Louis XVIII , but when the Emperor escaped from Elba, Ney resumed his Napoleonic allegiance, and commanded the French troops at the Battle of Waterloo . After Napoleon

565-458: A French court. Ney ruined his lawyer's effort by interrupting him and stating: "Je suis Français et je resterai Français!" (I am French and I will remain French!). Having refused that defence, Ney was duly found guilty of treason and executed. Until the late 19th century, Britain - like various other countries - held to a doctrine of "perpetual allegiance to the sovereign", dating back to feudal times, under which British subjects, owing loyalty to

678-609: A Russian women of German descent and arranged for her to return to Germany. At the time there were two prevailing views in German Naval Command. The official strategy developed and advanced by the Chief of the Fleet Department Wilfried von Loewenfeld  [ de ] and supported by Admiral Hans Zenker was to build Deutschland-class cruisers , unofficially known as "pocket battleships" by

791-573: A business partner, particularly in light of the UK's attempts to disarm Germany. However, King Alfonso XIII expressed an interest in purchasing German naval armaments, for example fire-control systems , which swayed their decision to continue the collaboration. Lohmann planned to expand the factory to develop aircraft capable of dropping a torpedo as well as develop new speedboat models. Several speedboats were sent for testing at Echevarrieta's Cadiz shipyard. Even after Lohmann departed his position, Echevarrieta

904-475: A charge of treason. Many nations' laws mention various types of treason. "Crimes Related to Insurrection" is the internal treason, and may include a coup d'état . "Crimes Related to Foreign Aggression" is the treason of cooperating with foreign aggression positively regardless of the national inside and outside. "Crimes Related to Inducement of Foreign Aggression" is the crime of communicating with aliens secretly to cause foreign aggression or menace. Depending on

1017-523: A duty of loyalty, and for failing which the monarch, too, could be accused of treason. Charles I in England and Louis XVI in France were found guilty of such treason and duly executed. However, when Charles II was restored to his throne, he considered the revolutionaries who sentenced his father to death as having been traitors in the more traditional sense. In medieval times, most treason cases were in

1130-476: A freight forwarding company. In mid-1926, Lohmann had plans to create a vertically integrated oil company similar to BP but the idea was abandoned, due to the complexities of the plan and the huge amount of monies involved to finance it. Although at the same time he continued to invest in the oil transport companies. Another aspect of Lohmann's vision was the subsidising of in-shore pleasure craft that could be modified for naval operations. That included ensuring

1243-597: A heart attack. The secret rearmament was not halted but rather extended, subject to the Court of Auditors' independent and secret control. The naval intelligence service was merged into the Army defense command in 1928. Severa was taken over by Lufthansa to be used for coastal flights, although it already had a sea-flight department. When funds to build an officer school in Friedrichsort, near Kiel , were applied for in

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1356-416: A hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state . A person who commits treason is known in law as a traitor . Historically, in common law countries, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife or that of a master by his servant. Treason (i.e. disloyalty) against one's monarch was known as high treason and treason against

1469-402: A lesser superior was petty treason . As jurisdictions around the world abolished petty treason, "treason" came to refer to what was historically known as high treason. At times, the term traitor has been used as a political epithet , regardless of any verifiable treasonable action. In a civil war or insurrection , the winners may deem the losers to be traitors. Likewise the term traitor

1582-603: A major role in developing. The factory was able to develop two production ready torpedo models that were used in World War II . Lohmann wrote: While German Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann and Finance Minister Peter Reinhold  [ de ] were generally in favour of the collaboration, other members the German foreign office believed that Echevarrieta's contracts with the English government made him unsuitable as

1695-472: A man having sexual relations with a queen can be considered guilty not only of ordinary adultery but also of treason against her husband, the king. The English Revolution in the 17th century and the French Revolution in the 18th century introduced a radically different concept of loyalty and treason, under which sovereignty resides with "The Nation" or "The People" - to whom also the monarch has

1808-601: A mandatory sentence of life imprisonment . According to Brazilian law , treason is the crime of disloyalty by a citizen to the Federal Republic of Brazil , applying to combatants of the Brazilian military forces. Treason during wartime is the only crime for which a person can be sentenced to death (see capital punishment in Brazil ) . The only military person in the history of Brazil to be convicted of treason

1921-471: A manner to build trust abroad, populate the Naval supply chain correctly with armaments and at the same time, provide intelligence of the capabilities of foreign industry. The 1926 memorandum described how the plan was split into two categories; surface vessels that were required and subsurface vessels i.e. U-boats required. For each individual type of craft, code words and sentences were used in identifying

2034-399: A new speedboat design. At Trayag, 13 speedboats that were equipped with torpedo tubes were designed with unofficial funds procured by Lohmann. The initial cost for establishing the project was 450,000Reichmarks and yearly cost for development approximately 150,000 to 200,000Reichmarks. To ensure the speedboats did not appear as official Reichsmarine shipping, they were registered as owned by

