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Walter Schellenberg

Walter Friedrich Schellenberg (16 January 1910 – 31 March 1952) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era. He rose through the ranks of the SS, becoming one of the highest ranking men in the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and eventually assumed the position as head of foreign intelligence for Nazi Germany following the abolition of the Abwehr in 1944.

Walter Schellenberg
Schellenberg as an SS-Oberführer in 1943
Born16 January 1910
Saarbrücken, Prussia, Germany
Died31 March 1952(1952-03-31) (aged 42)
Turin, Italy
Allegiance Nazi Germany
Service/branch Schutzstaffel
Years of service1933–1945
RankSS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei
UnitSicherheitsdienst
Commands heldChief of Amt VI, Ausland-SD
AwardsIron Cross First Class
War Merit Cross First and Second Class with Swords

Career edit

Schellenberg, born in Saarbrücken, Germany,[1] was his parents' seventh child; his father was a piano manufacturer.[2] Schellenberg moved with his family to Luxembourg when the French occupied (1920) the Saar Basin after the First World War and the Weimar Republic experienced an economic crisis in the early 1920s. Like many young intellectuals who later joined the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), Schellenberg was deeply affected by the economic woes which befell Germany in the wake of the First World War.[3]

Schellenberg returned to Germany to attend university, first at the University of Marburg and then, from 1929, at the University of Bonn. He initially studied medicine, but soon switched to law. While in law school, Schellenberg performed some spy work for the SD.[4] He reported actually having been recruited by two SD agents who were college faculty, who also advised him to join the Civil Service.[5] After graduating he joined the SS in 1933.[6] (Schellenberg later wrote that the "better type of people" preferred the SS over the other Nazi organizations.[7]) Although educated as a lawyer, Schellenberg distrusted administrative attorneys and was intent on ensuring that the SD could operate outside the constraints of normal law.[8] Subscribing to the Führerprinzip, Schellenberg also regarded Hitler's directives as beyond the framework of the legal system and believed it was best to "unquestioningly" carry out anything ordered by the Nazi leader.[9]

In 1935, Schellenberg met Reinhard Heydrich and worked for him in the counter-intelligence department of the SD.[6] Besides his native German, Schellenberg also spoke French and English fluently.[2] Correspondingly, his first foreign-intelligence assignment was to Paris in 1934 to check up on the political views of a professor.[10] Then in 1937, Schellenberg was sent to Italy for a police assignment which included security duties for an upcoming visit by Mussolini; his outstanding work in providing security garnered positive attention from Heydrich, who then gave him additional organizational responsibilities, some of which later helped give birth to the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) in 1939.[11] The official SS personnel report on Schellenberg described him as "open, irreproachable, and reliable"; the file also depicted him as "firm, tough, possesses energy" and as "very sharp thinking"; his National Socialist worldview was labeled "thoroughly fortified".[12] Many of the SS street-brawling types despised men like Schellenberg, considering them effete, but for the most part Schellenberg made a good impression on the Nazi elite.[13]

Sometime in 1938 Schellenberg married Käthe Kortekamp, a seamstress three years his senior, whom he dated for seven years and who had supported him through college. Their marriage proved brief, partially because of her social standing and because many things about her embarrassed him; the relationship ended in divorce in 1939, but only after Schellenberg promised her an "aryanized" fashion-business expropriated from Jewish owners.[14] Shortly thereafter, he married a more socially-acceptable woman named Irene Grosse-Schönepauck, the daughter of an insurance executive, but this relationship was also troubled.[15]

As the Nazis tightened their grip on German society, Hitler and Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler determined that the SS and police organs should merge, a move which Schellenberg fully supported: on 24 February 1939 he released a memorandum which advocated further centralization within the state.[16] In summer 1939, Schellenberg became one of the directors of Heydrich's foundation, the Stiftung Nordhav. Schellenberg was mentored by Herbert Mehlhorn while at the SS-Hauptamt.[17] When Heydrich announced his intention to create the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) in July 1939, he had Schellenberg to thank as both the organisation's name and its existence resulted from his plans. On 27 September 1939, Himmler decreed the RSHA an official state organisation.[18]

 
Georg Wilhelm Müller (front row, to the left) and Reinhard Heydrich and SS-Oberführer Heinrich Fehlis (leader of SD and SiPo in Norway) to the right. Also SS-Hauptsturmführer Hermann Kluckhohn, SS-Sturmbannführer Walter Schellenberg, Rudolf Schiedermair, and other SS police officers at Ekeberg cemetery for German soldiers in Oslo during Heydrich's visit to Norway, 3–6 September 1941.

