Wilhelm Canaris

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Wilhelm Canaris, 1940

Wilhelm Franz Canaris (born  January 1, 1887 in Aplerbeck near Dortmund , † April 9, 1945 in Flossenbürg concentration camp ) was a German admiral . During the Nazi era , from 1935 to 1944 he was head of the Abwehr , the military secret service of the Wehrmacht .

Hailing from a middle class family Canaris was in World War I , among others, as Agent and submarine - Commander used. During the Weimar Republic he worked closely with the Freikorps to fight the Spartacists and later kept illegal contact with the nationalist , anti-Semitic and anti- republic terrorist organization Consul . Canaris was instrumental in organizing German support for Franco in the Spanish Civil War . As head of the military intelligence service , Canaris was involved in all major military operations of the German Reich in World War II until early 1944. From 1938 Canaris supported numerous conservative resistance fighters and was involved in overthrowing plans between 1938 and 1940. In the attack on 20 July 1944 on Adolf Hitler Canaris was not directly involved. During investigations by the secret state police , Canaris' diary was found and thus his contact with the resistance against National Socialism became known. As a result, Canaris was arrested. In early April 1945, he by an SS - state court in the concentration camp Flossenburg sentenced to death and hanged .

biography

Origin and family

Wilhelm Canaris was born as the son of the engineer Carl Canaris , technical director of the Aplerbecker Hütte , and his wife Auguste née Popp in Aplerbeck , now a district of Dortmund . He first grew up in Aplerbeck. In 1892 the company moved to Düsseldorf and in the same year to Duisburg. In Duisburg, his father initially worked as a senior engineer and later as a member of the board of directors at Niederrheinische Hütte , a blast furnace plant . From 1893 he lived with three siblings in a villa with a park, gardening shop, coach house and tennis court. Canaris attended Steinbart Gymnasium , where he was an outsider as a student. He was described as a quiet, silent, reserved and closed student. Canaris was already assisting the director of the school with the planning of the school excursions that turned out to be maneuvers in Wilhelmine Germany . As a child, he experimented with invisible ink and adopted false names.

The origins of the Canaris family can be traced back to the 16th century and can be classified in the area of Sala Comacina on Lake Como . From there, members of the Canarisi family moved to different parts of Europe, including Greece, France and Germany. The progenitor of the Greek branch was Michael Canaris . His descendants include Konstantin Kanaris (1790–1877), who went down in Greek history as a naval hero and statesman . Konstantin Kanaris is likely to be the reason for the presumed Greek descent of Wilhelm Canaris. An ancestral community of this Greek branch with Wilhelm Canaris cannot be completely ruled out.

Wilhelm Canaris as a pupil, 1905

Another branch of the family can be traced back to Corsica. The descendants of this branch are said to include ancestors of Napoleon Bonaparte . The decisive family branch, however, goes back to Thomas Canaris , who was born on December 13, 1659 in Sala Comacina . Thomas Canaris emigrated to what is now the German part of the Holy Roman Empire and died on November 3, 1735 in Bernkastel . Three more generations on my father's side came from Bernkastel. His great-grandfather, Franz Josef Ignaz Canaris (1791–1828), and grandfather Johann Martin Josef Canaris (1817–1894) were born in Münstermaifeld . In the Trier area, the family belonged to the bourgeoisie and moved to what is now North Rhine-Westphalia in the course of the industrial revolution . In the mid-19th century, the family belonged to the management elite of the coal and steel industry . His grandfather Johann was the royal mountain ridge and mine conductor in Bigge , today Olsberg-Bigge, in the Sauerland . His brother Carl , born in 1881, became an engineer and rose to work in the coal and steel industry. Carl became general director of August-Thyssen-Hütte in Duisburg and later at Krauss-Maffei in Munich . The SS-Standartenführer Constantin Canaris was the nephew of Wilhelm Canaris.

Wilhelm Canaris had been married to the industrialist daughter Erika Waag since 1919 . The couple had two daughters, Eva (* 1923) and Brigitte (* 1926). Eva had to because of a mental disability , the primary school leaving and then lived in by Bodelschwingh Institutions Bethel in Bielefeld . His daughter Brigitte was later sent to boarding school. Canaris is said to have had nothing in common with his art-loving and artistic wife. Even on holidays, the work addict is said to have thrown himself into work.

Navy period until World War I (1905–1914)

Canaris as a midshipman, 1905
SMS Stein , 1893

Although a member of the family was never a career officer before , Wilhelm Canaris wanted to practice this profession at an early age. His father Carl, loyal to the emperor and national liberal, was first lieutenant in the reserve. He wanted his son to go to the cavalry . Canaris, on the other hand, wanted to join the Imperial Navy . Since a visit to Greece in 1902 he was enthusiastic about the Greek naval hero Konstantin Kanaris . To dissuade his son from the idea of ​​joining the Navy, Canaris was given a horse by his father when he was 15 . Canaris became an avid rider and rode to the end of his life. The father forced him to register as an officer candidate with the Royal Bavarian 1st Heavy Rider Regiment "Prince Karl of Bavaria" in Munich . Carl Canaris died of a stroke in 1904 at the age of 52. Auguste Canaris registered her son Wilhelm in 1905 with the Naval Cadet Acceptance Commission in Kiel , even before Wilhelm had passed the Abitur .

Canaris joined the Imperial Navy on April 1, 1905 as a midshipman . His mother had to sign the usual certificate of obligation at the time, in which she made a binding commitment to raise 4,800 marks for the first four years of her naval career. He was trained on the cruiser frigate SMS Stein with 50 other sea cadets . After about a year of training on board the Stein , Canaris, who was appointed ensign at sea on April 7, 1906, was trained for 18 months at the Naval Academy . A trainer there certified in the personnel file:

"Theoretically very talented, with an iron industry."

In October 1907, after taking oath of the flag , Canaris was transferred to the small cruiser SMS Bremen . The commandant of the Bremen , Captain Albert, wrote in the personnel file in November 1907:

“He is of a small stature, very modest and reserved, so that you need some time to get to know him. Very efficient and conscientious. He promises to become a good officer as soon as he has a little more confidence and self-confidence. "

1908 Canaris helped the commander of Bremen , an undercover agent system in Argentina and Brazil to build. He benefited from the fact that he learned the Spanish language very quickly. In addition to Spanish, Canaris also spoke good English, French and some Russian. In 1909 the Bremen belonged to the international blockade fleet , which blocked the coast of Venezuela . Canaris, who was appointed lieutenant at sea on September 28, 1908 , became adjutant of the Bremen and proved himself in the negotiations so much that he was awarded the Bolivar Order V Class by the Venezuelan President and General Juan Vicente Gómez . In September 1909, SMS Bremen took part with three other German warships in the parade of around 1,000 ships for the 300th anniversary of New York on the Hudson River . In January 1910 Canaris became second officer on watch on the torpedo boat SMS V 162 . In June 1910 Canaris was transferred to the torpedo boat SMS S 145 as a company and watch officer . Because of a catarrh of the apex of the lungs , he was sent on rest leave for six months. The promotion to first lieutenant at sea took place on August 29, 1910. After returning on board S 145 , its commander judged in the personnel file:

"For the special service on torpedo boats he has demonstrated skill and a sure eye, he is suitable for later use as a boat commander."

In December 1911, Canaris was transferred to the small cruiser SMS Dresden . Because of the Second Balkan War , the Dresden was ordered to the eastern Mediterranean . Canaris received a special assignment to observe the construction work on the Baghdad Railway on land . In September 1913 he became adjutant to frigate captain Fritz Lüdecke , the commandant of the Dresden . At the end of 1913, the Dresden was sent to the east coast of Mexico to protect German citizens during the civil war there. The Dresden took Germans and citizens of other countries on board. At times, 2000 US citizens were quartered on the Dresden . At the end of the civil war in July 1914, the Dresden brought the ousted President and General Victoriano Huerta to Jamaica . Canaris proved itself as an interpreter during this time . On July 28, 1914, four days before the outbreak of World War I , Dresden , located in the port of Port-au-Prince on Haiti , received the order to call at a home port. Three days later the order came to wage a cruiser war in the Atlantic .