2147-564: A new stangalone legal entity that was attached the ministrys naval aviation department, Gruppe BSx (Allgemeines Marineamt Seetransportabteiling) and funded by Lohmann. In 1925, Lohmann secured a 3.5million Reichmarks loan from Deutsche Bank , to build an seaplane manufacturing facility in Altenrhein , Switzerland, to develop the Dornier Do X , in a joint project between Dornier Flugzeugwerke and Luftschiffbau Zeppelin . Profits from

2260-509: A remarkably free hand as the officer responsible for relations with Moscow. The Occupation of the Ruhr beginning in 11 January 1923, failed to dent Lohmann's career. The Reichsbank provided 100 million gold deutsche marks to the Reichswehr for the possible escalation of hostilities, which never occurred. At the end of the occupation, the monies were never returned, instead what remained

2373-478: A report was published by the German admiralty that identified a need for three oil tankers that could maintain a minimum speed of 16 knots . Correspondence between John T. Essberger  [ de ] , the officer in charge of naval tankers, a department civil servant and an engineer examined the idea of building the oil tankers in a way that they could be used as aircraft carriers known as "aircraft mother ships" as well as "fast boat mother ships". To maintain

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2486-705: A representative of the Sea Transport Department in the General Naval Office, Lohmann took part in the maritime armistice negotiations in 1919 in England. While there he worked with the Permanent Naval Allied Armistice Commission (PANAC) organisation to enable German shipping to commence overseas lines, which were critical to the recovery of the German economy. Lohmann secured over 1000 travel authorisations to enable German ships to pass through

2599-403: A sale. The company continued operating after Lohmann left the ministry in 1927 as a test centre for seaplanes, aircraft catapults and naval radio equipment. While he was negotiating the sale, he worked on the development of catapult launchers on passenger ships . Lohmann was directly involved as both financier and mastermind in the secret development of speedboat armaments in violation of

2712-598: A similar defense was put forward in the case of William Joyce , nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw , who had broadcast Nazi propaganda to the UK from Germany during the Second World War . Joyce's defence team, appointed by the court, argued that, as an American citizen and naturalised German, Joyce could not be convicted of treason against the British Crown . However, the prosecution successfully argued that, since he had incorrectly stated his nationality to obtain

2825-581: A smaller tanker using funds from the Reich Ministry of Economy. To build the other two larger tankers, an agreement was reached between Lohmann and the Bremen-based private bank Schröder-Bank  [ de ] , owned by Johann Friedrich Schröder  [ de ] , that was facilitated by the Bremen finance minister for a loan of 12million Reichmarks. Bremen-based AG Weser shipyard

2938-443: A subsidiary sound film company, Lignose Hörfilm System Breusing  [ de ] (Lignose Sound Film, System Breusing) with studios at 32-34 Lindenstraße, Berlin  [ de ] in 1928–1933. On the other hand, Lohmann assured Lignose that in the name of the republic it was not liable for this guarantee. Later, he signed his own financial guarantees. In August, when bankruptcy could no longer be averted at Phoebus-Film,

3051-572: A successful naval defence organisation was the Navis company. Navis not only maintained ownership of Lohmanns clandestine assets, for example speedboats, but also transacted private business with other organisations. However, Lohmann established several other companies for clandestine work for specific purposes. The first of these companies was "Mentor", an ultra-secret organisation that purchased Amsterdam based Aerogeodetic (Naamlooze Vennootschap Aerogeodetic) that manufactured gyroscopes . He established

3164-696: A way that was far beyond his authority and technical competence. Favoured by the interests of the Chief of Naval Headquarters, Admiral Paul Behncke , it led to uncontrolled scope for legal violations, criminal activity and high-handed action by individuals within the ministry. When his work was discovered in 1927, the scandal became known as the Lohmann affair in Germany and led to the resignation of Reichswehr Minister Otto Gessler in January 1928 and director of naval command Admiral Hans Zenker . Lohmann himself

3277-498: Is a crime which has a vague circumference and more than one centre". The Treason Act of 1351 , called "the pole star of English jurisprudence" by Joseph Story , was the first time treason was defined by statute. During the 12th century the rights of the king were gradually set apart from the other nobles. Beginning with the reign of Edward I the Crown asserted its authority to recognize rebellions ("levying war") as treasonous. By

3390-610: Is also illegal for a Canadian citizen or a person who owes allegiance to His Majesty in right of Canada to do any of the above outside Canada. The penalty for high treason is life imprisonment. The penalty for treason is imprisonment up to a maximum of life, or up to 14 years for conduct under subsection (2)(b) or (e) in peacetime. In China , there are different laws regarding treason in Mainland China , Hong Kong or Macau . The law defining treason in Mainland China

3503-585: Is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for 14 years. Finnish law distinguishes between two types of treasonable offences: maanpetos , treachery in war, and valtiopetos , an attack against the constitutional order. The terms maanpetos and valtiopetos are unofficially translated as treason and high treason, respectively. Both are punishable by imprisonment, and if aggravated, by life imprisonment. Maanpetos (translates literally to betrayal of land ) consists in joining enemy armed forces, making war against Finland , or serving or collaborating with

