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Marita Lorenz

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Marita Lorenz
Born(1939-08-18)18 August 1939
Bremen,Germany
Died31 August 2019(2019-08-31)(aged 80)[1]
Oberhausen,Germany

Ilona Marita Lorenz(18 August 1939 – 31 August 2019) was a German woman who had an affair withFidel Castroin 1959 and in January 1960 was involved in an assassination attempt by theCIAon Castro's life.

In the 1970s and 1980s, she testified about theJohn F. Kennedy assassination,stating that she was involved with a group of anti-Cuban militants, includingFrank SturgisandE. Howard Huntof CIA andWatergateinfamy, shortly before the assassination.

Early life[edit]

She was born Ilona Marita Lorenz inBremen,the daughter of Alice June (néeLofland) and Heinrich Lorenz. She had a sister, Valerie, and two brothers, Joachim and Manfred "Philip".[2]Her father, a wealthyGermannavy captain, became commander of a fleet ofU-boatswhen Germany invaded Poland two weeks after Marita was born and was subsequently taken prisoner after his ship was captured; he was interned in a P.O.W. camp in England.[2]Her mother, who was born inDelaware,was an actress and dancer who performed under the stage name June Paget.[3]Earlier in the war she had been recruited for the French underground by British intelligence after she aided in the rescue of a French soldier and British pilot.[2]Accused of helping forced laborers in Bremen escape, Marita and her mother were incarcerated in theBergen-Belsen concentration campin 1944.[2]

After liberation by the allies, the Lorenz family moved to Bremerhaven. Alice began working for U.S. Army intelligence, and then theOSS,the U.S. wartime foreign intelligence agency predating theCIA.[2]

When Marita was seven years old, she was raped by an American soldier, and testified against him in the trial that followed. JournalistAnn Louise Bardachwrote that "[m]any close to Lorenz say" these events "set in motion a lifelong pattern of violence and revenge in her relationships with men."[2]

The Lorenz family moved to the United States in 1950, and Heinrich began work as captain of various luxury ocean liners. During this time, Alice's work in the intelligence community deepened, working alternatively with both U.S. Army intelligence andthe Pentagon.[2]Marita's sister Valerie described her mother's work: "I was never sure who [she] was working for, except I knew she worked in intelligence with high security clearance. She didn’t confide in me, but she was very close with Marita."[2]

Castro and Pérez Jiménez[edit]

In February 1959, weeks after the conclusion of theCuban Revolution,Lorenz arrived inHavanawith her father on board theMSBerlin.[4]Fidel Castro and his men visited the ship and Castro took a liking to Lorenz. After dinner, the Berlin set sail for New York. Lorenz disembarked in Manhattan, where she would be living with her brother Joachim, a student at Columbia University.[5]A few days after she arrived, Castro called Lorenz—she had given him Joachim's home number on a matchbox before parting ways—and said he was sending a plane to fly her back to Cuba. A jeep picked Lorenz up at the other end and drove her to the Havana Hilton, which Castro had repurposed as his base of operations. She claims then to have lived with Castro for several months, engaging in a sexual relationship. There are unconfirmed theories about whether she became pregnant with his child during this time, but no child was born.

She left the island and joined anti-Castro activists in Florida. Her later testimony named Francisco Fiorini as theCIAagent who recruited her to assassinate Castro, and that this was an alias forFrank Fiorini Sturgis.She received poison pills that she was to put in Castro's food. Back in Cuba in 1960, she did not deliver the pills but told Castro about the plot, claiming that she still loved him.[6]She left the island and visited Castro one last time in 1981.

According to Lorenz, in March 1961 she met deposed Venezuelan dictatorMarcos Pérez Jiménez,introduced to her as "General Diaz", at a residence inMiami Beach, Floridawhile working as a courier for the International Anti-Communist Brigade.[7]She said she was to collect a $200,000 contribution from Pérez Jiménez for her group.[7]Lorenz said: "He chased me around for six weeks."[7]

Lorenz claimed that Castro and Pérez Jiménez each fathered a child with her.[7]

In August 1963, apaternity suitLorenz filed against Pérez Jiménez briefly held up his extradition to Venezuela.[8][9]She claimed to have been with Frank Sturgis at a meeting with the CIA head in Miami which also included E. Howard Hunt, which Frank stated was for planning right before the JFK assassination.