On SMS Dresden during World War I (1914–1915)

SMS Dresden in front of New York

The Dresden contributed to the outbreak of war the waters off Argentina in order cruiser war to lead. In order to reach Argentina, Dresden needed coal. Canaris radioed merchants in Argentina and Brazil whom he knew from previous trips to organize coal. On August 10, 1914, the Dresden was able to take over 570 tons of coal from the German cargo ship Corrientes in a bay near Jericoacoara (Brazil) . The Dresden sank two British freighters off Argentina and stopped three more. The latter were released because they had cargo on board for neutral states. When V-men from Canaris reported that warships of the Royal Navy were approaching, the Dresden dodged to the Pacific to meet with the squadron of Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee . Canaris was able to report an enemy naval deployment to this squadron through its agents in Chile and Argentina. In the sea ​​battle near Coronel (Chile), the German squadron from a British ship formation was able to sink two of four British ships. It was the first naval battle of the First World War and the first defeat of the Royal Navy after the Battle of Plattsburgh in 1814 against the USA. Canaris was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd class for his reconnaissance achievements. Canaris wrote to his mother after the battle:

“The prospects for peace are still slim. It will be a long time before England is finished. "

The German squadron headed for the Falkland Islands to destroy the Port Stanley naval base . There it came on December 8th to the sea ​​battle in the Falkland Islands with far superior British associations. Four German warships were sunk, only the Dresden escaped. After the battle, SMS Dresden fled to the Pacific. She hid from almost the entire British fleet in the South Atlantic in an inaccessible bay of southern Chile that was not mapped. Through the network of informants established by Canaris, reports of British naval movements were constantly being supplied. On January 18, 1915, Dresden was able to take over coal from the freighter Sierra Cordoba . The Dresden sank the British sailing ship Conway Castle on February 27th . On March 8, she was able to escape the British armored cruiser Kent again . Since the coal had been used up to 80 tons and the ammunition had also been used, the Dresden sailed around the ship on March 9th in the Cumberland Bay of Robinson Crusoe Island (then Isla Más a Tierra ), which belonged to neutral Chile interned. On March 14th, the incapacitated Dresden was shelled by three British warships in violation of Chile's neutrality. Canaris was a launch for small cruiser HMS Glasgow sent to gain time, because the commander was preparing the scuttling.

SMS Dresden with a white flag in March 1915

After the scuttling , Canaris was interned with the other crew members on the island of Quiriquina near the central Chilean city of Concepción . On August 3, 1915, Canaris fled the poorly guarded internment camp . When fleeing to Argentina, he received help from Chileans of German descent. He crossed the Cordilleras alone on a horse . From Buenos Aires , disguised as a Chilean citizen Reed Rosas, he went to Amsterdam on the Dutch freighter Frisia . Its camouflage was so perfect that the Royal Navy officers did not become suspicious of the Plymouth stopover . On October 4, 1915, he reached Hamburg and a little later reported to the Admiral's staff about the voyage of the Dresden .

As a secret agent in Spain during World War I (1915–1916)

Canaris was ordered to Spain on November 30, 1915 . He was supposed to set up a replenishment organization there for the submarines operating in the western Mediterranean and obtain information about enemy ships through informants. In Spain he led the life of an agent under his cover name Reed Rosas. Canaris built up a network of informants for naval intelligence in the Spanish coastal cities , benefiting from the German-friendly atmosphere in Spain. Canaris was able to set up a supply organization with Spanish ships, which from the spring of 1916 supplied German submarines with supplies . Canaris asked to be transferred to the torpedo weapon. On 21 February 1916 he left again as Chilean Reed Rosas disguised Madrid to discuss France and Italy in the Switzerland to travel. He was arrested shortly before the Swiss border because radio messages were being decoded by the French secret service . Apparently he escaped from custody in Genoa , with no precise evidence. Canaris returned to Spain. On September 1, Canaris was picked up by the German submarine SM U 35 under dramatic circumstances near Cartagena . Canaris was able to switch from a small sailing ship to U 35 with two other officers . This succeeded although the French submarine Opale and a French auxiliary cruiser were looking for Canaris and the submarine in the bay. A French undercover agent at the German embassy reported the information to the French secret service.

Submarine commander in World War I (1916–1918)

On October 24, 1916, Wilhelm Canaris was awarded the Iron Cross First Class for his service in Spain and assigned to the submarine inspection. After training as a submarine commander, he was promoted to captainleutnant on November 16, 1916 and assigned to the leader of the submarines in the Mediterranean as submarine commander. The head of the U-School, Corvette Captain Theodor Eschenburg , stated in the overall judgment:

"Particularly suitable as the commander of a large submarine or U-cruiser."

In the submarine task force in Cattaro in the Adriatic Sea , he was initially entrusted with adjutant and admiral staff work. On November 28, 1917, he was given command of the mine submarine SM UC 27 , with which he undertook an unsuccessful voyage. A little later he was given deputy command of SM U 34 .

On January 19, 1918, U 34 left for the western Mediterranean. The first sinking of an enemy ship took place on January 30th. He sank the 7293 BRT freighter Maizar and survived a depth charge by British warships. Before returning to Cattaro on February 16, U 34 was able to sink two more ships. His superior, Corvette Captain Rudolf Ackermann, reported:

“The undertaking was carried out properly and with great success. The achievements are to be given special recognition, taking into account that the commander is leading a large boat for the first time. "

In May 1918 he went to Kiel to take over SM UB 128 . The first transfer attempt of UB 128 was canceled because a crew member had to be hospitalized because of his appendix . On the way back to Kiel there were serious technical problems, whereby the submarine almost sank once. On a second attempt, UB 128 between the Norwegian coast and the entrance to the Atlantic was just missed by a British torpedo. Details about the torpedo attack on UB 128 are not known. On August 21, the French coal freighter Champlain was torpedoed in the Atlantic and then shot at with the submarine gun. The French captain was captured and the freighter sunk by a demolition squad. With UB 128 he finally reached Kotor on September 4th.

When the ally Austria-Hungary collapsed as a state in October, the German submarine flotilla had to evacuate its base in the Adriatic. Ten unusable submarines were sunk and the facilities in Pola and Cattaro were blown up. UB 128 drove with 15 other submarines towards Kiel. On the evening of November 8th, Canaris tried to break the barriers to the Strait of Gibraltar by American and British warships. Thereby, UB 128 was detected and discovered by powerful headlights , which stood on the Spanish side of the strait . The submarine was attacked with seven depth charges. The two down elevators failed and UB 128 sagged 60 m deep. The submarine could be intercepted and go back to periscope depth after the attacker drove away. The submarine was not able to overcome the barrier until the next morning. On November 12th, Canaris received a radio message about an armistice of the German Reich at sea .

Active struggle against the republic (1918–1921)

Shortly after the submarines arrived in Kiel, the Social Democrat and Governor of Kiel, Gustav Noske , gave a speech in which he informed the marines about the situation in the German Reich. The submarines were then decommissioned. Canaris was appointed liaison officer to Governor Noske by the Navy . Shortly after his arrival, he had joined a group of extremely right-wing naval officers hostile to the Republic around Corvette Captain Wilfried von Loewenfeld . Canaris soon became one of the Loewenfelds' closest employees.

When the Spartacists' Spartacist uprising broke out in Berlin , Canaris was in Berlin , where Noske was meanwhile in the cabinet people 's representative for the army and navy . Canaris received from Noske the order to keep in contact with the staff of the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division , which belonged to the Freikorps . At the division he got in contact with Captain Waldemar Pabst , who was the division's first general staff officer. In the battles that followed against the Spartakists in Berlin on January 11, 1919, Canaris was at the forefront. In these battles, the regular troops quickly gained the upper hand over the Spartacists and brought the city under control. On January 15, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were shot by Freikorps members on the orders of Pabst. Where Canaris was at the time of the murders cannot be determined.

On February 3, 1919, Canaris obtained permission from Noske to set up the 3rd Marine Brigade in Kiel. Canaris made sure that Loewenfeld was their commander.

When the National Assembly in Weimar began deliberations on February 6, Canaris was there to influence the army. This showed his adaptability, as he was able to adapt to his interlocutors depending on the situation. When the Reichsmarineamt was founded on February 15 , shortly thereafter renamed the Admiralty and in 1920 Naval Management, Canaris was assigned there.