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3616-457: Is liable on conviction on indictment to life imprisonment. where "enemy at war with China" is defined as a government of a foreign country or external armed force that is at war with China and "external armed force" means an armed force that does not belong to China. Section 11 of the same ordinance also provides that: A Chinese citizen who intends to commit an offence under section 10(1) and publicly manifests such intention commits an offence and

3729-633: Is provided under article 102 of the Criminal Law as follows: Whoever colludes with a foreign State to endanger the sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of the People's Republic of China shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years. Section 10 of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance provides that: A Chinese citizen who— commits an offence and

3842-506: Is used in heated political discussion – typically as a slur against political dissidents, or against officials in power who are perceived as failing to act in the best interest of their constituents. In certain cases, as with the Dolchstoßlegende (stab-in-the-back myth), the accusation of treason towards a large group of people can be a unifying political message. Frederic William Maitland explained that "Treason

3955-456: The French armed forces , or all or part of the national territory, to a foreign power, to a foreign organisation or to an organisation under foreign control, or to their agents". It is punishable by life imprisonment and a fine of € 750,000. Generally parole is not available until 18 years of a life sentence have elapsed. Articles 411–3 to 411–10 define various other crimes of collaboration with

4068-469: The German criminal code is defined as an attempt against the existence or the constitutional order of the Federal Republic of Germany that is carried out either with the use of violence or the threat of violence. It carries a penalty of life imprisonment or a fixed term of at least ten years. In less serious cases, the penalty is 1–10 years in prison. German criminal law also criminalises high treason against

4181-602: The Latin tradere , "to deliver or hand over". Specifically, it is derived from the term " traditors ", which refers to bishops and other Christians who turned over sacred scriptures or betrayed their fellow Christians to the Roman authorities under threat of persecution during the Diocletianic Persecution between AD 303 and 305. Originally, the crime of treason was conceived of as being committed against

4294-758: The Treason Act 1351 (25 Edw.3 c. 2). This section reproduces section 6 of the Treason Felony Act 1848 . The offence of treason was created by section 9A(1) of the Crimes Act 1958 . It is punishable by a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. In South Australia, treason is defined under Section 7 of the South Australia Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 and punished under Section 10A. Any person convicted of treason against South Australia will receive

4407-606: The blockade of Germany . He was still in England when the Kapp Putsch occurred on 13 March 1920, so his career was not compromised. When he returned, he was appointed commander (Chef der Seetransportabteilung der Reichsmarine) of the Naval Transport Division (BS) on 28 October 1920. He was also on very good terms with Chief of Naval Headquarters, Admiral Paul Behncke and this further consolidated his position, receiving significant promotion of himself and

4520-481: The monarch ; a subject failing in his duty of loyalty to the sovereign and acting against the sovereign was deemed to be a traitor. Queens Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were executed for treason for adultery against Henry VIII , although most historians regard the evidence against Anne Boleyn and her alleged lovers to be dubious. As asserted in the 18th century trial of Johann Friedrich Struensee in Denmark ,

4633-548: The Act creates the related offence of treachery . The Treason Act 1351 , the Treason Act 1795 and the Treason Act 1817 form part of the law of New South Wales . The Treason Act 1795 and the Treason Act 1817 have been repealed by Section 11 of the Crimes Act 1900 , except in so far as they relate to the compassing, imagining, inventing, devising, or intending death or destruction, or any bodily harm tending to death or destruction, maim, or wounding, imprisonment, or restraint of

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4746-465: The Atlantic, while keeping the sea lanes clear in the north of Scotland to ensure it wouldn't be subject to any further naval blockades . It also had the added benefit of what was known as "Bündnisfähigkeit" (alliance capability), i.e. should there be an alliance, the vessels would make a strong contribution to that alliance. By technically staying inside the terms of the treaty, they hoped to persuade

4859-682: The British and officially called armoured ships in Naval Command, that were officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Versailles treaty. These diesel driven ships were lightly armoured but heavily armed with six 11-inch guns and were to be fast with a range that exceeded any other cruiser or capital ship of the period. In this way, Loewenfeld and Zenker hoped to tie up the French Navy in support of their merchant fleet in

4972-411: The British and used for prisoner of war transports that were returned to their former owners, which raised his reputation amongst his colleagues considerably and set a precedent for future purchases. In October 1921, he visited Leningrad to reach an agreement for the release of German shipping that were still considered seaworthy with Leon Trotsky and foreign minister Georgy Chicherin . He also used

5085-569: The British in their war against the American colonists - but was eventually pardoned by Thomas Jefferson , then Governor of Virginia . Jefferson accepted the argument, put forward by Billy's well-wishers, that - not being a citizen and not enjoying any of the benefits of being one - Billy owed no loyalty to Virginia and therefore had committed no treason. This was a ground-breaking case, since in earlier similar cases slaves were found guilty of treason and executed. Under very different circumstances,

5198-417: The British monarch, remained such even if they emigrated to another country and took its citizenship. This became a hotly debated issue in the aftermath of the 1867 Fenian Rising , when Irish-Americans who had gone to Ireland to participate in the uprising and were caught were charged with treason, as the British authorities considered them to be British subjects. This outraged many Irish-Americans, to which

