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States and spies

Governments, tax authorities and intelligence services as players in inheritance: seized papers, spies' estates and states as heirs.

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What do the states and spies estate cases show?

A city's gift to an official's child was recovered by the city in court after the official fell. Where an heir lives decided whether her inheritance was hers; the daughters married to Germans lost theirs to the custodian.

Stories
18
Years
1913 to 2026
Main regions
Europe, North America, East Asia
Legal traditions
Civil law, Common law
Updated
30 October 2026

Every case in states and spies, best-known first

Best-known first: cases from 1900 on, then the United States, then Europe, and the people most read about on English Wikipedia each month. Fiction, scripture and legend come last.

Hermann Göring: Hermann Goering - Nuremberg 2 (cropped)1946 · Carinhall, Germany; Cologne, Germany; Munich, GermanyHitler was godfather to Göring's daughter, the city of Cologne gave her a Cranach, and she lost the painting in 1968 and her father's estate in 2015Edda Göring was born in Berlin on 2 June 1938, the only child of Hermann Göring and Emmy Sonnemann. At her baptism at Carinhall on 4 November 1938, Adolf Hitler was her godfather.thelocal.de and 2 moreAdolphus Busch: Adolphus busch21913 · Villa Lilly, Bad Schwalbach, Germany; St. Louis, Missouri, UAdolphus Busch's widow stayed in Germany during World War I, and the US Alien Property Custodian took her share of the brewery until she came homeAdolphus Busch, co-founder of Anheuser-Busch, died at Villa Lilly, his estate at Bad Schwalbach in Germany, on 10 October 1913. His estate was valued at up to $60 million. His body was shipped to St. Louis for burial.missourioverthere.org and 3 more2012 Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Hanoi.1969 · Hanoi, VietnamHo Chi Minh's will asked for cremation and his ashes split three ways; the Politburo embalmed him, cut the request from the published will and moved his death date by a dayHo Chi Minh began his testament in 1965 and revised it until 1969. The 1965 text asked that his remains be cremated and the ashes buried on a hill.Internet Archive and 3 moreVasily Grossman: Grossman V.S1964 · Moscow, RussiaThe KGB seized Vasily Grossman's novel and every draft in 1961, and the FSB gave the papers to a state archive in 2013, not to his heirsVasily Grossman was a Soviet war correspondent and novelist. On 14 February 1961 the KGB seized the manuscripts, first drafts and typed copies of his novel Life and Fate, to avoid another Pasternak affair.daily.jstor.org and 2 moreAldrich Ames Drop Site Mailbox: USPS mail collection box used to communicate meeting requests between Soviet intelligence handlers and U.S. Government employee Aldrich Ames. This F2026 · Arlington, Virginia, USA; federal prison, Maryland, USACIA officer Aldrich Ames paid cash for a $540,000 house on a salary under $70,000; he and his wife forfeited the proceeds, and she went to prison while their son lived in BogotáAldrich Ames worked in CIA counterintelligence against the Soviet Union. From 1985 he gave the KGB the names of Western agents. By 1 May 1989 the KGB had paid him more than $1.8 million and set aside another $900,000.irp.fas.org and 3 moreCash from LEWIS drop site-Hanssen case: Pieniądze zostawione przez agenta SVR dla R. Hanssena2023 · Vienna, Virginia, USA; ADX Florence, Colorado, USAFBI spy Robert Hanssen forfeited $1.4 million from Moscow and his pension, and his plea deal left his wife the house, three cars and a survivor annuityRobert Hanssen was an FBI counterintelligence agent. Around 1980 his wife, Bonnie, found that he was dealing with the Soviets. He told her he was feeding them false information. She made him confess to an Opus Dei priest, the Rev.justice.gov and 3 moreRyszard Kukliński - Cmentarz Wojskowy na Powązkach (8): Warszawa, Powązki Wojskowe2004 · Tampa, Florida, USA; Warsaw, PolandPolish colonel Ryszard Kukliński passed 40,000 pages to the CIA, was sentenced to death in absentia, and lost both sons within months in 1994Ryszard Kukliński was a colonel on the Polish General Staff.eng.ipn.gov.pl and 2 moreOregon Supreme Court Building circa 1922: Oregon Supreme Court Building in Salem. From: Carey, Charles Henry. (1922). History of Oregon. Pioneer Historical Publishing Co.1962 · Oregon, USA; East GermanyOregon claimed a dead woman's estate because her only heirs lived in East Germany, and the Supreme Court ruled in 1968 that a state cannot run its own Cold War through probateAn Oregon resident, Pauline Schrader, died without a will in 1962. Her only heirs, including Oswald Zschernig, lived in East Germany.Cornell Law School, LII and 3 moreJulius and Ethel Rosenberg NYWTS: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, separated by heavy wire screen as they leave U.S. Court House after being found guilty by jury.1953 · Sing Sing prison, Ossining, New York, USAThe Rosenbergs were executed in 1953, child-care agencies petitioned for custody of their sons and the boys' trust fund, and the sons have spent 70 years on their mother's