Dirty Rotten Spies: The enigmatic life of Baron von Koenig

09/10/23 • 37 min

In a world of spies and con-artists, deceptions and double-crosses, Baron Rudolf von Koenig conned, manipulated and blackmailed his way around the world. But the fraudster also played a vital part in helping the Allies crack the German Enigma code and win WWII.
In a nondescript hotel in Belgium in 1931, a transaction takes place between a seasoned spy and his new contact. The contact opens the briefcase he has carried on the train from Berlin; it is full of documents, including one that will change the course of a war that won’t begin for another eight years. The manual for the German Enigma machine.
The contact was Hans-Thilo Schmidt. The spy’s name, however, was up for debate. He had been known as Rudolf Stallmann, Rudolf Lemoine and the Baron Rudolf von Koenig. To Schmidt, he was known simply as Rex.
But he was at the end of a long career that had its own amazing story. He had been a petty thief, a con-artist, a blackmailer and a jewel thief. Naturally charismatic, he had an amusing anecdote for any occasion, though should you play cards with him, you were dicing with danger.
But there was one game that he loved playing above all else — the game of espionage. Would the Germans track down the leak in their ranks? Would they be able to find the agent helping him? And what would happen to them if they were caught?

00.00 Introduction
02.20 Belgian connection
04.42 Agent Rex’s real name
07.03 Dubious beginnings
13.11 A Wilde link
19.26 Waiting out WWI in Spain
22.03 Interwar espionage
23.50 Solving the Enigma puzzle
28.19 Wire-tapping and Gestapo
30.44 WWII is declared
32.27 Koenig is captured
34.00 Shadow of an elite agent

Hosted by Marion Langford. Follow on Instagram or check out the website at ratbagsandroustabouts.com. Do you know a story that the history books forgot? Let us know about it!

Hosted by Marion Langford. Follow on Instagram or check out the website at ratbagsandroustabouts.com. Do you know a story that the history books forgot? Let us know about it!

Previous Episode

Dicky White Part 2: Love, liquor and lunacy

In this episode, we meet up again with convict highwayman Dicky White as he faces the tyranny of Major Foveaux on Norfolk Island, builds a pub in Launceston, and gets locked up in a madhouse in London.
After the trials of the voyage to New South Wales on board the Hillsborough convict ship, Dicky White finds himself first in the settlement of Port Jackson and then shipped off again to Norfolk Island.
There, under the harsh rule of Lieutenant-Governor Joseph Foveaux, he fights to survive. But it is there that he also meets the love of his life, Sarah Clayton. Except she already happens to be married.
When the settlement is closed down, Dicky and Sarah, as well as Dicky’s son John and Sarah’s son Henry, start a new life in Launceston, Van Diemen’s Land. There, Dicky builds the Launceston Hotel — and also builds a name for himself as a generous, albeit eccentric, businessman and centre of the community.
But things take a turn when he decides to return to England, with his reception not what he had envisaged. Will he manage to escape London a second time?
00.00 Introduction
02.26 Life in Port Jackson
05.27 Dicky gets sent to Norfolk Island
10.29 Dicky and Sarah meet
17.12 Norfolk Islanders sent to Launceston
28.05 Dicky returns to London
29.07 Dicky is put in a madhouse
31.40 Wedding bells
33.19 Preview of next episode
Credits:
Theme music: ‘Wellerman Epic Shanty’ by EBunny via Jamendo
Sound effects: Pixabay

Hosted by Marion Langford. Follow on Instagram or check out the website at ratbagsandroustabouts.com. Do you know a story that the history books forgot? Let us know about it!

Next Episode

Gaffes at the Gallows: Six executions that didn’t go to plan

Sometimes the death sentence is just the start of the story. In this episode, we hear about six times capital punishment from Australia’s convict days didn’t go to plan — from equipment malfunctions to out and out brawls.
Even the first execution in the British settlement at Port Jackson didn’t go very well when they couldn’t convince anyone among the First Fleeters to act as hangman. In fact, the first official hangman of the colony, James Freeman, had to be persuaded to take on the job as he himself stood at the gallows ready to face the worst of all punishments.
Then there was Hugh Lowe, who was granted a full pardon from the King himself ... a year after he had been executed for sheep stealing.
Or how about William Smith, who survived the drop, and then had to face going through the whole thing again?
There are many more, but the one who gave the best last words before his punishment was dealt was Francis Morgan. Sent to the gallows on Pinchgut Island — now Fort Denison in Sydney Harbour — he turned to the Governor and said: “I have to thank Your Excellency for giving me the opportunity of dying among the most beautiful scenery in the world.”
00.00 Introduction
05.12 The first hangman
09.30 A late pardon
13.08 Lovely view ... for one
17.16 The need for quality tools
20.40 Punch-up on the gallows
25.00 Don’t lose your head

Hosted by Marion Langford. Follow on Instagram or check out the website at ratbagsandroustabouts.com. Do you know a story that the history books forgot? Let us know about it!