In May 1919, at the instigation of Pabst, he became an assessor of the court martial before which the members of the Freikorps accused of the murders of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were to answer. Canaris rehearsed the trial with the accused in the Moabit prison beforehand in order to cover up the traces of higher responsible persons like Pope. The majority of the accused were acquitted by this court. Only two defendants were sentenced to 2 years and 4 months' imprisonment. On May 17, Canaris, disguised as Lieutenant Lindemann, took Lieutenant Kurt Vogel , who had been sentenced to 2 years and 4 months, out of prison and enabled him to escape. Even so, Canaris was only detained in Moab Prison for four days. His imprisonment was converted to an honorary imprisonment in the Berlin Palace , the headquarters of the 3rd Marine Brigade. A little later Canaris was acquitted by the judges-martial of the Guard Cavalry Rifle Division, that is, by the division behind the murders. Allegedly Canaris was not even in Berlin at the time of the crime.

Reichswehr Minister Noske now transferred Canaris to his personal staff. After Chief Adjudant Colonel Erich von Gilsa , Canaris was Noske's second most important employee. Canaris worked there as a naval officer questions that concerned the naval brigades. When the Freikorps were to be dissolved in 1920, right-wing circles around the general landscape director Wolfgang Kapp planned a putsch . On the eve of the Kapp Putsch on March 12, Vice Admiral Adolf von Trotha and Canaris were sent to the naval brigade's camp in Dallgow-Döberitz to see their commander Hermann Ehrhardt to keep him from the putsch. Although both found the naval brigade ready to march, Canaris Noske reported "no signs of any coup plans". The coup began shortly after midnight. Canaris, like most naval officers, immediately sided with the coup plotters, while his superior Noske fled with the chief adjutant Gilsa. Canaris later justified this by saying that he was faced with the choice of following Noske or the troops. The coup quickly collapsed due to a general strike . Canaris was in a cell at Berlin police headquarters for a few days. When a commission in the Reichswehr Ministry investigated the putsch, Canaris remained unscathed, as there was no evidence of participation in the preparations for the putsch. The new Reichswehr Minister Otto Gessler had Canaris and most of the other officers transferred from the former vicinity of Noske.

Canaris (second row, second from right) with other employees of the Baltic Sea Naval Station in 1923

On June 24, 1920 Canaris was only second and a little later first admiralty staff officer at the command of the naval station of the Baltic Sea . Canaris procured materials and weapons from hidden stores to equip the new navy. In order to raise money, he arranged the sale of surplus weapons and equipment via Denmark . Canaris was the liaison to the right-wing terrorist organization Organization Consul (OC), which was run by Ehrhardt, who was wanted for high treason . The members of the OC were paid with money from the illegal arms deals. The terrorist organization was also supplied with weapons and equipment. Even when the OC committed more and more political murders of Reich politicians, including the Reich Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau and the former Reich Finance Minister and German first signatory of the Compiègne Armistice , Matthias Erzberger , Canaris did not end the cooperation.

Military-political secret operations (1921–1929)

In 1921 Wilhelm Canaris was assessed as follows by his superior Corvette Captain Ernst Meusel :

"With a determined, tireless workforce, prudent and clear judgment, an energetic and yet modest demeanor, a confident and forward-looking organizational talent, he played an outstanding role in the successes in rebuilding male discipline and in solving all military tasks and efforts of the station command under the difficult circumstances."

In June 1923 Canaris became first officer on the small cruiser Berlin under the command of Wilfried von Loewenfeld . On board the Berlin he met the midshipman Reinhard Heydrich , who was on board the Berlin from July 1923 to March 1924. Canaris had a weakness for loners, and he took a liking to Heydrich, who was unpopular with other marines, because he had an arrogant and smug demeanor. Heydrich soon spent a lot of time at Canaris' house, playing music with Erika Canaris while Canaris cooked.

In May 1924 he was sent on a secret mission to Osaka , Japan . There he should find out about the status of the submarine construction planned and carried out by German experts. Canaris, who was appointed corvette captain on January 1, 1924, was so dissatisfied in the Reichsmarine that he wanted to quit the service on January 15, 1925. Canaris also attached a marine medical report to his request for dismissal, which confirmed that he was unfit for service. The station chief of the naval station of the Baltic Sea, Captain Ernst Freiherr von Gagern , wrote Canaris a five-page long very personal letter to change Canaris' mind. Canaris withdrew his request.

On October 4th he took over the department for preparatory mobilization work at the naval management in Berlin . Canaris does not seem to have enjoyed working at the desk; his strength was personal contact with people. His superior sea captain Arno Spindler noted in the personnel file:

"I had the impression that this kind of pure desk work, which consists to a large extent of sifting and assembling, is not his thing."

When negotiations about the construction of submarines according to German plans were pending in Spain in January 1925, Canaris traveled there with them. Canaris should also set up a new network of V-men in Spain . He partially reactivated his informants from the First World War. In the next few years Canaris traveled repeatedly to Spain because of the secret armaments cooperation and to build up a network of agents . It came to contacts up to the highest state circles, among other things he met with King Alfonso XIII . together. He also brokered loans for a Spanish shipyard, which was involved in the submarine construction plans. Canaris acted as a kind of unofficial naval attaché . In doing so, he benefited from his excellent knowledge of Spanish and his fondness for Spanish and Iberospanian culture.

Canaris as Corvette Captain, 1924–1931

On January 23, 1926, Canaris was summoned to the committee of inquiry into the guilt issues of the World War in Berlin. This committee of inquiry investigated u. a. the revolutionary events in the navy in 1917 and 1918, and also the legend of the stab in the back . In his testimony, Canaris et al. a.

“The fleet was healthy inside. The seeds of the uprising were brought in from outside. "

Canaris uttered numerous other lies by the German right-wing extremist naval circles. During his testimony, Canaris was repeatedly interrupted by laughter and heckling. After the testimony, Canaris moved into the focus of the left-wing and military-critical press, as it did during the trial of the Luxemburg and Liebknecht murders. Reichswehr Minister Geßler and the ministry repeatedly denied Canaris' involvement in the liberation of Kurt Vogel and in the secret support of the Consul organization with money and weapons until his fall . At times Canaris was the No. 1 enemy for the left press. In particular, Die Weltbühne reported on Canaris. In the Weltbühne there were articles with headings such as The Secret of Canaris , Canaris on the Baltic Sea , Canarisfilm and League of Nations Theater and The Fairy Tale of the Canary Islands . The world stage wrote u. a. in September 1927:

"We have shown that there was always a man who maintained the connection and who above all arranged for state funds to be paid out to right-wing extremist organizations: Corvette Captain Canaris."

When Reichswehr Minister Geßler had to resign in 1928 because of the scandal surrounding the secret arms deals, Canaris' involvement in these deals was also discussed. Canaris remained the focus of the press until late 1927.

Canaris' career and work does not seem to have been disturbed by such press reports. On October 1, 1926, he became an assistant to the Chief of Naval Command's staff. Canaris spent most of the time in Spain in order to strengthen secret arms cooperation. Despite years of intensive efforts by Canaris and other Germans, only one submarine was built in Spain because of political and industrial-political entanglements. The Spanish Navy provided the German Navy with its own submarines for experiments and maneuvers. At the beginning of 1928 he negotiated a secret agreement with General Jesus Bazan, the head of the Spanish security police Jefe de la Seguridad, on cooperation between the police in Germany and Spain. This secret agreement was signed on February 17, 1928. In May, Canaris was in Argentina because of talks about arms cooperation between Argentina and Spain and the Reich in the background. It was not until the Republic of Spain was proclaimed in April 1931 that the cooperation with Spain came to an end for the time being.

On board the Silesia (1929–1934)

Ship of the line Silesia

In order to take Wilhelm Canaris out of the political line of fire, he became first officer on the ship of the line Schlesien on June 22nd . At first Canaris was allowed to maintain secret contacts with Spain. When serious mistakes in the secrecy of the cooperation with Spain were discovered by the newly created defense, the new naval chief Admiral Erich Raeder forbade any further special political tasks for Canaris in May 1929. His predecessor Admiral Hans Zenker had to resign because of the Lohmann affair , in which Canaris was also involved. Nevertheless, Canaris was promoted to frigate captain on June 1, 1929.

On September 29, 1930 he was appointed chief of staff at the command of the North Sea Naval Station . In 1931, in court proceedings for treason against journalist Berthold Jacob , based on his article on the Reichswehr and right-wing extremist organizations, Canaris' involvement in the escape of the Luxembourg murderer Vogel came up again. Again the facts could be covered up, and the Reichswehr Ministry once again issued a declaration of honor for Canaris. In Kiel on October 1, 1931, he was promoted to captain at sea . On September 29, 1932 he became the commander of the liner Silesia .