5311-533: The British responded by pointing out that, just like British law, American law also recognized perpetual allegiance. As a result, Congress passed the Expatriation Act of 1868 , which granted Americans the right to freely renounce their U.S. citizenship. Britain followed suit with a similar law, and years later, signed a treaty agreeing to treat British subjects who had become U.S. citizens as no longer holding British nationality - and thus no longer liable to

5424-552: The Criminal Code, contained in the schedule of the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995. It defines treason as follows: A person commits an offence, called treason, if the person: A person is not guilty of treason under paragraphs (e), (f) or (h) if their assistance or intended assistance is purely humanitarian in nature. The maximum penalty for treason is life imprisonment . Section 80.1AC of

5537-496: The Elizabethan age courts had shed the restrictions of statutory treason in favor of constructive treason applied as a form of political control. Edward Coke decides in R v Owen that mere speech about the monarch could be treason if it "disabled his title" in departure from his earlier statement "it is commonly said that bare words may make a heretick, but not a traytor without an overt act". In English law , high treason

5650-593: The German colony of Tsingtau . With the outbreak of World War I , he was appointed to the rank of Korvettenkapitän I artillery officer aboard the dreadnought Prinzregent Luitpold where he worked as a non-combat logistics specialist. In March 1918, he was transferred to the Imperial Naval Office (Reichsmarineamt), where he worked in the Navy Transport Division (See-transportabteilung in der Marineleitung) from December 1918. As

5763-553: The German consulate in Saint Petersburg, but the venture failed when his associate was arrested in December 1923 for violating the foreign trade laws, in an operation not connected to Lohmann. Lohmann never returned to the venture after the winter break, due to unexpected resistance from within Naval Command, the low value of the intelligence he was receiving and other failures. He also received intelligence reports from

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5876-806: The German diplomat Heinrich Karl Fricke who served in the German consul in Cartagena , Spain. Fricke reported on the Spanish government, the Navy , the Admiralty as well as economic news regarding the speedboat market in Spain. Through Fricke, Lohmann was able to bribe spanish officials to award a contract to Navis to salvage the Spanish battleship España that ran aground off Cape Tres Forcas in 26 August 1923. In 1925, Lohmann began to collaborate on projects with

5989-642: The German shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd and Clarissa Lohmann, née Frost (1838–1920), an English woman. His older brother was Alfred Lohmann (born 1870), who was president of the Bremen Chamber of Commerce. After attending school, Lohmann joined the Imperial Navy as a naval cadet on 7 April 1897. After his officer training, he was deployed to the Far East: first in 1903 to the gunboat SMS Tiger , and then from 1910 as company commander in

6102-619: The High Seas Sports Association (HANSA) in Berlin. Lohmann believed that early training of sailors was important as it gave them the ability to issue orders later in life, in a way that was effective. As well as providing training for sailors to a military standard, naval pilots were also trained in Neustadt. Lohmann provided 60000marks to train an initial 60 students. Central to Lohmann's ability to organise and run

6215-585: The Lohmann founded, Navis GmBH, a covert shipping and administrative company. The extensive testing program on each design that was run by Trayag on behalf of the Reichsmarine was intended to provide the basis for future Schnellboot construction. In 1925, Lohmann purchased a shipyard in Wagria and formed "Neustädter Slip GmbH" as an additional repair base and training facility for technical personnel. This

6328-799: The Parliament of the United Kingdom, or the Parliament of New South Wales, or to move or stir any foreigner or stranger with force to invade the United Kingdom, or any other of Her Majesty's dominions, or countries under the obeisance of Her Majesty, her heirs or successors, and expresses, utters, or declares such compassings, imaginations, inventions, devices, or intentions, or any of them, by publishing any printing or writing, or by open and advised speaking, or by any overt act or deed, shall be liable to imprisonment for 25 years. Section 16 provides that nothing in Part 2 repeals or affects anything enacted by

6441-470: The Polish owners of a patent "Huragan mill patent", created several joint holding companies to exploit the new invention for the firing of puliverised coal dust in a mill. Lohamm provided funding of 620,000 Reichmarks to build a prototype which was contracted to Weser AG, but a practical unit could not be built and the monies were lost. Lohmann believed both the army and navy would be interested and stated of

6554-652: The Queen, her heirs or successors, from the style, honour, or Royal name of the Imperial Crown of the United Kingdom, or of any other of Her Majesty's dominions and countries, or to levy war against Her Majesty, her heirs or successors, within any part of the United Kingdom, or any other of Her Majesty's dominions, in order, by force or constraint, to compel her or them to change her or their measures or counsels, or in order to put any force or constraint upon, or in order to intimidate or overawe, both Houses or either House of

6667-525: The Reichmarine budget and half was provided by the Reich Ministry of Economics. At the same time, the funding also covered the end of life maintenance of the decommissioned minelayer SMS Albatross and the construction of the steamships MV Bessel (initially known as the Sorrento) and Amalfi at A.G. Weser. The Barbara was built by the shipyard A.G. Weser in Bremen. Lohmann's wife conducted