JFK conspiracy allegations[edit]

In 1977, Lorenz told Paul Meskil of theNew York Daily Newsthat she metLee Harvey Oswaldin the fall of 1963 at anOperation 40safe housein theLittle Havanasection ofMiami.[10]According to Lorenz, she met him again before the Kennedy assassination in 1963 in the house ofOrlando Bosch,withFrank Sturgis,Pedro Luis Díaz Lanz,and two other Cubans present.[10]She said the men studied Dallas street maps and that she suspected that they were planning on raiding an arsenal.[10]Lorenz stated that she joined the men traveling to Dallas in two cars and carrying "rifles and scopes", but flew back to Miami the day after they arrived.[10]In response to her allegations, Sturgis said he did not recall ever meeting Oswald and reiterated his previous denials of being involved in a conspiracy to kill Kennedy.[10]In an interview withSteve Dunleavyof theNew York Post,he said that he believed communist agents had pressured Lorenz into making the accusations against him.[11]

Lorenz testified about this Kennedy assassination plot before theHouse Select Committee on Assassinations(HSCA). Her testimony was investigated by the political committee and said to be unreliable.[12]

In February 1985, attorneyMark Laneread adepositionthat Lorenz provided inE. Howard Hunt's libel suit against theLiberty Lobby'stabloid,The Spotlight.[13]Lorenz lived in New York City at the time, however, Lane read the deposition in court stating that Lorenz was "afraid to come to Miami".[13]The deposition reiterated allegations similar to those she provided to the HSCA.[13]Lorenz said she met Oswald in Miami in the early 1960s, and that in November 1963 Sturgis asked her to come to Dallas with him and Oswald to act as a decoy.[13]Her statement said that she, Oswald, and seven anti-Castro Cubans transported weapons to Dallas in two cars shortly before 22 November 1963.[13]Lorenz claimed that Hunt came to their Dallas motel room and provided Sturgis with an envelope filled with cash.[14]According to one account, this testimony became the "centerpiece" for Lane's 1991 bookPlausible Denial.[7]

In 1993, Lorenz was interviewed byVanity Fair writerAnn Louise Bardachwho described her as "a patron saint of conspiracy buffs".[7]Bardach wrote "at least half of her story is readily documented by the accounts of others andFBImemorandum, the other half lacks any corroboration, at times, flies in the face of existing evidence. "[7]

Work for the FBI[edit]

In 1970, she married the manager of an apartment building in New York. The two worked for the FBI spying onEastern BlocUN diplomats living in the building.[6]

Books and films[edit]

With Ted Schwarz, Lorenz's first autobiography,Marita: One Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Love and Espionage from Castro to Kennedy,was published in 1993 byThunder's Mouth Press.[15]Kirkus Reviewsdescribed the book as "the wild—if nearly incredible—adventures of a new Jane Bond".[16]Publishers Weeklywrote: "Like other sensational conspiracy stories, this one presses the limits of credibility, but its very outrageousness gives it weight."[15]Her second autobiographyLieber Fidel – Mein Leben, meine Liebe, mein Verrat(ISBN3471780793) appeared in 2001.

Lorenz's story was the inspiration forJack Bender's 1999 TV filmMy Little Assassin.[17]Gabrielle Anwarportrayed Lorenz in the film and her mother Alice was portrayed byJill Clayburgh.[17]She is also the subject of a 2000 German documentary filmLieber Fidel – Maritas Geschichte( "Dear Fidel – Marita's Story" ).[18][19]

In 2016, it was reported that she would be played byJennifer Lawrencein the upcoming biographical filmMarita,[20]which is based on Lorenz's memoir,Marita: The Spy Who Loved Castro.[21]As of 2022, the film is still listed as 'in development'.[22]

Personal life[edit]

Lorenz lived inBaltimore, Maryland.[7]