Einsatzgruppen – 1941 edit

As the role of the SS and its action groups, the Einsatzgruppen, expanded in the war zones and prospective war zones in May 1941, Schellenberg negotiated with the Wehrmacht to acquire logistical support from the army (both on the front-line and in rear areas) so the Einsatzgruppen could carry out their killing operations more effectively.[19] Acting on behalf of Heydrich, Schellenberg issued a circular on 20 May 1941 to all segments of the German Security Police which forbade any Jews from emigrating out of German-controlled territory; this new policy formed part of the genocidal Final Solution.[20] The language within the circular Schellenberg issued even contained the explicit expression: "in view of the undoubtedly imminent Final Solution of the Jewish question", wording that makes it clear he was both complicit in and aware of the impending extermination activities.[21] Despite being Heydrich's direct subordinate, Schellenberg skillfully ingratiated himself with Himmler by first delivering his intelligence reports to him instead of to Heydrich, which earned him the Reichsführer's confidence.[22] After Heydrich's death in June 1942, Schellenberg became the "closest professional confidant" of Himmler.[23] Himmler bestowed upon Schellenberg a unique position beyond that of a simple aide, making him his special plenipotentiary (Sonderbevollmächtigter).[24]

SD operations edit

When Walter Schellenberg moved to Frankfurt in 1934, he recalled meeting an SS-Oberführer, who explained to him the mission of the SD; he was told the following, which he wrote in his memoirs:

The SD was the chief organ of the intelligence service of the party. Its task was to inform the top Party leaders of all opposition movements and forces at home and abroad. It covered the administration, the Party, industry, the theatre, journalism, the police—in fact there was no sphere that was not under the watchful eye of the SD, no place where it did not seek out the first signs of opposition among movements or individuals 'hostile' to the state'.[25]

In March 1938, Schellenberg traveled with Himmler and Heydrich to Vienna for the impending Anschluss with Austria. One of the reasons for their journey was so the SD could "confiscate Austrian secret service material."[26] During the trip, Schellenberg allegedly saved Himmler from a potential mishap when he noticed that the aircraft door that he had been leaning against was not properly secured. Throwing Himmler aside in the process, Schellenberg earned the gratitude of the Reichsführer, who promised to reciprocate the favor if the chance ever presented itself.[27] Following the exuberant reception of Hitler when he arrived in Vienna, Schellenberg later wrote, "'never...have I seen such tremendous, enthusiastic and joyous crowds."[28]

Much like Austria, the Nazis set their sights on the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia, a region with over three million ethnic Germans which they wanted to incorporate into the Reich; more than that, Hitler once told his generals that he desired for Czechoslovakia to "disappear from the map".[29] In the summer of 1938, the Gestapo and SD-Ausland, which had taken control of the Secret Service in Czechoslovakia, helped the Sudeten Nazis from the Sudetendeutsche Partei infiltrate regional and local organizations, veterans groups, musical societies, sporting associations, sailing clubs, and cultural societies—which gave them insight into the economic, political, and military situation there. So thorough was the Nazi penetration in much of the Sudetenland, that Schellenberg stated later it was necessary to establish two telephone transmission stations along the frontier to communicate with Berlin.[30] Eventually after strained negotiations with the West, Hitler acquired the Sudetenland when the Munich Agreement was concluded.[31] Following this event, Schellenberg accompanied Hitler, Himmler, and Heydrich into Prague on 15 March 1939 and reported that Himmler was so pleased with the performance and racial makeup of the Czech police, that he incorporated them into the SS.[32]