From 1932 onwards, Canaris seems to have been drawn more and more to Adolf Hitler and his ideas. He was considered an enthusiastic National Socialist . This assessment is mainly based on post-war statements by Conrad Patzig , Canaris' predecessor as Abwehr chief, and Werner Best , later temporarily chief of Department I (law, personnel, administration) in the Reich Security Main Office . There is also a report from the commander of the German liners Max Bastian from November 1, 1934:

"I must emphasize the tireless efforts of Captain zS Canaris to familiarize his crew with the ideas of the national movement and the principles of the state structure of the new empire through personal lectures in the second year."

Under the spell of Hitler (1934-1937)

On September 29, 1934, he was transferred to Swinoujscie as fortress commander. With this post, Wilhelm Canaris, according to most of the biographies and works dealing with Canaris, landed on a career impasse, among other things because the naval chief Erich Raeder , who had been an opponent of Canaris since their time together with Reichswehr Minister Noske, is said to have been. Michael Mueller's biography from 2006 contradicts this point of view. Mueller quotes a personal and confidential letter from Raeder to Canaris dated October 11, 1934. Raeder writes et al. a.

“I always had the plan to get you into the position of chief of the defense department if at all possible. Unfortunately the conditions at this one could not be clearly overlooked before 1.10. But now they have developed in such a way that a change in the line is ordered by the minister in the course of this winter half-year, probably around January 1st. The Minister approved my suggestion that you take the position. "

On January 2, 1935, Canaris was appointed to succeed Captain Conrad Patzig as chief of the German defense. The assertion, which goes back to post-war statements by Patzig, that this was done at Patzig's own suggestion, thus seems to be refuted; but at least Patzig overestimated his influence on the appointment. In his assessments in 1933 and 1934, his superior Max Bastian had already written under the heading "For which special positions suitable" firstly the naval attaché and secondly the Reichswehr Ministry (initially as a department head - defense department). When he took office, Patzig warned Canaris urgently against the SS. This is said to have answered:

"Rest assured, I can handle these boys."

At first Canaris found it difficult to assert himself in the defense and the entire armed forces. His height of about 1.60 m, his unmilitary demeanor, his reserved manner, his slight lisp and his tired look should have played a role.

From the beginning there were problems with the SS , more precisely with SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich , the head of the Secret State Police Office and the Security Service (SD). From the beginning of National Socialist rule, the SS wanted a unified organization that united the secret police and secret service under the leadership of the SS. Canaris and Heydrich both lived in Berlin-Steglitz at first on Döllestrasse. Neither of them had seen each other for twelve years. Their families maintained close social relations over the next few years. Later in Berlin-Schlachtensee , both properties bordered one another. In the Heydrich house, Heydrich first and Erika Canaris played second violin in a string quartet . Lina Heydrich listened, but Canaris was mostly absent or cooked. Both were loners who were said to have lost human relationships, and even insurmountable distance from the environment. From 1936 onwards there were frequent rides together in the Berlin zoo in the mornings , in which SS leader Werner Best, who was replaced by Walter Schellenberg in spring 1940, often took part. Despite the close relationship with each other, both seem to have been watching each other downright. Both intelligence chiefs had informants in the other service. Typical for Heydrich seems to have been the following saying about Canaris to SS comrades:

"He's spying, he's sniffing everywhere!"

Schellenberg claimed after the war that both of them had each other completely in their hands with incriminating material. Nobody could do anything against the other, otherwise they would have put themselves in danger. Canaris is said to have had files about a non-Aryan grandmother of the rival, while Heydrich collected material about resistance members in the defense. The family contact between the two families never ceased. The families von Canaris and Heydrich spent the turn of the year 1941/42 together at Heydrich's Jagdgut Stolpshof.

Canaris' contact with other SS employees, especially Best, was initially very close. Canaris met with Best on a daily basis at times until the end of 1939. SD and Abwehr invited each other to their meetings.

In an agreement of January 17, 1936 between the Wehrmacht and the SS, military espionage and counter- espionage were initially regulated at the instigation of Canaris. The agreement was signed by Canaris and Best. The responsibility for espionage and counter-espionage remained with the Defense of the Wehrmacht. The Abwehr was also given responsibility for counter-espionage in the SS disposal force , whose defense department was subordinate to the Abwehr.

On May 1, 1935, he was appointed rear admiral . Canaris began a massive build-up of defense personnel. Among the new employees were many former Freikorps members or members of the terrorist organization OC Canaris knew many new employees personally from his time in Berlin. Both National Socialists and opponents of the same were recruited. People who were close to the SPD or parties further left were not recruited. A maximum of 50 of the 13,000 officers, civil servants and employees of the Abwehr later actively resisted the Nazis.

Due to the very different composition, a real corps spirit never emerged in the defense. Numerous V-men were recruited in embassies , hotels , etc. Defense officers were appointed in arms factories. Canaris was personally committed to clearing armaments factories of politically unreliable, i.e. politically left-wing people. Keepers of secrets in the factories should be checked more closely and their briefcases examined when they leave the workplace, and private telephone calls should also be prohibited. Until the end of the 1930s, the Abwehr or Canaris demanded ever stricter surveillance measures near the border and in armaments factories. These initially went beyond the demands and measures of the SS and Gestapo.

Canaris began an ever closer collaboration with secret services in Italy and in other countries whose governments were politically right-wing. From December 1936, Canaris was given responsibility on the part of the Wehrmacht for all questions relating to German-Japanese military cooperation. Before that he had worked closely with the Japanese military attaché Major General Hiroshi Oshima . Canaris apparently always belonged to those people in the empire who encouraged close cooperation with Japan. The Foreign Ministry , the Reich Ministry of War and the armaments industry have traditionally always relied on cooperation with China . The cooperation with the Japanese secret service became so close that in 1937 defense workers were allowed to take part in the interrogation of the defected Soviet NKVD chief for the east, General Genrich Lyuschkow .

Initially, contact with Hitler was very intensive, as shown, for example, by 17 meetings between December 1935 and March 1936. At that time, Canaris was fully behind Hitler and the government, as the following two statements about Hitler show:

"He is approachable and sees something if you just present it to him correctly."

"Anyone who is a really good soldier will also be a good National Socialist."

After his appointment as chief of the defense in 1935, Canaris used his excellent knowledge of Spanish and built up a spy network, some personally in Spain. Canaris is seen as the backer of the German military support for Franco in the Spanish Civil War . When the civil war began on July 17, 1936, the bulk of the coup troops were in Spanish Morocco . Since the Spanish Navy was loyal to the republic, Franco asked the Empire for ten transport planes to fly troops to Spain. Canaris reached after intensive discussions from 25 to 26 July, Hitler, Hermann Goering and Werner von Blomberg that on July 28 the decision was twenty Ju 52 of Lufthansa after Tetouan in Spanish Morocco to send. Later Canaris was responsible for sending German combat units in the form of the Condor Legion to Spain.

Since the rebellious troops under Franco were separated from Spain in the south and north-west and had inadequate radio systems, reports were initially sent via Canaris or the Abwehr. Canaris got in touch with the head of the Italian secret service Mario Roatta in support of the insurgents and met Franco in Salamanca at the end of October to discuss further cooperation. On December 6, 1936, Canaris was in Rome at the Conference of Chiefs of Staff of the Italian Armed Forces, where it was decided to send a division to Spain.

Canaris (left) at the funeral of Kaiser Wilhelm II in Doorn , Netherlands, June 9, 1941

Canaris was repeatedly in Spain to settle conflicts between Spaniards, Germans and Italians. Canaris personally took care of the replacement of the German ambassador Wilhelm Faupel and the commander of the Condor Legion Major General Hugo Sperrle , as both of them offended the Spaniards with their manners. The bombing of Guernica is said to have rocked Canaris.

