A Saltcoats-born German who played his part in an incredible plot to kill Hitler was celebrated last week.

Otto Carl Kiep was born on the July 7, 1886 at Shields Cottage, Eglinton Place, Saltcoats during a family holiday – before he went on to join the plan to take down the Nazi leader as part of the secret service.

Otto was brought up in Glasgow’s West End and enjoyed a comfortable upbringing. When he was 24, in 1909, he moved to Germany and earned degrees in Law before taking up a career in international diplomacy.

From 1931 to 1933 he served as Consul General in New York. His biographer and son-in-law Bruce Clements notes that at this time Otto’s thinking was towards peace and international understanding which Bruce attributes to his liberal upbringing in Scotland.

Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: Dr. Otto Kiep and his wife, Hanna, circa 1920s. Private, undated photograph; Commemoration of German Resistance.Dr. Otto Kiep and his wife, Hanna, circa 1920s. Private, undated photograph; Commemoration of German Resistance.

In 1933, he attended a banquet for Jewish scientist Albert Einstein, where he made a speech complimenting him – in stark contrast with the anti-Semitic beliefs of the Nazis who demanded his immediate replacement.

At the outbreak of war in 1939, Otto was drafted into the Abwehr: the German Military Intelligence Service which brought him into contact with a selection of like-minded anti-Nazi. He was part of the ‘Solf Circle’ which consisted of a group of intellectuals involved in the resistance.

On September 10, 1943, Elizabeth von Thadden hosted a tea party with some of the most famed Solf Circle members, including Swiss doctor Paul Reckzeh and Otto Kiep.

The group was betrayed by Reckzeh, who was actually working for the Gestapo.

Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: Mrs. Hanna Kiep Women’s Affairs Secretary of the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. Official portrait German Embassy.Mrs. Hanna Kiep Women’s Affairs Secretary of the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. Official portrait German Embassy.

Otto and his wife Hanna were arrested in the middle of the night and Otto was subjected to repeated torture but refused to give up any details of the upcoming plot to assassinate Hitler. He was sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp.

Otto’s show-trial began at the start of July 1944 and, following the failure of the July 20 plot to assassinate Hitler, Otto was sentenced to death.

On August 26, 1944, Dr Kiep was hanged at Plötzensee Prison in Berlin. His wife Hanna, who had also been imprisoned, survived the war.