In November 1939 Schellenberg played a major part in the Venlo Incident, which led to the capture of two British MI6 agents, Captain Sigismund Payne-Best and Major Richard Stevens.[33] Schellenberg posed as a "Major Schaemmel" claiming to be part of an anti-Nazi group of officers planning a coup against Hitler. At Schellenberg's third meeting with Stevens and Best in the German-Dutch border town of Venlo, the trap was sprung; the two British agents were captured.[34] Hitler awarded Schellenberg the Iron Cross for his actions.[35][a] Success in this operation helped the SD acquire greater leverage in foreign policy and gave their police Attachés access to foreign networks through the diplomatically immune offices of the German embassies abroad.[36] The operation also damaged British morale and inclined them to mistrust the opposition in Germany.[37]

In June, 1940, he was charged with compiling the Informationsheft G.B., a blueprint for the occupation of Britain after a proposed invasion by Nazi Germany. The preparations for invasion, known as Operation Sea Lion (Unternehmen Seelöwe), were ultimately abandoned. He based his work on the interrogations of British agents Best and Stevens, along with his own "preconceptions".[38] Part of what he prepared was described as "a handbook for German troops and officials as a guide to the British institutions they would encounter."[39] The extent of his direct involvement in compiling the book and its supplement, however, has been disputed.[40] The supplement was the "Special Wanted List, GB" (Sonderfahndungsliste G.B., also known as "The Black Book"), which was a list of 2,300 prominent Britons to be arrested immediately after the successful invasion of Britain.[41] Both Schellenberg and Heydrich perceived Great Britain as a country run by "Freemasons, Jews, and a small public-school-trained elite."[38] Despite the poor opinion of Britain shared by both men, their full attention was turned there when on 10 May 1941, Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess made his infamous flight to Scotland.[42] Subsequently, SD Chief Schellenberg informed Hitler that Hess had been long under the influence of the British Secret Service and German collaborators.[43] Upon further investigation, Schellenberg also reported to Hitler that Hess made his flight under the advice of an astrologer, which incited the activity of Heydrich who promptly arrested as many mediums, psychics, and astrologers he could round up in Berlin.[44]

Besides reactive intelligence reports like those he provided concerning Hess, Schellenberg arranged numerous plots of subterfuge and intelligence gathering, including the bugging of Salon Kitty, a high-class Berlin brothel. Some of the Nazi regime's upper echelons even visited this brothel unaware at first, such as Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.[45] However, intelligence collection efforts at Salon Kitty were essentially a failure as they never revealed anything significant.[46]

Direct access to Himmler also made Schellenberg privy to some of the Reich's most sensitive material. For example, Schellenberg knew early on about the arrangement between Germany and the Soviet Union concerning the partition of Poland, an agreement that presaged the military invasion.[47] Once the Nazis invaded and occupied Polish territory, Schellenberg was entrusted with securing the rear areas by Himmler and Heydrich, which meant he oversaw the deployment of special commandos from the SD and Gestapo, units which carried out brutal measures against the Poles.[48] Another one of his areas of responsibility was counter-espionage, both within Germany and the occupied territories—a task for which Schellenberg seemed well-suited given his penchant for intrigue.[49] Operating as an intelligence adviser to Himmler in Poland meant Schellenberg was at the front edge of the spear, but this did not mean he was incapable of being surprised. In fact, he was particularly shocked at the utter devastation wrought by the Wehrmacht in Poland and commented in his Memoirs upon seeing it that, "Until then I had no real conception of what total war meant."[50]

In 1940, Schellenberg was sent to Portugal by Heydrich at Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop's request to intercept the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and try to persuade them to work for Germany (Operation Willi).[51] Schellenberg was supposed to offer them 50 million Swiss francs to go to neutral Switzerland. However, Winston Churchill dispatched an attorney, Walter Monckton, an old friend of the Duke's, to convince them to leave Portugal.[52] In the end, the mission was a failure; Schellenberg managed nothing more than a delay of the Duke's baggage for a few hours.[1] In March, 1940, he did help convince Hitler that Dutch military intelligence was working closely with the British intelligence services, which Hitler used as a pretext to attack the Netherlands "for violating their neutrality."[53]