6780-542: The Reichsmarine. The rearmamenent plan developed by Tebag called for the fasted possible commissioning of submarines. From October 1920, i.e. shortly after he was promoted, Lohmann worked to centralise intelligence gathering within Naval Command, so he could influence decisions. His first success in November 1920 was to reroute reports from the Rücktransporten von Kriegsgefangenen (Krifa) prisoner of war ships to

6893-400: The Spanish businessman and industrialist Horacio Echevarrieta and established a joint holding company that would manage it. Through contacts with King Alfonso XIII and General Miguel Primo de Rivera , Echevarrieta had won a contract, arranged by Lohmann, to build a 750 ton submarine that would be designed by I.v.S for German Naval Command. Echevarrieta became bankrupt and couldn't fufill

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7006-417: The Versailles Treaty. Lohmann became involved in 1923, when he tried to sell the Reichsmarine speedboat flottilla to the Soviet Union as they were in violation of the treaty, but they were uninterested. In 1924, Lohmann founded Travemünder Yachthafen AG (Trayag) in the northern German port of Travemünde on the Priwall Peninsula , to provide mooring berths and manufacturing facilities for the development of

7119-464: The affair only after resignation of Reichswehrminister Otto Gessler on 19 January 19, 1928. On 30 September, Gessler's successor Wilhelm Groener , dismissed the chief of the Reichsmarine, Admiral Hans Zenker , Lohmann's direct superintendent. Lohmann himself was retired and his pension cut, but he was never prosecuted, because to uncover the affair's true background would have been too great a risk. Completely impoverished, Lohmann died three years later of

7232-408: The ceromonial launch of the ship. The Barbara's first voyage to Italy and Spain were used by Lohmann to sell the idea of rotor cargo ships to various contacts and used a film created by Phoebus Film to promote them. His first port of call was to meet the Spanish king Alfonso XIII . Lohmann also met with Benito Mussolini in November 1926 to discuss an order for an 11000ton tanker that would use

7345-406: The command and the Bremen foreign office would be an ideal source of intelligence. Lohmann used this new channel to indirectly influence the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. This was followed by the payment of a stipend to the representatives of the Naval Transportion Division in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad to report on the movements of the Red Army and Soviet Navy . However, Lohmann

7458-462: The context of a kingdom's internal politics. Though helping a foreign monarch against one's own sovereign would also count as treason, such were only a minority among treason cases. Conversely, in modern times, "traitor" and "treason" are mainly used with reference to a person helping an enemy in time of war or conflict. During the American Revolution , a slave named Billy was sentenced to death on charges of treason to Virginia for having joined

7571-404: The contract, Lohmann provided 6.5 million Reichsmarks to the Schichau-Werke shipyard in Elbing , 3 million of which were assigned to build one small tanker. Lohmann's financial engineering ensured that extra money in the contract used to cover interest payments on his loans, were returned to him. By 5 October 1926, Lohmann was the managing director. During his management tenure, Lohmann produced

7684-403: The contract, so Lohmann arranged to provide the full costs of the contract through Naval Command. The submarine with designation submarino E-1 was sold to Turkey to partially recoup costs. The first project that Lohmann completed in 1925-1926 and supervised by Wilhelm Canaris , was the construction of a torpedo factory in Cadiz, in which German Naval Command Torpedo Research Institute played

7797-415: The country, conspiracy is added to these. In Australia , there are federal and state laws against treason, specifically in the states of New South Wales , South Australia and Victoria. Similarly to Treason laws in the United States , citizens of Australia owe allegiance to their sovereign at the federal and state level. The federal law defining treason in Australia is provided under section 80.1 of

7910-459: The director of SK to collaborate on certain naval projects. Lohmann wished to establish an out-of-country testing operation where he could conduct experiments of a type that couldn't be done in Germany. The agreement detailed that Tranchell would make his facilities and personnel available to Lohmann, who would provide specialist personnel via Sprenger along with the design itself that would be provided free and both Lohmann and Tranchell would provide

8023-512: The enemy, sabotage, and the like. These are punishable with imprisonment for between seven and 30 years. Article 411-11 make it a crime to incite any of the above crimes. Besides treason and espionage, there are many other crimes dealing with national security, insurrection, terrorism and so on. These are all to be found in Book IV of the code. German law differentiates between two types of treason: "High treason" ( Hochverrat ) and "treason" ( Landesverrat ). High treason, as defined in Section 81 of

8136-464: The enemy. Maanpetos proper can only be committed under conditions of war or the threat of war. Espionage, disclosure of a national secret, and certain other related offences are separately defined under the same rubric in the Finnish criminal code. Valtiopetos (translates literally to betrayal of state ) consists in using violence or the threat of violence, or unconstitutional means, to bring about

8249-513: The field of work. At the time, Behncke required an overview of the merchant marine as he believed it still had a role even under the Treaty of Versailles . Behncke subordinated Lohmann to the Ministry for Reconstruction on 21 December 1920 with a request that he attend all meetings where commercial shipping was discussed. In May 1921, Lohmann managed to secure some shipping that had been seized by

8362-438: The financing arrangement collapsed. Kurd Wenkel , an economic's journalist of the Berlin daily newspaper Berliner Tageblatt , had wondered since mid-July 1927 how the company, through inflows, could delay its collapse for so long. After a former Phoebus employee informed him about the Lohmann investments, Wenkel published the scandal in articles on August 8 and 9. He likely was unaware of the real background, but suspected that