The counter-espionage of the Condor Legion took over the defense. As part of the defense, the Secret Field Police (GFP) was set up with Gestapo officials . In Spain a unit of the GFP with 30 men and the designation "S / 88 / Ic" was used. This unit worked closely with the intelligence service of the Franco forces (Servicio Informacion Policia Militar). One of the focal points of the work in Spain was the persecution of Germans who fought in the International Brigade . An agreement with Franco regulated the transfer of captured German fighters from the International Brigade to the GFP. Some of these captured German fighters of the International Brigades have already been murdered in Spain, most of them were deported to the German Reich with the consent of Spain in order to either be brought before the People's Court there or to land immediately in a concentration camp . To what extent Canaris was involved in the work of the GFP in Spain is unclear, as the GFP was subordinate to the local commander of the IC area, who - if at all - only reported reports to his superior command - often only by radio.

In the winter of 1936/37, at Canaris' request, Heinrich Himmler visited the Sachsenhausen concentration camp with Abwehr officers and selected officers from the Wehrmacht High Command (OKW) . The visitors were greeted by Theodor Eicke , the inspector of the concentration camps. The visitors saw u. a. prisoners who have just been whipped “as a greeting”. The camp commandant and other SS leaders freely gave information about further tortures. According to the visitor, Friedrich Wilhelm Heinz , Canaris wanted to show the participants the inhumanity of the National Socialists. By 1937 at the latest, Canaris seems to have turned more and more away from Hitler and National Socialism. In the autumn of 1937 Canaris told his predecessor Patzig that "from top to bottom they are all criminals who have ruined Germany." When asked how Canaris could continue to remain chief of the defense, Canaris replied:

“It has become my fate. If I leave, Heydrich will come and then all will be lost. I have to sacrifice myself. "

Helper and opponent of Hitler at the same time (1938–1944)

Canaris (3rd from left) saying goodbye to the South African Defense Minister Pirow, 1938
Canaris (left) at the reception for Hitler's 50th birthday, 1939

At the beginning of 1938 there was the Blomberg-Fritsch crisis , which led to the dismissal of the Reich Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht , Werner von Blomberg, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Army , Werner von Fritsch . In January 1938 Blomberg had married a woman who had been listed in police files as a prostitute since 1932 . Fritsch was falsely denounced as a homosexual . Both officers were then forced to resign. Hitler seized the chance to get rid of unpleasant, professionally competent critics of his war plans. Canaris was one of the very few high military officials who actively campaigned for Fritsch and helped clear up the false allegations against Fritsch. The Army Chief of Staff Ludwig Beck, however, issued a strict ban on talking about the affair at all. During the investigation it emerged, among other things, that the Gestapo had noticed early on that Fritsch had been confused with a man of the same name and did not pass this information on. The Blomberg-Fritsch crisis seems to have been the final turning point of Canaris in relation to the government, especially to the SS and Gestapo, and led to the turn to resistance circles against Hitler in the military. Canaris now had anti-Gestapo material collected by the Abwehr and passed this material on to leading officers of the Wehrmacht.

On February 4, 1938, 16 generals were forced to retire and 44 more were transferred. The War Ministry was renamed the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) under Lieutenant General Wilhelm Keitel . On February 7, Canaris became head of the General Wehrmacht Matters Office (AWA) in the OKW, while retaining his position as head of defense. Canaris was now briefly responsible for the OKW's relations with the party, the police, the press and the public.

Keitel issued on 13 February 1938 Canaris orders to false but credible news about preparations for war against Austria distribute to build on the orders of Hitler pressure on the government of Austria (Note: In mid-March it came to the annexation of Austria ). These deceptive actions were immediately seen through by the Austrian secret service. For the first time, Canaris was ambiguous when he had work for the National Socialist government and at the same time worked against the government with the head of the Central Abwehr Department ( Hans Oster ). Canaris and Colonel Friedrich Hoßbach , Hitler's Wehrmacht adjutant, formulated demands that Colonel -General Walther von Brauchitsch , the new Commander-in-Chief of the Army, should submit to Hitler. Among other things, the paper called for substantial changes in the staffing of the Gestapo's leadership positions. However, this paper was never presented to Hitler by von Brauchitsch. On April 1, 1938, Canaris was promoted to Vice Admiral.

After the annexation of Austria , Canaris flew to Vienna on March 11th. He personally confiscated files on Hitler, Göring, Himmler and Heydrich from the local secret service. He came before Schellenberg. Canaris immediately made the leading employees there, Max Ronge and Erwin von Lahousen, the offer to switch to the defense, and he got ahead of Schellenberg. He said to Lahousen:

"Do not bring any Nazis with you, especially to the headquarters in Berlin, bring Austrians, no Eastern Markets."

Lahousen actually became a member of the Abwehr and soon became a close associate of Canaris. Ronge, however, was arrested by the SS, but was later released at Canaris' instigation.

The defense was reorganized into four departments on June 1st. She was now also responsible for managing arms attachés at embassies abroad and looking after foreign military attachés in Berlin. Canaris also lost the leadership of the General Wehrmacht Matters Office.

From May 30, 1938, Canaris and the Abwehr were busy preparing for war against Czechoslovakia on the orders of Hitler (note: on March 15/16, 1939, the " smashing of the rest of Czech Republic " was implemented). The Abwehr had been working with the leader of the Sudeten Germans Konrad Henlein since 1934 . In the course of 1937, the Abwehr had already started to prepare and / or recruit ammunition depots and V-men on Czechoslovakian territory through Helmuth Groscurth . The Abwehr let camouflaged combat and sabotage units seep across the border in order to be ready for sabotage and terrorist actions at the start of the war . The Abwehr also set up the Sudeten German Freikorps (SFK). At that time, as in the next few years, Canaris was on the one hand a pioneer and on the other hand would-be preventer of Hitler's wars of conquest at the same time. Oster and Canaris tried to urge the chief of staff, Colonel General Beck, to take action against war. But Beck preferred to write memoranda against war instead of acting, and eventually resigned. With Beck's successor, Colonel General Franz Halder , Canaris prepared a putsch , in which von Brauchitsch was to participate. During these plans, Hans von Dohnanyi suggested, presumably for the first time in conservative resistance circles, that men in his vicinity attempt an assassination attempt on Hitler. Canaris, on the other hand, could only imagine an arrest, but not a killing, of Hitler until 1944. Nevertheless, as early as 1938 Oster, Friedrich Wilhelm Heinz and Hans Bernd Gisevius had specific plans to kill Hitler in a planned arrest.

At the beginning of May 1939, aerial reconnaissance with special high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft began over Poland, with Canaris and the Abwehr taking part in the planning. At the same time, defensive men began to be smuggled into Poland in order to prevent important facilities, especially bridges, from being blown up by the Poles at the beginning of the war. By the time the war broke out, 1,300 Abwehr agents were smuggled into Poland.

On August 22nd, Hitler gave a speech about the imminent war against Poland in front of 50 important officers of the Reich in the Berghof , with Canaris also being present. Despite the ban, Canaris wrote down key words. After the speech, all the officers were silent, and there was no discussion about the speech among themselves. The next day, Canaris informed the department and group leaders of the defense about the speech and the expected date of the attack. Later he read to his closest confidants from his notes. Oster incorrectly edited these key words from Canaris and passed them on to the American journalist Louis Paul Lochner . On August 25th, he passed the manuscript on to the British Embassy. The resistance groups in the Wehrmacht considered a putsch against Hitler several times , but dropped the plan because there was no support from the commanders of the Wehrmacht.

At the start of the war, Canaris made a short, pithy address to his officers. The Abwehr in the Polish part of Upper Silesia captured important industrial companies, which could be held until the arrival of the Wehrmacht. The defense began working with enemies of the war opponents. She made contact with the IRA as well as with Indians and Ukrainians. In Afghanistan , the Abwehr planned to bring the pro-German ex-king back to power.