In February, 1942, after the 1941 German attack on the Soviet Union had stalled, Schellenberg conceived and implemented a large-scale spy operation designed to penetrate into the Soviet Union, an initiative known as Operation Zeppelin (Unternehmen Zeppelin).[54] Using anti-Communists selected from the many thousands of POWs captured by the Germans, he soon had anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 potential candidates in training, who were accordingly indoctrinated. Only between 2,000 and 3,000 completed the training, and as little as a few hundred of them were ever committed to the operation due to insufficient numbers of aircraft and radio communication equipment.[55] What started as a large-scale effort by Schellenberg, quickly became a precision one with very limited success. Most of them produced little to no useful intelligence and/or were killed once deployed. One German intelligence officer commented that if losses "were not over 90 percent, we were satisfied."[56]

In March, 1942, Heinz Jost was fired as RSHA Chief of Amt VI, SD-Ausland (SD foreign intelligence).[57] In his place, Schellenberg was appointed chief of SD-Ausland by Heydrich.[58] Sometime in mid-1942, Schellenberg had been involved in planning operations in neutral Ireland including Operation Osprey: a plan involving No.1 SS Special Service Troop.[b] Knowledge that Germany might lose the war prompted Schellenberg to open communication channels during the fall of 1942 with the Swiss intelligence chief, Colonel Roger Masson.[59] He even went so far as providing Masson with a list of all the Abwehr (military intelligence) agents operating in Switzerland with the intention of "having them expelled."[60]

When the Allies invaded Italy in 1943, Schellenberg went to great lengths to ensure the safety of Amin al-Husseini, the anti-Semitic and anti-British Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who was residing in Rome, by having him transported away to Berlin.[61] As the Red Army repulsed the Germans and began driving their forces back towards the west, the German General Staff began planning a retreat into Fortress Europe which included the incorporation of Switzerland into the defensive operation. Using his previous channels to Schellenberg, the Swiss intelligence chief Masson, who was privy to this plan known as "Case Switzerland", contacted Schellenberg as to whether or not an attack on Switzerland was imminent.[62] By asking Schellenberg this question, Masson naively revealed to Schellenberg that a leak existed within Hitler's headquarters, but it also meant the Germans lost the opportunity for a surprise attack against Switzerland. To further ingratiate himself to the Swiss, Schellenberg claimed that he had convinced the German high command of the needlessness for such an operation.[62] Despite having direct contacts to Schellenberg himself, the Director in Switzerland of the OSS, Allen Dulles, expressed deep concern about the possible intelligence leaks between Masson and Schellenberg.[63]

Signals intelligence intercepts alerted the Gestapo and SD to the "Red Orchestra", the Soviet spy ring in Germany.[64] Schellenberg led extensive efforts over many months to identify the participants. 116 were arrested by the Gestapo, half of whom were executed following intense interrogations.[65] By this time, Schellenberg had become a general (Brigadeführer) in the Allgemeine-SS (General-SS).[66] The operation was a major victory for the RSHA at the expense of the Abwehr, who had been oblivious to the Soviet operation.[67] Historian Klaus Fischer asserts that Schellenberg's "only major success was smashing the Red Orchestra."[68]

Control of all intelligence operations edit

Reportedly, Schellenberg and Wilhelm Canaris, the head of the Abwehr, were friends. They would go horseback-riding together in Berlin's wooded Grunewald, where they discussed the future of Nazi Germany.[69] Often present at these equestrian outings were Heydrich and Werner Best.[70] Their alleged friendship aside, Canaris was careful around Schellenberg, a man whose ambitions included controlling all intelligence for the Reich.[71] Like Heydrich, Schellenberg ultimately envisioned a centrally directed "all-embracing security system" and a singular "Greater German Intelligence Service" under direct Nazi control (unlike the Abwehr, which was part of the Wehrmacht).[72] Nonetheless, there are indications that Schellenberg preferred to deal with Canaris' Abwehr over the Gestapo, particularly since he distrusted its chief, Heinrich Müller.[73] However, after the attempted assassination of Hitler on 20 July 1944, the Abwehr was dissolved and the SD was given additional powers over intelligence across the Reich.[74][c] Canaris was arrested on 23 July 1944 on the basis of the interrogation of his successor at military intelligence, Georg Hansen.[75]

