Kitty Schmidt

German madam whose "Salon Kitty," a high-class Berlin brothel, was used by the Nazi intelligence service, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), for espionage purposes during World War II. Salon Kitty became the inspiration or subject of brothels featured in films involving Nazi espionage.

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.

Madam Schmidt died in Berlin on 23 February 1954 at the age of 71, without revealing the identity of any of her former clients. The 25,000 recordings from the brothel haven't been found. According to a 2005 article in Die Tageszeitung, the brothel continued to exist after World War II under the management of Schmidt's son and daughter. In the 1990s, it was turned into a home for asylum-seekers, which was closed soon after because of local protest against the residents.