Canaris helped individual Poles, e.g. B. Halina Szymańska , the wife of the Polish military attaché in Berlin, on the escape to Switzerland. He had the Abwehr collect data on crimes committed by the SS and Gestapo in Poland. He also ordered his department heads to create service diaries in which, for example, the murders issued by the Abwehr but not carried out were entered. On the basis of his service diary, Lahousen testified as a key witness at the Nuremberg trial of the major war criminals and supported the indictment with his evidence and his personal perceptions. Canaris also used this material to incite some regime-critical commanding generals of the Wehrmacht against the Einsatzgruppen # Poland , Gestapo, SS, etc. He made sure that reports from Colonel General Johannes Blaskowitz about crimes in Poland were sent to the commanders of the three army groups in the west:

Canaris himself protested only once personally, on September 14th to Wilhelm Keitel , about the murders in Poland. His colleague Lahousen writes in a memo, which he wrote by order of Canaris:

“I (Canaris) pointed out to Colonel Keitel that I had received knowledge that extensive fusilations were planned in Poland and that in particular the nobility and the clergy were to be exterminated. After all, the world will also hold the armed forces responsible for these methods, under whose eyes these things are happening. "

Keitel said u. a., since the Wehrmacht does not want to have anything to do with this, the "popular extermination" would be the responsibility of the respective civil commanders. Canaris' protest against the bombing of Warsaw (see Battle of Warsaw (1939) ) also had no effect. But he did nothing in relation to the Secret Field Police (GFP), which was subordinate to him and which was involved in crimes against Poland. The service regulations of the GFP, which belonged to the Abwehr and consisted of drafted officers and employees of the Gestapo, stipulated that it had similar tasks to the task forces of the SS. As part of Abwehr III, the GFP grew to 500–600 men. The GFP's commanding officer was Colonel Wilhelm Krichbaum , who was previously SS-Standartenführer in the SD main office. The CFP and other Abwehr agencies handed over detainees to Einsatzgruppen for liquidation. This practice led to a letter from Heydrich to Canaris. Heydrich demanded that the CFP be instructed to carry out their shootings themselves. Of 764 shootings with around 20,000 dead that were carried out in occupied Poland from September 1 to October 26, 311 were carried out by the Wehrmacht. What part the CFP played in this seems unclear. After the attack on Poland, Canaris told his friend from Freikorps times, Ehrhardt:

“The war is lost, no matter how many victories we still make; but he's lost. "

On January 1, 1940, Canaris was promoted to Admiral .

In 1940, the Abwehr could hardly provide any secret data on France during the preparations for the western campaign , which for the first time caused displeasure among the Army General Staff about the Abwehr and Canaris. More precise putsch plans were worked out by Hans Oster in the Abwehrzentrale in Berlin , as the planned campaign in the west was thought to be insane. Canaris traveled to commanders on the western front to win them over to overthrow. Only Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb , commander of Army Group C, was willing to take part.

The Abwehr contacted Pope Pius XII. about the Abwehr officers Josef Müller and Wilhelm Schmidhuber . The Pope should establish indirect contact with the Western powers. Canaris also informed Heydrich of this contact with the Pope, of course without the actual background. He asked Heydrich for game material about the domestic political situation. Heydrich evaded the argument that he had to ask Himmler first, but did not want to. Canaris thus skillfully neutralized Heydrich and the SD.

After being contacted, the Pope agreed to relay news of the resistance to the British government. The Vatican relayed messages to the British Embassy envoy in Rome. Like the British government, the envoy reacted very reservedly to the offer to negotiate. Nevertheless, in his report to Canaris, Müller made an offer from the British for a kind of gentlemen's agreement between the resistance and the British government. In the defense, this message became the so-called X report. This X report was passed on via Lieutenant General Georg Thomas zu Halder. Since Halder, as Chief of Staff, had no authority, he needed v. Brauchitsch for specific measures. The X report came to von Brauchitsch via Halder. Even Halder distrusted the report because of its unclear origin and contradictions in terms of content. Von Brauchitsch even described the report as treason and demanded the arrest of the authors. Halder was able to prevent this. Von Brauchitsch and other generals later refused to take part in actions against Hitler.

When Hitler spoke to von Brauchitsch and Halder on November 5, 1940 about wiping out the “spirit of Zossen” (seat of the OKH ), Halder panicked. Halder gave Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel the order to have all coup documents destroyed. Stülpnagel passed this order on to Groscurth from the Abwehr. Groscurth now demanded that action must be taken against Hitler. Halder then demanded that Canaris himself should dump Hitler. As things stood, without coup troops, only an assassination attempt against Hitler came into question. Canaris did not want to be an assassin and refused an assassination attempt. Since that time he made a resigned, worn-out and tired impression on visitors. He forbade Oster from any further conspiratorial activity. Since then, Canaris has not actively participated in coup plans. But he continued to cover conspirators in the defense.

Canaris with Franz Eccard von Bentivegni , department head for counter-espionage and counter-espionage, on a field airfield on the Eastern Front, 1941

The Abwehr carried out deception in 1941 in order to conceal the preparations for war from the secret services of the Soviet Union . Unlike almost all other high-ranking soldiers, Canaris seems to have been clear about the consequences of an attack on the Soviet Union. At a so-called Barbarossa conference of the defense, in preparation for the attack, he said:

"The German armies will bleed to death on the icy plains of Russia, and after two years we will not find any more of them."

The Brandenburg special unit was again successful in the attack on the Soviet Union, especially in the Baltic States . About 400 soldiers of the "Brandenburger" died, including Hans-Wolfram Knaak . On July 8, Canaris traveled to the 1st Army on the Eastern Front . There he was also informed about a massacre by the Romanian secret police in which 5,000 Jews had been murdered. Abwehr employees in Bucharest were involved in planning the massacre. Canaris sent a letter to Keitel , written by Helmuth James Graf von Moltke , in which the prisoners of war should be treated according to the principles of international law . Canaris had a report drawn up at the end of July in which all the material was compiled that the defense provided on the strength and combat effectiveness of the Red Army before the attack, because Canaris did not want to be held responsible for the fact that the attack did not go as expected. The Abwehrzentrale was informed about crimes against prisoners of war and Jews via the defense commandos and defense units in the army groups and armies . Dohnanyi collected copies of the reports in his so-called rarity folder, in which he collected documents on crimes of the Nazi regime. On October 23, Lahousen wrote a report "Observations and findings made on a trip to the operational area in the east," which also documented crimes. At the same time, an Abwehr interpreter, Oberwachtmeister Soennecken, wrote an eyewitness report on a massacre of 7,000 to 8,000 Jews in Borissow . The CFP, which is subordinate to the defense, took an active part in the crimes again. In Kodyma , for example, the GFP requested the SS Einsatzgruppe responsible for the area to carry out a joint shooting operation.

At the end of October 1942 Canaris and his colleagues traveled to the army groups on the Eastern Front. While visiting the Spanish division, Canaris experienced a violent attack by the Red Army. His companion Lahousen wrote that the Spaniards “did not take prisoners”. Because of the danger of partisans, they drove on with the pistols released. The Army Group Center also passed prison trains. According to Lahousen's diary, the Borisov massacre was also discussed during the visit to the front. On his return to Rastenburg , Canaris read Hitler eyewitness accounts of mass shootings in Riga . Hitler replied:

“You want to get soft. I have to do this. Nobody else does it after me. "

On March 7, 1943, the plane that brought Canaris, Lahousen and Dohnanyi to the headquarters of Army Group Center in Smolensk also transported explosives for Abwehr II Command. This explosive was intended for an attack against Hitler while visiting troops. It is unclear whether Canaris was informed about the reason for this delivery of explosives. A bomb with this explosive, which Fabian von Schlabrendorff had prepared, did not detonate on March 13th on the return flight in Hitler's plane.

A few weeks later, Canaris visited the American diplomat George H. Earle , a friend of the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt , in Istanbul . He informed Earle of the plans of the German resistance to eliminate Hitler. After his overthrow, the resistance leaders immediately wanted to conclude an armistice in the West. Earle sent a report to the White House about the meeting, but received no response.

With the help of co-conspirator Adam von Trott from the Foreign Office succeeded Canaris, contact the head of the American secret service OSS , General William J. Donovan to socialize. A meeting in the northern Spanish port city of Santander was arranged in the strictest of secrecy , and the director of the British secret service SIS , General Stuart Menzies , was invited . Canaris repeated to them the plan for a ceasefire in the west. But his interlocutors were instructed by their governments in Washington and London to break off contact.