As a result, sections of the Abwehr were incorporated into RSHA Amt VI SD-Ausland and therefore placed under Schellenberg's command.[76] Assumption of these powers made Schellenberg the "absolute master" of Nazi intelligence".[77] He was infamous for his "office fortress" desk, which had two automatic guns built into it that could be fired by the touch of a button.[78] According to the memoirs of SS intelligence officer Wilhelm Hoettl, Schellenberg was very suspicious of Gestapo Chief Müller, whom he claimed to have evidence against by way of radio surveillance recordings (allegedly revealing Müller's plans to work with the Soviets); when he informed then RSHA chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner of possessing proof to that end, he was ignored.[79] Kaltenbrunner disliked Schellenberg, perhaps due to his direct access to Himmler, and complained about him in particular on a number of occasions.[80] Despite Kaltenbrunner's animosity towards Schellenberg, the latter's soothing manners kept him in good graces with Himmler and allowed him to "retain the ear of the SS overlord".[81]

Operation Modellhut edit

Allied military intelligence documents have been unearthed linking French couturier Coco Chanel to espionage activity in concert with Schellenberg, who reportedly was also one of her romantic liaisons.[82] In 1943–1944, Operation Modellhut (Operation Model Hat) was conceived to capitalize on Chanel's long-standing associations with British aristocracy and her friendship with Winston Churchill. Schellenberg recruited Chanel to act as an intermediary in a plan (proposed by Chanel) whose goal was to broker a separate peace between Nazi Germany and Britain independently of other Allied powers; Operation Modellhut failed.[83]

Peace negotiations and capture edit

 
Himmler, 1942

During early 1945, Schellenberg encouraged Himmler to overthrow Hitler in order to negotiate a separate peace with the Western Allies, using as an excuse Hitler's poor health; however, Himmler never took action, but instead vacillated.[84] He also convinced Himmler to meet with the former president of Switzerland, Jean-Marie Musy, who promised to pay in Swiss francs for the release of Jews.[85] At the end of the war, Schellenberg was able to persuade Himmler to try negotiating with the Western Allies through Count Folke Bernadotte.[86] Schellenberg had earlier in the year worked as an intermediary between Count Bernadotte and Himmler for the release and safe passage of a number of prisoners and inmates held in concentration camps through the Swedish Red Cross.[86]

In the spring of 1945, Schellenberg instigated further meetings with Count Bernadotte as an opening to the western powers.[86] He personally went to Stockholm in April, 1945 to arrange the meetings for Himmler. Both Himmler and Schellenberg continued to believe that the Jews interned in concentration camps represented a bargaining chip for the Nazi leadership: one they could use to derive concessions from the Western allies.[87] To foster goodwill for their negotiations, Schellenberg—with Himmler's consent—organised the transport of 1,700 Jews out of German-controlled territory to Switzerland and Sweden.[88] Hitler found out and put a stop to further evacuations.[89]

After the first set of failed meetings, Schellenberg requested Bernadotte to intercede directly with General Eisenhower but this final action proved futile as well.[90] At war's end, Schellenberg was in Denmark attempting to arrange his own surrender when the British took him into custody in June, 1945. That same month, a Swedish dispatch reported that Schellenberg had "confessed" to Germany's complicity in the massacre of Polish officers at the Katyn forest. According to Schellenberg, the Germans then blamed the Soviets for the atrocity in an effort to split the allies.