caseJulius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Soviet Union and electrocuted at Sing Sing in June 1953. Their sons, Michael and Robert, were 10 and 6.archives.gov and 5 moreMap of New York, marked on the globe1953 · Hotel Statler, New York City, USAThe CIA gave Army scientist Frank Olson LSD without telling him, he fell from a New York hotel nine days later, and the $750,000 his family accepted later blocked their murder suitFrank Olson was a bioweapons scientist at Fort Detrick, Maryland. At a cabin at Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland, CIA officers served him a liqueur spiked with LSD without his knowledge.ABA Journal and 2 morePatrice Lumumba, 1960: Portrait of Patrice Lumumba1961 · Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Brussels, BelgiumA Belgian police officer kept Lumumba's tooth after dissolving his body in acid; Belgium returned it in 2022, and the last suspect died before trial in 2026Patrice Lumumba was the first prime minister of independent Congo. In January 1961 he was killed in Katanga by a Belgian-backed secessionist group, with his allies Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito.NBC News and 6 moreLavrentiy Beria: Lavrentiy Beria portrait 21953 · Moscow, Russia; Kyiv, UkraineBeria was shot half an hour after his verdict in 1953; his son lived as Sergo Gegechkori and died five months after Russia's Supreme Court refused to clear his fatherLavrentiy Beria ran Stalin's secret police. After Stalin died in March 1953, Beria was arrested. He was convicted of anti-Soviet terrorism, state treason and counter-revolutionary activity, and accused of being a British spy.archive.kyivpost.com and 4 moreRaoul Wallenberg Schutzpass 29. September 1944: Raoul Wallenberg protective passport (Schutzpass), dated 29 September 1944, for Josefa Frankel, née Tauszig, signed by Carl Ivan Dan1947 · Budapest, Hungary; Moscow, Russia; Stockholm, SwedenThe Soviets said Raoul Wallenberg died in a Moscow prison in 1947; Sweden's tax agency declared him dead in 2016, and a Moscow court refused his family the prison recordsRaoul Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat in Budapest in 1944. He issued protective passes and is credited with helping at least 20,000 Hungarian Jews escape the Holocaust. In 1945 the Red Army arrested him.CBS News and 2 moreErstausgabe von Mein Kampf: First edition of Adolf Hitler's book "Mein Kampf", July 1925. An exhibit of the German Historical Museum in Berlin1945 · Berlin, Germany; Munich and Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, GermanyHitler willed his property to the Nazi Party, a Munich court gave it to Bavaria, and Bavaria used his copyright to block Mein Kampf for 70 yearsIn the Berlin bunker on 29 April 1945, Adolf Hitler signed a private will. His possessions were to go to the Nazi Party, or, if it no longer existed, to the State. His paintings were for a gallery in Linz.jewishvirtuallibrary.org and 3 moreTrotsky Memorial in Garden - Leon Trotsky Museum - Coyoacan - Mexico City - Mexico (15333660737): Trotsky Memorial in Garden - Leon Trotsky Museum - Coyoacan - Mexico City - Mexico1940 · Coyoacán, Mexico City, MexicoStalin's agents killed Trotsky and members of his family; he sealed his exile papers at Harvard until 1980, and the grandson who survived kept his house as a museumLeon Trotsky lived in exile from 1929 and was granted asylum in Mexico in 1937. Stalin's purge reached his family. His son Sergei Sedov, an engineer, was arrested in 1935 and is believed to have been shot on 29 October 1937.guides.library.harvard.edu and 5 more20260722 Former residence of Kim Jong-Nam: Former residence of Kim Jong-Nam2017 · Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia; Pyongyang, NorNorth Korea's leader's half-brother was killed with VX at Kuala Lumpur airport, and Malaysia traded his body for nine of its citizens held in PyongyangKim Jong-nam was the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. He lived in exile in Macau with his wife and children.foxnews.com and 3 moreElie Cohen at his Damascus residence in 1963: Elie Cohen at his Damascus residence in 1963. Elie Cohen, the Israeli spy known in Syria at the time by the alias Kamel Amin Thabit, w1965 · Damascus, Syria; JerusalemSyria hanged Israeli spy Eli Cohen in 1965 and kept his body; 60 years later the Mossad brought back his will and the keys to his Damascus flat, but not his remainsEli Cohen worked for the Mossad in Damascus under the name Kamel Amin Thaabet and reached Syria's leadership. Syrian intelligence arrested him and confiscated his belongings, including the keys to his flat.timesofisrael.com and 2 moreRichard Sorge's Grave 01: Могила советского разведчика Рихарда Зорге на кладбище «Тама» в Токио1944 · Sugamo Prison and Tama Cemetery, Tokyo, JapanJapan hanged Soviet spy Richard Sorge and Moscow refused to claim him; his Japanese partner moved his body to her own grave plot and tended it until she diedRichard Sorge was a German journalist in Tokyo who spied for the Soviet Union. He was arrested on 18 October 1941 with other members of his ring, convicted of espionage and hanged at Sugamo Prison on 7 November 1944.nippon.com and 2 more