A Greenhill Book
Published in 2007 by
Greenhill Books and Chatham Publishing
Lionel Leventhal Limited
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This edition published in 2017 by
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Copyright Ullstein Buchverlage GmbH, Berlin
Translation Lionel Leventhal Limited, 2007
First published in 2006 under the title Canaris: Hitlers Abwehrchef by Propylen Verlag
ISBN:978-147389-433-4
eISBN:978-147389-466-2
Mobi ISBN:978-147389-465-5
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher.
CIP data records for this title are available from the British Library
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Illustrations
Illustrations appear between pages 208 and 209
Fregattenkapitn Wilhelm Canaris, late 1920s
In a circle of classmates after obtaining his school-leaving certificate
As U-boat commander with his officers
Amongst his crew, 1918
Kapitn zur See and commander of the battleship Schlesien , 1934
A leisurely stroll to the beach with friends
An enthusiastic horseman
In the air
Relaxing as a civilian during a sea cruise
A beer evening in honour of Himmler in Berlin, 1935
In conversation with Himmler and Goebbels during the 1936 Nuremburg Rally
At a military reunion with with General der Flieger Karl Eberth and SS-Gruppenfhrer Reinhard Heydrich
Werner Best, an important confidant for Canaris, 1933
With the Spanish Civil War hero General Jose Moscardo at a reception in Berlin, 1939
A visit to the Eastern Front with counter-espionage chief Franz-Eccard von Bentivegni
Assembly of the Abwehr and SD heads at Hradshin Castle, Prague, May 1942
Canaris in a circle of Abwehr colleagues
Hans von Dohnanyi with Karl Ludwig von Guttenberg and Justus Delbrck, colleagues, about 1942
Anti-Hitler conspirators Heinz and Oster with an unidentified officer
Hans Bernd Gisevius, 1933
Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop announces to the world press the invasion of the Soviet Union, 22 June 1941
SS-Brigadefhrer Walter Schellenberg being sworn as a witness at the principal War Crimes Trials at Nuremberg
Wilhelm Keitel, Erwin Lahousen, Wilhelm Canaris and Franz-Eccard von Bentivegni, 1941
With the former head of Abwehr II, Erwin Lahousen, at Voronice, Ukraine, Summer 1942
On the occasion of the funeral of former Kaiser Wilhelm II at Doorn, Netherlands, June 1941
Canaris during one of his frequent visits to Spain
Relaxing in Bavaria, 1942
The Canaris family home at Berlin-Schlachtensee, built in 1936
Abwehr headquarters, Tirpitzufer, Berlin
The barracks at Flossenbrg concentration camp where Canaris, Oster, Bonhoeffer, Gehre, Sack and Strnck were executed, 9 April 1945
PICTURE CREDITS
Ullstein pictures 1, 2, 5, 10, 13, 16, 2022, 28, 29
SV-Bilderdienst 30
Bundesarchiv Militararchiv Freiburg 3, 4, 69, 17
Bundesarchiv Militararchiv Koblenz 11, 12, 14, 15, 25
Sean E McGlynn 18
Archiv Michael Heinz 19
Stefanie Lahousen 23, 24, 26, 27
Acknowledgements
I rather fear that readers are happy to pass over the Acknowledgements section in books. I hope that it will be different in this case, for nobody writes a book alone.
First of all, my thanks go to my wife Daniele who, during the tough years of this project, gave me unconditional support, watched my back and warded off the worst of the unpleasantness which occurs when writing a book of this kind. My friend and collaborator Ingke Brodersen helped me through a number of critical situations with her endless patience and technical expertise. Without the efforts of Daniele and Ingke this book would not have been completed.
For his help in various difficult situations during the project I would like to give a special mention Rdiger Damman. My friend and colleague Peter F Mller was to have co-authored this volume but stepped aside for personal reasons. I am therefore all the more grateful to him for his research efforts on my behalf in London, Washington and Freiburg.
The help of our friend and assistant Jacqueline Williams, who supported the project with her enthusiasm and expertise, and, above all, obtained outstanding results from her searches at the London and Washington national archives, was indispensable. I am equally indebted to Erich Schmidt-Eenboom, head of the Research Institute for Peace Politics at Weilheim, who not only placed his comprehensive archive and library at my disposal, but was always on hand to answer my numerous enquiries and solved many problems with his technical knowledge and counsel.
Significant help was rendered by Helmut Lorscheids research at the Bundesarchiv in Berlin and in the political archives at the German Foreign Ministry, for which my heartfelt thanks, and the same goes for Annette Hauschild. For a last-minute mission to the Institut fr Zeitgeschichte at Munich, my old friend Thomas Wedmann merits a mention. I thank my friend Dr Peter Kurth for his patient help in translating the old Stterlin handwriting.
Most especial thanks for their help and information are owed to Stefanie Lahousen, Inge Haag and Michael Heinz; a number of the illustrations in this book originate from the latters private album.
A volume of this kind is not possible without the help of domestic and foreign archives whose staffs deserve the most unstinting praise. I am especially indebted in this regard as follows: Dr Edgar Bttner (Bundesarchiv-Militrarchiv Freiburg), who gave me access to the Wilhelm Canaris literary collection, only recently available at the military archive and containing previously unknown letters and documents relating to Canaris; at the same office Kurt Erdmann smoothed the way for me and always had the answer to my questions; an immense help for me was the insight afforded by Dr Tillmann Koops (Bundesarchiv Koblenz) when I was allowed to see the then partially completed manuscript of the comprehensive Bundesarchiv documentation for OKW office Amt Ausland/ Abwehr. This saved me much fruitless searching, and moreover supplied clues to unsuspected fresh lines of inquiry. The Bundesarchivs important work on Canaris and the Abwehr had not been published at the time my own manuscript was completed, but I include it in the bibliography.