The U.S., British, and Soviet intelligence services had all been searching for him as a valuable intelligence asset. Captain Horace Hahn, a member of the OSS, was one of the few Americans allowed to interrogate Schellenberg.[91] Looking to recover as much information as they could from Schellenberg, the British sent him to London in July, 1945 where he was extensively interrogated; their intention (along with the Americans) was to extract information on any remaining Nazi resistance yet to surface and to gather what they could on Germany's possible postwar intelligence activities. Schellenberg confirmed to the Allies that no such plans were in place, which was supported by Allied intelligence efforts.[92] The fact that Schellenberg had been on the opposite side of the RSHA faction which included Kaltenbrunner, Müller, Ohlendorf and Skorzeny, along with other war criminals, was the "best thing" he had going for him at the end of the war. Additional independent signals intelligence also proved helpful in evaluating Schellenberg.[93]

Nuremberg trials edit

After the war, Schellenberg was arrested by British military police and eventually stood trial in Nuremberg. To spare himself from a long prison sentence, Schellenberg testified against the SS organisation and the Nazi leaders in its fold during the postwar trials.[94][d] During the Ministries Trial, he wrote his memoirs, titled The Labyrinth. Historian Robert Gerwarth describes certain content of Schellenberg's memoirs as "questionable."[95][e] On 4 November 1949, he was sentenced to six years in prison for failing to prevent the murder of Soviet POWs who were utilized as agents in Operation Zeppelin.[96] The tribunal found that near the end of the war, Schellenberg had started aiding victims of the Nazi regime. It questioned whether he was acting out of good faith, but nevertheless credited him for his actions. He was released from prison after two years on the grounds of ill-health, due to a worsening liver condition, and moved to Switzerland,[f] before settling in Verbania-Pallanza, Italy. In 1952, he died in Turin, Italy.[98]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ "The Venlo Kidnapping", The Times, 19 February 1948.
  2. ^ Later becoming 500th SS Parachute Battalion a/k/a/ SS-Fallschirmjäger-Bataillon 500, an amalgamation of No. 1 Troop and various SS penal battalions, notably participating in Operation Rösselsprung, the raid against Tito's HQ in 1944.
  3. ^ Despite Canaris falling from grace and being implicated as a double-agent who worked against Germany, Schellenberg referred to Canaris as "Germany's finest spy" until the end of his life.[72]
  4. ^ http://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/01-04-46.asp Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Twenty-Seventh Day, Yale University's AVALON Project (cited 15 April 2016)
  5. ^ A formerly classified book review by CIA intelligence officer Clinton Gallagher from 1957 reveals that doubt has long been cast on the validity of some of Schellenberg's claims. See:
  6. ^ Some of his memoir was also written while he was in Switzerland with the assistance of his favorite secretary, Marie-Luise Schienke.[97]