8475-506: The idea of establishing a naval shipyyard in Cadiz to build the ships but the idea was abandoned. Canaris commented: Lohmann arranged a 15million Reichsmarks loan from Deutsche Bank to fund the joint holding company and demanded that the arrangement remain strictly confidential "because certain military interests of a highly secretive nature are to be taken into account". Lohmann and Canaris were involved in other contracts with Echevarrieta. In

8588-553: The illegal sale of ships and submarines intended for scrapping in 1919 and 1920 under Treaty of Versailles requirements. In addition, "Ruhr Funds" submitted by the Cabinet without Parliament knowledge were added to the fund, of which a portion, 12 million German gold marks, were intended to prepare the marines for military resistance in the Occupation of the Ruhr crisis. Defense Minister Otto Gessler wrote in his memoirs: Lohmann

8701-484: The invention: During a business trip to Italy, Lohmann died of a heart attack in Rome on 29 April 1930, at the age of 52. Treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government , spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for

8814-528: The loan was secured, the repayment details were hidden in the naval budget, under a category of spend that couldn't easily be monitored or audited. Although the Treaty of Versailles prohibited the formation of the German airforce, Lohmann still took steps to maintain naval air power. In 1925, he purchased 76% of the shares in the aircraft manufacturer Caspar-Werke , located in Travemünde . The purchase of

8927-554: The magazine Die Weltbühne ( "The World Stage" ) by Heinz Jäger about the German aviation industry, which revealed individual details of the continued secret armoury. Both the author Walter Kreiser (pseudonym: Heinz Jäger) and the publisher Carl von Ossietzky were condemned to 18 months imprisonment for exposing military secrets. Walter Lohmann Walter Lohmann (born 30 December 1878 in Bremen ; died 29 April 1930 in Rome )

9040-425: The necessity of obtaining a long-term loan to secure certain militarily necessary naval assets which, for various reasons, cannot be taken into account in the regular naval budget) illustrated Lohmanns financial concept. Lohmann planned to finance the operation by seeking private business loans which he would use to create businesses whose income would fund the expansion. The businesses would be structured in such in

9153-568: The other hand, received explanations of honour from all sides, that he had not personally enriched himself. But he was also told that he had been a friend of the Phoebus director Ernst Hugo Correll and had given his girlfriend Else Ektimov, a 12-room apartment and a well-paid job at Phoebus. From 1924, Lohmann invested heavily in Phoebus-Film AG, which had released its first film The Fire Ship ( Das Feuerschiff ) in 1922 and by 1927 it

9266-566: The overthrow of the Finnish constitution or to overthrow the president, cabinet or parliament or to prevent them from performing their functions. Article 411-1 of the French Penal Code defines treason as follows: The acts defined by articles 411-2 to 411–11 constitute treason where they are committed by a French national or a soldier in the service of France, and constitute espionage where they are committed by any other person. Article 411-2 prohibits "handing over troops belonging to

9379-693: The person of the heirs and successors of King George III of the United Kingdom , and the expressing, uttering, or declaring of such compassings, imaginations, inventions, devices, or intentions, or any of them. Section 12 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) creates an offence which is derived from section 3 of the Treason Felony Act 1848 : 12 Compassing etc deposition of the Sovereign–overawing Parliament etc Whosoever, within New South Wales or without, compasses, imagines, invents, devises, or intends to deprive or depose Our Most Gracious Lady

9492-477: The project were accrued by Lohmann. The Ministry of Economics (Reichswirtschaftsministerium), the Reich Ministry of Labour and the Reich Ministry of Transport were involved in establishing the project. By 1927, Lohmann had invested 1.5million Reichmarks, but the company was losing money. He decided to divest the shares and began negotiations with Hamburg America Line (Hapag) but was unable to secure

9605-533: The republic's supplementary budget of 1926, the parliamentary deputy, during Parliamentary debate, came to conclude that the school had been built already and had been inaugurated by Admiral Hans Zenker , Chief of the Naval Command. The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) suspected black funds and demanded that army and navy resources should be limited to their allotted budgets and be monitored more closely. In 1929, an article "Windiges aus der deutschen Luftfahrt" ('Stormy Matters from German Aviation') appeared in

9718-473: The rotor mechanism, but nothing came of the meeting. As well as funding many different capital projects, Lohmann ensured that suitable personnel were trained in an on-going basis, an activity that was a clear violation of Article 177 of the Treaty of Versailles. The Hanseatic Yacht School  [ de ] in Neustadt was established in 1925 to train personnel in seamanship and radio communications in speedboats. Military personnel were sent to be trained by

9831-549: The sea transport division. He also succeeded in persuading the London Naval attache to forward reports that would be a good source of intelligence. In December 1920, he tried to recruit Bremen senator Heinrich Bömers  [ de ] as a channel to Naval Command for forwarding the intelligence, but failed. In Juy 1921, the commander of the Bremen Naval Command informed him that reports passing between