Fall

Exile place of Lauenstein Castle

On February 11, 1944, Wilhelm Canaris was relieved of his post as Abwehr chief. The dismissal as head of the defense was preceded by a number of mistakes by the defense. From 1943 onwards, with the increasing defeats of the Wehrmacht, complaints about the poor work of the defense had increased. The Abwehr had not recognized the preparations for Operation Shingle (landing of Allied troops near Anzio in Italy). On February 5, Hitler was informed of the defection of Abwehr employee Erich Vermehren in Istanbul to the British. When there was an explosives attack on a British freighter for oranges in Cartagena in Spain by opponents of Franco who had been supplied with explosives by the Abwehr , Hitler raged. Now SS Brigadefuehrer Hermann Fegelein , liaison officer of the Waffen SS at the Fuehrer's headquarters , proposed that the Abwehr should be handed over to Reichsführer SS Himmler. It is interesting in this context that Himmler had not used two earlier opportunities to replace Canaris as head of the defense. Hitler called Himmler over and instructed him to create a unified secret service. Himmler drafted an order that Wilhelm Keitel and Jodl approved for the Wehrmacht. Hitler signed an order to this effect on February 13th. Jodl and Keitel brought Canaris to the defense center in Zossen that the defense and SD would be combined. Canaris was supposed to go to Lauenstein Castle in the Franconian Forest . There was a defense service with a research center for forging passports, secret inks, micro cameras, etc. Hitler would later decide on the further use of Canaris. Canaris was placed under house arrest. In addition, words of thanks from Hitler and the news of the award of the German Cross in Silver to Canaris were brought.

Canaris drove to the castle with the driver and his two dachshunds. On March 10, Canaris was released from military service on June 30. The defense was disbanded on June 1st. Shortly afterwards Schellenberg went to Canaris to inform him about it. In June Canaris returned to military service as an admiral z. V. convened (available), and on July 1 he became chief of the OKW special staff for trade war and economic combat measures (HWK) in Eiche near Potsdam . Canaris had an adjutant, some non-front-line officers and some civilians who were obliged to do war. These were supposed to steer the trade war and the fight against the allied economic blockade. In 1944 this office was practically without a job because of the war situation. He lived in his house with an Algerian servant and a Polish cook. Because of the ongoing bombing raids, his wife had been living in Riederau am Ammersee for a long time . Canaris took Russian language lessons, and his neighbor Helmut Maurer, a pianist , played the piano for him at home .

Arrest and imprisonment

Wilhelm Canaris did not find out about the impending assassination attempt on Hitler by Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg until the first half of July 1944 from the two lieutenants of the Abwehr, Wessel Freytag von Loringhoven and Werner Schrader . How Canaris reacted to this communication is not known. What is certain is that Canaris had always refused to assassinate Hitler in earlier years. How Canaris found out about the attack on July 20 is unclear; there are two versions. According to the first version, Canaris was informed of the attack on July 20 at 5 p.m. by General Staff Judge Karl Sack , one of the conspirators of July 20, 1944 . According to the second version, Stauffenberg is said to have called Canaris personally on the afternoon of July 20, when Sack was present with two other friends. The second version is astonishing because Stauffenberg and Canaris had a bad personal relationship with each other. In any case, the so-called Kaltenbrunner report of the SS about the investigation into the assassination does not contain any information, although the presence of Sack at Canaris is noted there. Nevertheless, when he called Canaris, Stauffenberg is said to have stated without further ado that the Führer had been killed by a bomb. Canaris, who was known to have been bugged, reportedly responded:

"Dead? For God's sake who was it? The Russians?"

Canaris immediately sent an address of allegiance from his office in Eiche to the Fuehrer's headquarters in Wolfsschanze , in which he congratulated Hitler on the miraculous rescue.

Gestapo building with the house prison of the RSHA, Berlin, Prinz-Albrecht-Straße 8 (today: Niederkirchnerstraße)
Exposed cell in the Topography of Terror documentation center

The head of the Office M (also Office Mil or Military Office , name of the former Abwehr in the SD), Colonel Georg Hansen , confessed to Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller on July 22 that he had participated in the attempted coup and named Canaris as "the spiritual driver of the coup movement". On July 23, Canaris was personally arrested while drinking coffee with two friends of SD chief Schellenberg. The following details of the arrest are only known from statements by Schellenberg. Canaris is said to have asked Schellenberg to arrange a meeting with Himmler for him within three days. Schellenberg is also said to have offered Canaris to wait an hour in the living room, whereupon Canaris is said to have said that he neither thought of fleeing nor wanted to shoot himself.

Canaris was brought to the Drögen Security Police School in Fürstenberg / Havel . There were another 20 officers there who were suspected by the Gestapo of being involved in the July 20 assassination attempt. The investigations were conducted by SS-Sturmbannführer Walter Huppenkothen and Detective Inspector Sonderegger. Canaris was later transferred to the RSHA prison. He was housed in a one and a half by two and a half meter cell and had no courtyard walk. Contact with other inmates was forbidden. Conversations were only possible in the morning while showering. There were only hunger rations for food; While other inmates received visitors and food packages, Canaris missed both.

During interrogations, Friedrich Wilhelm Heinz , commander of the 4th Jägerregiment "Brandenburg" testified that the division of the same name, which was under Canaris, was intended for overturning plans. Their commander, Major General Alexander von Pfuhlstein, confirmed this. Oster accused Canaris a little later after Pfuhlstein's testimony was presented of complicity in overturning plans. Canaris only confirmed conversations about "changing the conduct of the war", saying that he did not attach any value to these theoretical discussions. Canaris also stuck to his line when confronted.

On September 19, a letter signed by Karl Dönitz , Commander in Chief of the German Navy , was drawn up, according to which Canaris had been released with effect from July 25. On September 21, Canaris wrote a statement in favor of the regime. On the same day, a driver reported that he had previously taken secret Abwehr files to the Zeppelin bunker in Zossen - Wünsdorf . On September 22nd, the Gestapo found the secret archive of the coup attempts from 1938–1940 and some carbon copies of Canaris' diary. Contrary to his orders, Dohnanyi did not destroy this archive. After finding the files, Oster revealed everything about his overturn plans to the Gestapo. Canaris, on the other hand, was still downplaying everything, as if he had only formally participated in conspiracies. Canaris had a plausible explanation for every allegation and every suspicion. Canaris' food rations have been reduced to a third of the normal prison ration. He was also subjected to constant sleep-deprivation checks and now had to scrub the hallways.

In the Flossenbürg concentration camp and execution

Execution site in the Flossenbürg concentration camp
Memorial plaque for the hanged resistance fighters at the execution site in the Flossenbürg concentration camp

On February 5, 1945 Wilhelm Canaris was transported with other prisoners to the Flossenbürg concentration camp. In the special wing of the concentration camp, he had contact via knock signals to fellow inmate Hans Mathiesen Lunding , a Danish secret service officer. At the beginning of April 1945 Walter Buhle , General of the Infantry, or one of his officers discovered Canaris' diary in a safe in Zossen, which the Gestapo had long sought. The National Socialist Buhle had this handed over to the Gestapo immediately. On April 5, it was presented to Hitler personally by Ernst Kaltenbrunner , Chief of the Security Police and the SD . Hitler ordered the "immediate annihilation of the conspirators". Kaltenbrunner now ordered an SS court martial. There are only accounts of the SS judge Otto Thorbeck and the prosecutor Walter Huppenkothen about the SS court carried out in the concentration camp .

Oster confessed to the resistance before the SS court martial . Canaris, however, denied all allegations. Oster also confirmed all allegations in a comparison with Canaris. Now Canaris answered no when asked if his former chief of staff was lying. The accused, along with Canaris Dietrich Bonhoeffer , Ludwig Gehre , Hans Oster and Karl Sack, were sentenced to death . Canaris knocked one last message on the neighboring cell:

“Broken nose at last interview. My time is up Wasn't a traitor. I did my duty as a German. If you go on living, say hello to my wife. "

Canaris, Bonhoeffer, Gehre, Oster, Sack and Theodor Strünck had to strip naked a little later and were hanged . An SS man later said as a witness:

“It took a long time with the little admiral. It was pulled up and down a few times. "

The dead were cremated in the crematorium and their ashes scattered.

The chairman of the court martial, Otto Thor Beck, and the prosecutor Walter Huppenkothen were after the end of the Nazi regime in the Federal Republic of Germany for complicity in the murder accused. Otto Thorbeck was acquitted by the Federal Court of Justice in 1956 on charges of complicity in murder, even though it was a mere show trial . Even under the laws of the Nazi state, this SS court martial was illegal. According to the War Criminal Procedure Code (KStVO), a court martial was responsible for the defendants , as they were not members of the SS. According to the War Criminal Procedure Code, a stand trial was not possible, as this was only responsible for crimes that had just been committed, the immediate judgment of which was necessary to maintain order and security of the troops. There were also the following procedural errors: no military judges, wrong place of jurisdiction, no defense counsel, no confirmation and review of the judgments.