References edit

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b Hamilton 1996, p. 64.
  2. ^ a b Wistrich 1995, p. 221.
  3. ^ Kahn 1978, p. 255.
  4. ^ Höhne 2001, p. 214.
  5. ^ Browder 1996, pp. 225–226.
  6. ^ a b Weale 2012, p. 141.
  7. ^ Höhne 2001, p. 132.
  8. ^ Höhne 2001, pp. 254–255.
  9. ^ Höhne 2001, p. 255.
  10. ^ Kahn 1978, pp. 255–256.
  11. ^ Kahn 1978, p. 256.
  12. ^ Kahn 1978, p. 258.
  13. ^ Kahn 1978, p. 260.
  14. ^ Kahn 1978, pp. 256–257.
  15. ^ Kahn 1978, p. 257.
  16. ^ Buchheim 1968, p. 204.
  17. ^ Doerries & Weinberg 2009, pp. 19–20.
  18. ^ Longerich 2012, p. 470.
  19. ^ Rhodes 2003, p. 15.
  20. ^ Gilbert 1989, pp. 187–188.
  21. ^ Fleming 1994, pp. 44–45.
  22. ^ Kahn 1978, p. 267.
  23. ^ Weale 2012, p. 398.
  24. ^ Doerries 2003, p. 29.
  25. ^ Schellenberg 1956, p. 9.
  26. ^ Gerwarth 2012, pp. 163–164.
  27. ^ Manvell & Fraenkel 1987, p. 68.
  28. ^ Manvell & Fraenkel 1987, p. 70.
  29. ^ Evans 2006, pp. 664–667.
  30. ^ Delarue 2008, pp. 166–167.
  31. ^ Evans 2006, pp. 678–683.
  32. ^ Delarue 2008, pp. 170–171.
  33. ^ Waller 1996, pp. 104–118.
  34. ^ Weale 2012, p. 147.
  35. ^ Kahn 1978, p. 259.
  36. ^ Grunberger 1993, p. 47.
  37. ^ Hassell, MacRae & Ameskamp 2006, p. 60.
  38. ^ a b Gerwarth 2012, p. 177.
  39. ^ Evans 2010, p. 139.
  40. ^ Doerries & Weinberg 2009, p. 33.
  41. ^ Shirer 1990, p. 965.
  42. ^ Evans 2006, pp. 167–170.
  43. ^ Waller 1996, p. 178.
  44. ^ Waller 1996, p. 181.
  45. ^ Manvell & Fraenkel 1987, pp. 80–81.
  46. ^ Gerwarth 2012, p. 166.
  47. ^ Manvell & Fraenkel 1987, p. 83.
  48. ^ Delarue 2008, p. 176.
  49. ^ Manvell & Fraenkel 1987, pp. 83–84.
  50. ^ Schellenberg 1956, p. 75.
  51. ^ Read 2005, p. 658.
  52. ^ Hassell, MacRae & Ameskamp 2006, p. 102.
  53. ^ Manvell & Fraenkel 1987, p. 96.
  54. ^ Biddiscombe 2000, pp. 1115–1142.
  55. ^ Kahn 1978, p. 360.
  56. ^ Kahn 1978, pp. 360–361.
  57. ^ Doerries 2003, pp. 21, 80.
  58. ^ Kahn 1978, p. 61.
  59. ^ Hassell, MacRae & Ameskamp 2006, p. 196.
  60. ^ Halbrook 2010, p. 293.
  61. ^ Hastings 2016, p. 476.
  62. ^ a b Halbrook 2010, p. 247.
  63. ^ Halbrook 2010, p. 287.
  64. ^ Richelson 1995, p. 126.
  65. ^ Hastings 2016, pp. 241–247.
  66. ^ Zentner & Bedurftig 1997, pp. 833–834.
  67. ^ Hastings 2016, p. 243.
  68. ^ Fischer 1995, p. 544.
  69. ^ Doerries & Weinberg 2009, pp. 51–52.
  70. ^ Höhne 1979, pp. 370–371.
  71. ^ Hassell, MacRae & Ameskamp 2006, p. 24.
  72. ^ a b Höhne 1979, p. 371.
  73. ^ Doerries & Weinberg 2009, p. 52.
  74. ^ Kahn 1978, p. 62.
  75. ^ Höhne 1979, pp. 559–570.
  76. ^ Weale 2012, pp. 398, 400.
  77. ^ Delarue 2008, p. 320.
  78. ^ Infield 1981, pp. 22–23.
  79. ^ Waller 1996, p. 297.
  80. ^ Delarue 2008, p. 267.
  81. ^ Hastings 2016, p. 477.
  82. ^ Zeitz, New York Times (8 May 2005).
  83. ^ Vaughan 2011, pp. 163–175.
  84. ^ Graber 1978, p. 187.
  85. ^ Toland 1966, p. 163.
  86. ^ a b c Kershaw 2008, p. 943.
  87. ^ Mayer 2012, p. 444.
  88. ^ Kershaw 2008, p. 944.
  89. ^ Doerries 2003, pp. 23–24.
  90. ^ Mayer 2012, pp. 444–445.
  91. ^ Doerries 2003, p. 360.
  92. ^ Breitman et al. 2005, p. 113.
  93. ^ Breitman et al. 2005, pp. 113–114.
  94. ^ Horvitz & Catherwood 2006, p. 386.
  95. ^ Gerwarth 2012, p. 95.
  96. ^ Deutsche Biographie, Walter Schellenberg.
  97. ^ Hastings 2016, p. 541.
  98. ^ Hamilton 1996, p. 66.