9944-634: The shares was managed by Berliner Bankverein AG and the deal arranged in a manner to ensure the Reichswehr did not appear as the main shareholder. The company had some initial success with the Caspar C 24 that won in the Deutschlandflug  [ de ] , although the company never became profitable even with the injection of new funding by Lohmann The department that built the C24 was expanded and became

10057-436: The ships were capable of a minimum speed of 18 knots, being available for naval exercise for at least 14 days per year and have basic structure that could be converted for naval operations, for example to store ammmunition in a magazine, or the ability to support deck guns up to 160 tons. When the rotor ship Barbara  [ de ; pl ] was commissioned, half the monies for construction were arranged by Lohmann from

10170-595: The signatories of the treaty, Great Britain, USA, France, Italy and Japan to accept Germany into the group of countries with a navy and thus abolish the restrictions. Lohmann along with Rear Admiral Arno Spindler  [ de ] , Director of submarines advocated for a rapprochement with the Soviet Union as they believed it could provide prohibited war materials and at the same time, improve economic ties with Germany. However Lohmann's views were rejected by Naval Command. Although his views were not welcome, he had

10283-535: The speedboats being developed by Trayag to club members. Lohmann also paid for the design of a 1000 hp engine by MAN SE . Lohmann had contact with the Swedish munitions, i.e. gunpowder manufacturer, Skänska Bomullskrutfabriks A.B (SK), in Landskrona , ostensibly to secure the supply of various mines and hand grenades. At the end of 1922, Lohmann through Otto Sprenger began negotiations with Carl Tranchell,

10396-526: The state "in the national sense" must have influenced the programme and the Phoebus rental policy, which was not quite unjustified, because in Phoebus' shallow programme (one does not participate out of love), a few nautical injections were noticeable (i.e., the northbound journey of German warships). The government under Reichskanzler Wilhelm Marx tried to limit the damage. The Wenkel articles were removed from publication under threat of prosecution for treason . The remote economic activities were portrayed as

10509-399: The sum necessary to fund the experiments together. In early 1923, agreement was reached and it was decided together to create Carola AG, to supply munitions developed from the collaboration and from Skänska Bomullskrutfabriks A.B itself. Lohmann together with Sprenger conducted sales negotiations with Japanese companies. They also sales in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. At the end of 1925,

10622-501: The summer 1927, Canaris provided a summary of communications involving Echevarrieta, where they discussed the film industry, naval mine production, and trawler design as well as civilian aircraft production by Lufthansa to establish an airline in Spain and Junkers to build the planes, with Mercedes to build the engines was foremly discussed. Echevarrieta established the Madrid based airline, Iberia , Compañía Aérea de Transportes, that

10735-475: The supply of 16 large vessels, 10 medium vessels and 100 smaller vessels. To maintain the strictest secrecy in financing, when a particular project was started, only the defence minister and the finance minister were informed verbally of the details and nature of the loan. No paper trail was created. Then the department head would be informed and they would be responsible for signing the loan agreement and ensuring any legal details were correctly dealt with. Once

10848-403: The vessel types, to hide their existence, e.g. U-boats were classed as "auxiliary vehicles under the water". To move quickly to production of naval vessels, i.e. the event of war, prototyping would be used and the companies that supplied the construction materials would be financially secured. The ministry calculated that a budget of 50million Reichmarks would be needed over a 10year period, for

10961-642: The visit to determine if Germany and the Soviet Union could collaborate on the development of submarines during discussions with Yevgeny Berens . A further visit followed in May 1922, with a delegation to complete negotiations with the Russian Admiralty. While there, he met the German ambassador Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau and informed him that due to the influence of Hans von Seeckt , negotiations with Trotsky and all official bodies had turned sour. During his visits, he became acquainted with Else Ektimov,

11074-462: The work of a subordinate official, and the Phoebus scandal became the Lohmann affair. The secret rearmament activities, and thus the breach of the Treaty of Versailles, could be hushed up. Although the Reichstag 's Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD) Deputy Ernst Schneller asked very precisely for details of the upgrade programme, he was ignored. The Reichstag approved 26 million RM to settle

11187-718: Was Carlos Lamarca , an army captain who deserted to become the leader of a communist-terrorist guerrilla against the military government . Section 46 of the Criminal Code has two degrees of treason, called "high treason" and "treason". However, both of these belong to the historical category of high treason , as opposed to petty treason which does not exist in Canadian law. Section 46 reads as follows: High treason (1) Every one commits high treason who, in Canada, Treason (2) Every one commits treason who, in Canada, It

11300-745: Was a German Reichsmarine officer with the rank of captain. From 1920 to 1927 as commander of the Naval Transportion Division, Lohmann ran a secret rearmament and research program on behalf of the Ministry of the Reichswehr in an attempt to circumvent the Versailles restrictions . Lohmann's access to naval offices in Königsberg , Lübeck , Stettin , Hamburg , and Bremen gave him access to very specialized information and financial resources. He used this knowledge in his work in