Monica Mercedes Pérez Jiménez, the daughter she had with Marcos Pérez Jiménez (former President of Venezuela), is married to one of the sons ofOrlando Letelier.[23]

References[edit]

  1. ^Roberts, Sam (5 September 2019)."Marita Lorenz, Who Told Tales of Castro and Kennedy, Dies at 80".The New York Times.
  2. ^abcdefghBardach, Ann Louise(Nov. 1993)."The Spy Who Loved Castro."Vanity Fair,pp. 80+.Archived.Photographs by Jonathan Becker.
  3. ^"Alice Lofland public record".familysearch.org.Retrieved20 January2016.
  4. ^Geyer, Georgie Anne(2001) [1991].Guerrilla Prince: The Untold Story of Fidel Castro.Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing. pp. 10, 216–217, 405.ISBN978-0-7407-2064-2.
  5. ^Rohrlich, Justin (28 April 2018)."The Search for Fidel Castro's Love Child".Daily Beast.Retrieved14 January2019.
  6. ^abLieber Fidel – Maritas Geschichte,documentary film by Wilfried Huismann, Germany 2000
  7. ^abcdefghBardach, Ann Louise(November 1993)."The Story of Marita Lorenz: Mistress, Mother, C.I.A. Informant, and Center of Swirling Conspiracy Theories".Vanity Fair.Retrieved21 May2017.
  8. ^"Suit May Delay Jimenez Ouster".The Tuscaloosa News.Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Associated Press. 13 August 1963. p. 2.Retrieved8 April2015.
  9. ^Lorenz v Jimenez,163 So.2d 500(Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1964).
  10. ^abcdeMeskil, Paul (20 September 1977)."Ex-Spy Says She Drove To Dallas With Oswald & Kennedy 'Assassin Squad'"(PDF).Daily News.New York. p. 5.Retrieved7 March2013.
  11. ^Dunleavy, Steve(3 November 1977)."Sturgis' Exclusive Story; Marita Pressured By Reds"(PDF).New York Post.New York. pp. 3, 14.Retrieved7 March2013.
  12. ^Fonzi, Gaeton.The Last Investigation.New York:Thunder's Mouth(1993),pp. 83-107.
  13. ^abcde"Former Castro witness links Oswald, Hunt".The Ledger.Lakeland, Florida. 6 February 1985. p. 2B.Retrieved6 April2015.
  14. ^"Howard Hunt Met Oswald In Dallas, Woman Says".Ocala Star-Banner.Ocala, Florida. Associated Press. 5 February 1985. p. 2B.Retrieved6 April2015.
  15. ^ab"Marita: One Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Love and Espionage from Castro to Kennedy".Publishers Weekly.1 November 1993.Retrieved29 May2015.
  16. ^"Marita: One Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Love and Espionage from Castro to Kennedy".Kirkus Reviews.1 October 1993.Retrieved29 May2015.
  17. ^abDeming, Mark (2015)."My Little Assassin (1999)".Movies & TV Dept.The New York Times.Archived fromthe originalon 30 May 2015.Retrieved26 June2014.
  18. ^Marx, Rebecca Flint (2015)."Lieber Fidel – Maritas Geschichte (2001)".Movies & TV Dept.The New York Times.Archived fromthe originalon 30 May 2015.Retrieved26 June2014.
  19. ^Movshovitz, Howie (24 June 2002)."Dear Fidel (Lieber Fidel – Maritas Geschichte)".Screen Daily.Retrieved26 June2014.
  20. ^McNary, Dave (20 January 2016)."Jennifer Lawrence to Play Fidel Castro's Lover for Sony".Variety.
  21. ^"The Spy Who Loved Castro…and Almost Assassinated Him".The Archive.10 October 2017.Retrieved14 January2019.
  22. ^Jennifer Lawrence to Play Fidel Castro’s Lover for Sony url=https://www.movieinsider.com/m14022/marita
  23. ^"Costa Rica 'spy kid': Mom was sent to kill Castro; dad is a former president of Venezuela".The Tico Times.27 October 2015.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marita_Lorenz&oldid=1224339137"