Fritz Kolbe (25 September 1900 – 16 February 1971) was a German diplomat who became a spy against the Nazis in World War II.

Throughout his childhood he was influenced by his father's guidance to be courageous and "always do what he thought right" and the Wandervogel movement, which beginning in 1914 also helped to develop his principled conduct and integrity.

These were generally opposed to the government and society of the Weimar Republic; many were subsequently absorbed into the Hitler Youth, but the Wandervogel remained anti-Nazi.

[1] Beginning in 1919, while working at the German State Railways as an apprentice, Kolbe finished school and began studying economics at the University of Berlin.

[1] Kolbe's refusal to join the Nazi Party led him to be assigned lowly clerical work in Berlin[2] after the start of World War II in 1939.

[1] In 1941, Kolbe was assigned, partly due to his brusque manner and intellect, to Karl Ritter who served in the Foreign Office as a liaison with the military.

He sought diplomatic assignments outside of Germany, one of which was consul general at Stavanger, Norway, but was unsuccessful because he would not join the Nazi party.

[1] Kolbe passed information gleaned from cables to the French Resistance, particularly when it could save someone's life or prevent an arrest, as in the case of Cardinal Gerlier.

[3] In 1943, an opportunity for espionage arose when a fellow anti-Nazi in the ministry reassigned Kolbe to higher-grade work as a diplomatic courier.

[5][a] He provided details of: Kolbe's reporting on the mood in Berlin and character analysis was particularly prized by the Americans, according to James Srodes, author of Allen Dulles: Master of Spies.

Allen Dulles wrote: "George Wood (our code name for him) was not only our best source on Germany but undoubtedly one of the best secret agents any intelligence service has ever had.

[7] When the war began in 1939, Kolbe's wife, son and housekeeper remained in South Africa, where he believed they would be safer and free from Nazi ideology.

Der Stern magazine commented that: "Kolbe's story demonstrates that ordinary Germans could do something to fight Hitler's madness - and post-war Germany treated him like a leper because of his actions.

[citation needed] In 2003 a biography, Fritz Kolbe: un espion au coeur du IIIe Reich, written by journalist Lucas Delattre was published in France.

West states that the value of Kolbe's information had been exaggerated, as it merely confirmed intelligence already gathered by MI5, or even unwittingly jeopardized operations such as ULTRA and TRIPLEX, of which Dulles would have been largely ignorant.

Kolbe's work was officially recognized by the Foreign Office of the German Federal Republic when a hall bearing his name was inaugurated in the ministry in 2004.