11413-536: Was defeated, dethroned, and exiled for the second time in the summer of 1815, Ney was arrested and tried for treason by the Chamber of Peers . In order to save Ney's life, his lawyer André Dupin argued that as Ney's hometown of Sarrelouis had been annexed by Prussia according to the Treaty of Paris of 1815 , Ney was now a Prussian , no longer owing allegiance to the King of France and therefore not liable for treason in

11526-695: Was followed up in February 1925 by Lohmann forming the German High Seas Sports Association  [ de ] (HANSA). As part of that organisation, the Hanseatic Yacht School  [ de ] was established to train personnel in seamanship and radio communications. In 1926, Lohmann paid the Motor Yacht Club of Germany (Motoryachtclub von Deutschland e.V.) 60,000Reichsmarks to recommend

11639-449: Was incorporated on 28 June 1927 with a capital investment of 1.1 million pesetas by Echevarrieta and Deutsche Luft Hansa . Lohmann arranged the financing for these contracts. The exploitation of the Spanish colony of Rio Muni was also discussed and Lohmann used his private captital in a contract. In October 1926, Lohmann began working closely with Paul Lohmann (no relation), a businessman and arms dealer. In April 1927, together with

11752-577: Was never satisfied with the quality of reports that the representatives were sending but would still make special requests, for example, in June 1924 he requested the composition of the Russian naval officer corps. After trying to financialise the naval transportation office in St Petersburg and failed, Lohmann attempted to establish a Russian company known as "Merotwal" (illegal under Russian law) that

11865-647: Was provided for distribution by Lohmann, bringing the total to 29.75million marks. When he received the funds, Lohmann began to gradually develop a plan under the title "Principle of Reconstruction", to both finance and secure prohibited war materials, believing he could count on receiving further funding totaling 40-50million marks in the future. A 1926 ministry memorandum "Denkschrift über die Notwendigkeit der Beschaffung eines langfristigen Kredites zur Sicherstellung gewisser militärisch notwendiger Marinebelainge, denen aus verschiedenen Gründen beim Ordentlichen Marinehaushalt nicht Rechnung getragen Werden kann" (Memorandum on

11978-460: Was punishable by being hanged, drawn and quartered (men) or burnt at the stake (women), although beheading could be substituted by royal command (usually for royalty and nobility). Those penalties were abolished in 1814, 1790 and 1973 respectively. The penalty was used by later monarchs against people who could reasonably be called traitors. Many of them would now just be considered dissidents . The words "treason" and "traitor" are derived from

12091-410: Was retired and his pension was cut, but he was never prosecuted, because to uncover the affair's true background would have been too great a risk. Completely impoverished, Lohmann died three years later of a heart attack. After he was relieved of duty, the clandestine rearmament programme was continued and expanded. Lohmann was the youngest son of Johann Georg Lohmann (1830–1892), who was a director of

12204-519: Was shared amongst the services. By that point Behncke trusted Lohmann completely and in early 1923, assigned the Reichsmarine's share of what constituted black funds, amounting to 10 million Reichsmarks for Lohmann to administer. Other monies were collected by the Reichsmarine during that period by the sale of warships and submarines that were scrapped. This raised the black funds to 25million marks. A further deposit of 2.5million Reichmarks from Reichstag coffers along with 2.25million from other sources

12317-618: Was the third largest film production company in Germany. In addition to returns, he also expected to be able to place agents inconspicuously in Phoebus' foreign offices. When Phoebus ran into financial problems, Lohmann obtained credit for it from the Girozentrale  [ de ] . He received the signature for the required guarantee only on presenting a further guarantee from the parent company, Lignose AG, which had priority. Lignose processed nitrates to produce raw celluloid film, along with guncotton and other explosives. Lignose had

12430-487: Was to be used to pay agents of the naval representatives and at the same time, rent out a fleet of Reichsmarine cars that had been left in Saint Petersburg, before the war. In essence, it was an attempt to coordinate German-Soviet trade relations with a Lohmann associate "Lambert" in Berlin and at the same time earn more money. Lohmann attempted to keep the arrangement secret from both the Federal Foreign office and

12543-642: Was to ensure primarily and in all circumstances secrecy. He had to stand straight in the event of a breakdown [in getting it done] ( German : Getane ), that is, to take everything on his own cap as a pure privation. He received the assurance of personal honor protection. Ruhr fund monies were used mainly for secret weapons sales, especially in Italy , and to build a tanker fleet. Activities, however, went far beyond that, including: In addition, Lohmann began investing in commercial projects: Various explanations were given for these non-maritime activities: Lohmann, on

12656-409: Was to receive the contract to build them. As part of the agreement, it was decided the Navy was to construct a steamer at Norddeutscher Lloyd . To finalise the deal, the Bremen finance minister insisted that the loan agreement was approved by naval director Erich Raeder and Reich Finance Minister Heinrich Peckert  [ de ] . At a meeting of 6 May 1926, Lohmann explained his plan of using

12769-474: Was willing to build 8 new speedboats to a new design produced by the Trayag successor company. An oil transport company was also planned in detail with Echevarrieta. As part of the contract, the shipbuilder AG Wasser had to build two oil tankers, designed to be fast naval supply steamers. They were financed by the Spanish government for Spain who insisted they be built in Cadiz. In spring 1927, Canaris explored

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