Verrat

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Verrat

Notables:	Ruspoli (leader) Gregor Danilov (former leader) Edgar Waltz
Appearances
TV Show:	Template:Episodes/Verrat
Referenced:	"Organ Grinder" "One Angry Fuchsbau" "Red Menace"

The Verrat (ver-RAAT; Germ. "betrayal") is a powerful Wesen organization established in 1945 that serves the seven royal houses (the Seven Houses) whose goal is to maintain stability within the Wesen world. The Verrat depicted in the Grimm series is based on the conspiracy theories surrounding the German Revolution of 1918–1919, and it gets its name from Sebastian Haffner's series of books on the subject, known as Der Verrat.

Historical premise from real-world conspiracy theories

In November 1918, a group of German Empire rebels (the Verrat) formed the Weimar Republic and fueled a civil war within the empire. The Weimar Republic won the war, and in 1919, the government leaders signed the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending World War I and effectively marking a defeat for the German Empire.

History

The Verrat formed during World War II and have since infiltrated major political and law enforcement roles in every part of the world. They have been at the center of several struggles throughout history and throughout the world:

White Terror (1936 - 1963)
Multiple recent crises in Europe including the rise of Franco and Adolf Hitler
Recent turmoil in the Middle East
Arab Spring (2010 - present)

The Verrat was created by the Royal families in 1945 to defend them. It was originally composed of veterans of both sides in World War II. All were Wesen; most were Hundjägers.

Today

The Verrat continue to carry out the orders of the Royal families. The Royals control who is the head of the Verrat and the Verrat agents must obey all orders of the Royals or face serious consequences including death. Verrat agents will kill fellow agents without hesitation, even if their target is the head of the Verrat if the order is given by the Royals. ("Synchronicity")

Composition

There is little information on the Seven Houses that rule the Verrat. The organization's most common enforcers amongst the Wesen are Hundjägers, to the point that that species is synonymous with the Verrat. The Reapers are believed to be a (possibly semi-autonomous) branch of the Verrat dedicated to keeping the Grimms in line. Historically, the Grimms themselves have worked closely with the Verrat in a mercenary capacity, though to what extent this is true in the present day is unknown.

Verrat Ahnenerbe

The Verrat Ahnenerbe (AHN-uhn-air-buh; Ger. "inheritance") are a special section of the Verrat devoted to retrieval and research of rare objects, the occult, and the supernatural. ("The Inheritance") During the Nazi regime, they were called the Studiengesellschaft für Geistesurgeschichte‚ Deutsches Ahnenerbe. Founded on July 1, 1935, their original mission as the Deutsches Ahnenerbe was to uncover evidence of the rightful dominance of the original Germanic descendants, but since Hitler became obsessed with the occult, he retasked them with researching black arts and were renamed the Forschungs- und Lehrgemeinschaft das Ahnenerbe. The Ahnenerbe rebelled against Hitler and became part of the Verrat, contributing to the self-defeat of Germany in World War II. Today they continue to research the black arts for the Verrat. ("The Inheritance")