Attitude towards Jews

His biographer Heinz Höhne claims that Wilhelm Canaris grew up in an atmosphere of moderate anti-Semitism among the Ruhr bourgeoisie and the navy. Canaris apparently believed in a "Jewish problem" in the German Reich.

Canaris' attitude towards the Holocaust is controversial . The Lubavitch Hasidim (group within Orthodox Judaism) advocate being honored as Righteous Among the Nations because he helped their rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn in September 1939 and later numerous other Jews to flee.

Parts of the Abwehr, especially Division III and GFP, were directly involved in the Holocaust and other war crimes . Around July 1941, the CFP helped the Einsatzgruppen in Minsk to select prisoners in internment camps. The officers of Abwehr Department III (counterintelligence) stationed there prepared lists and documents of those to be liquidated by the Einsatzgruppen. The Abwehr and GFP routinely handed over captured Jews to the Einsatzgruppen. It is not known that Canaris e.g. B. would have actively tried by orders to prevent the participation of members of the Abwehr in war crimes. On the other hand, Canaris was actively involved in the rescue of Jews and put his command at risk. In February 1942 Canaris was suspended from duty because of the Jewish V-men of the Abwehr. Three of the most important agents, namely Edgar Klaus , Ivar Lissner and Richard Klatt , were Jews or so - called half - Jews . Canaris had earlier achieved that “half-Jews” who worked as informants for the Abwehr were put on an equal footing with “German-blooded” people. In February 1942, Himmler informed Hitler about a “ full Jew ” who worked for the Abwehr in Tangier (Morocco). After a fit of rage from Hitler, Canaris was suspended. Canaris immediately flew to the Fuehrer's headquarters . After talking to Hitler, Canaris returned to the service. Nothing is known about the one-to-one meeting with Hitler. On June 30, 1942, Canaris was back with Hitler after Operation Pastorius had failed . During the operation, eight agents of the defense were caught shortly after landing by a submarine in the USA. There were allegations from Hitler against Canaris. Canaris declared that all agents were party members and that the organizer even carried blood medals of the NSDAP. Thereupon Hitler said: “Then take criminals and Jews”. Canaris now officially sent Jews abroad with ostensible agent assignments and thus saved them. In a secret operation under Major Walter Schulze-Bernett, 500 Jews were sent to South America as V-men . Canaris procured foreign currency for the rescue operation.

Reception in the present

Memorial plaque in the Flossenbürg concentration camp
Street sign of Canarisstraße in Dortmund-Aplerbeck

Wilhelm Canaris is one of the few resistance fighters against Hitler whose position in history is still controversial at the beginning of the 21st century. The classification of Canaris' is made difficult by the fact that there are practically no written legacies of his own. There are few personal letters and tiny fragments of the service diary. The whereabouts of Canaris' diaries is unclear.

Immediately after the war, right-wing circles saw him primarily as a traitor. His wife Erika and daughter Brigitte therefore lived in Spain for a long time to avoid hostility. In conservative circles, his resistance to Hitler was emphasized from the 1950s onwards. In more left-wing circles, attention was drawn to his involvement in the trial against the murderers of Luxemburg and Liebknecht . Since Heinz Höhne's biography with the subtitle Patriot in Twilight from 1976, the entire contradiction of his behavior has become apparent. The responsibility for crimes of the secret field police during the war also came to light, as they were part of the defense.

Unlike many other high-ranking officers in the resistance against Hitler, no military establishment was named after Canaris. In his place of birth in today's Dortmund-Aplerbeck there is a Canarisstraße , and also in Duisburg-Walsum . In Wesel and Lüdinghausen there is a Wilhelm-Canaris-Straße , and in Hanover-Mühlenberg , where many other streets also bear the names of resistance fighters, there is the Canarisweg .

Awards

filming

See also

literature

Used in the article

  • Heinz Höhne : Canaris - Patriot in Twilight. Bertelsmann, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-570-01608-0 .
  • Heinz Höhne: Admiral Wilhelm Canaris . In: Gerd Ueberschär (ed.): Hitler's military elite. 68 CVs . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2011, ISBN 978-3-534-23980-1 , pp. 53-60.
  • Guido Knopp , Christian Deick: The Conspirator . In: Guido Knopp: Hitler's warriors. Bertelsmann, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-570-00265-9 , pp. 335-403.
  • Michael Mueller: Canaris - Hitler's chief of defense. Propylaea, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-549-07202-8 .
  • Richard Bassett: Hitler's master spy: The riddle of Wilhelm Canaris. Böhlau, Vienna 2007. ISBN 978-3-205-77625-3 .

Further literature

Web links

Wikiquote: Wilhelm Canaris  - Quotes
Commons : Wilhelm Canaris  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

Heinz Höhne : Canaris - Patriot in Twilight. Bertelsmann, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-570-01608-0 :

  1. ↑ p. 23.
  2. ↑ p. 25.
  3. ↑ p. 27.
  4. ↑ p. 34.
  5. ↑ p. 53.
  6. ↑ p. 55.
  7. ↑ p. 97.
  8. ↑ p. 119.
  9. ↑ p. 135.
  10. ↑ p. 163.
  11. ↑ p. 176.
  12. ↑ p. 206.
  13. ↑ p. 243.
  14. ↑ p. 348.
  15. ↑ p. 349.
  16. ↑ pp. 364-365.
  17. ↑ p. 429.
  18. ↑ p. 541.
  19. ↑ p. 567.
  20. ↑ p. 569.
  21. ↑ p. 443.
  22. ↑ pp. 388-390.

Michael Mueller: Canaris - Hitler's chief of defense. Propylaea, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-549-07202-8 :

  1. ↑ a b p. 27.
  2. ↑ p. 75.
  3. ↑ pp. 74-75.
  4. ↑ pp. 77-78.
  5. ↑ p. 84.
  6. ↑ p. 94.
  7. ↑ pp. 89-90.
  8. ↑ p. 112.
  9. ↑ p. 113.
  10. ↑ pp. 123-124.
  11. ↑ p. 150.
  12. ↑ pp. 165-166.
  13. ↑ p. 165.
  14. ↑ p. 232.
  15. ↑ pp. 203-204.
  16. ↑ p. 301.
  17. ↑ p. 362.
  18. ↑ a b p. 421.

Further sources:

  1. ↑ Pedigree of Wilhelm Canaris, source Peter von Gebhardt, Die Canaris. Leipzig, 1938.
  2. ^ Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich , Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 90.
  3. ↑ Harald Bendert: The UC boats of the Imperial Navy 1914-1918. Mine warfare with submarines. ES Mittler, Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn 2001 p. 108.
  4. ↑ today Sembritzkistraße
  5. ↑ Guido Knopp : Hitler's warriors. Bertelsmann, Munich 1998, p. 351.
  6. ↑ Klaus-Jürgen Müller: The Army and Hitler. Army and National Socialist regime 1933–1940. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-486-59558-X , p. 413.
  7. ↑ In November 1939 he learned of the "events of the" colonization "of the East" which terrified him deeply. He commented on this in his notes: "If one makes there more so, these methods will return again against us!" . see. von Bock, Between Duty and Refusal - The War Diary , p. 78.
  8. ^ The Trial of German Major War Criminals Sitting at Nuremberg, Germany November 20 to December 1, 1945 , p. 275.
  9. ^ FDR's Tragic Mistake . In: Confidential , August 1958, pp. 15-19.
  10. ↑ Heinz Höhne: Canaris. Patriot in the twilight. Munich 1976, pp. 462-464.
  11. ↑ haGalil and media review of the German Embassy in Tel Aviv. August 4, 2009 ( Memento of August 23, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
  12. ^ Richard Bassett: Hitler's Master Spy. Böhlau, Vienna 2007, p. 278.
  13. ↑ a b c d e Ranking list of the German Reichsmarine , Ed .: Reichswehrministerium , Mittler & Sohn , Berlin 1929, p. 42.
  14. ↑ Juha E. Tetri: Kunniamerkkikirja. Ajatus, Helsinki 1994, ISBN 951-9440-23-2 .
  15. ↑ Wiljo E. Tuompo: Päiväkirjani päämajasta 1941-1944. WSOY , Porvoo / Helsinki 1968
personal data
SURNAME Canaris, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Canaris, Wilhelm Franz (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German admiral and chief of defense
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Aplerbeck
DATE OF DEATH April 9, 1945
Place of death Flossenbürg concentration camp