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  • Fischer, Klaus (1995). Nazi Germany: A New History. New York: Continuum. ISBN 978-0-82640-797-9.
  • Fleming, Gerald (1994). Hitler and the Final Solution. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-06022-9.
  • Gerwarth, Robert (2012). Hitler's Hangman: The Life of Heydrich. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-30018-772-4.
  • Gilbert, Martin (1989). The Second World War: A Complete History. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-0534-X.
  • Graber, G. S. (1978). The History of the SS. New York: D. McKay. ISBN 0-679-50754-X.
  • Grunberger, Richard (1993). Hitler's SS. New York: Dorset Press. ISBN 978-1-56619-152-4.
  • Halbrook, Stephen (2010). The Swiss and the Nazis. Philadelphia, PA: Casemate Publishing. ISBN 978-1-93514-934-7.
  • Hamilton, Charles (1996). Leaders & Personalities of the Third Reich, Vol. 2. R. James Bender Publishing. ISBN 0-912138-66-1.
  • Hassell, Agostino von; MacRae, Sigrid; Ameskamp, Simone (2006). Alliance of Enemies: The Untold Story of the Secret American and German Collaboration to End World War II. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 978-0-31237-482-2.
  • Hastings, Max (2016). The Secret War: Spies, Ciphers, and Guerrillas, 1939–1945. New York: Harper. ISBN 978-0-06225-927-1.
  • Höhne, Heinz (1979). Canaris: Hitler's Master Spy. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-08777-2.
  • Höhne, Heinz (2001). The Order of the Death's Head: The Story of Hitler's SS. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 978-0-14139-012-3.
  • Horvitz, Leslie Alan; Catherwood, Christopher (2006). Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 978-1-43811-029-5.
  • Infield, Glenn B. (1981). Skorzeny: Hitler's Commando. New York: St. Martin's. ISBN 978-0-312-72777-2.
  • Kahn, David (1978). Hitler's Spies: German Military Intelligence in World War II. New York: MacMillan. ISBN 0-02-560610-7.
  • Kershaw, Ian (2008). Hitler: A Biography. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-06757-6.
  • Longerich, Peter (2012). Heinrich Himmler. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199592326.
  • Manvell, Roger; Fraenkel, Heinrich (1987). Heinrich Himmler. New York: Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85367-740-3.
  • Mayer, Arno (2012). Why Did the Heavens Not Darken?: The "Final Solution" in History. New York: Verso Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84467-777-1.
  • Read, Anthony (2005). The Devil's Disciples: Hitler's Inner Circle. New York: Norton. ISBN 978-039332-697-0.
  • Rhodes, Richard (2003). Masters of Death: The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust. New York: Vintage. ISBN 978-0-37570-822-0.
  • Richelson, Jeffrey (1995). A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511390-X.
  • Schellenberg, Walter (1956). The Schellenberg Memoirs. Translated by Louis Hagen. New York: André Deutsch.
  • Schellenberg, Walter (2000) [1956]. The Labyrinth: Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg, Hitler's Chief of Counterintelligence, translated by Louis Hagen. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0306809279
  • Shirer, William (1990). The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. New York: MJF Books. ISBN 978-1-56731-163-1.
  • Toland, John (1966). The Last 100 Days. New York: Random House.
  • Vaughan, Hal (2011). Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War. New York: Knopf. ISBN 978-0-307-59263-7.
  • Waller, John H. (1996). The Unseen War in Europe: Espionage and Conspiracy in the Second World War. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-67944-826-6.
  • Weale, Adrian (2012). Army of Evil: A History of the SS. New York: Caliber Printing. ISBN 978-0-451-23791-0.
  • Wistrich, Robert (1995). Who's Who in Nazi Germany. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-41511-888-0.
  • Zeitz, Joshua M. (8 May 2005). "The Nazis and Coco". The New York Times.
  • Zentner, Christian; Bedurftig, Friedemann (1997) [1991]. The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-3068079-3-0.

External links and further reading edit

  • World War II: Spying and Counterintelligence—Germany
  • Stevens, Gordon (1991). And All The King's Men. Pan. ISBN 0-330-31534-X.

walter, schellenberg, walter, friedrich, schellenberg, january, 1910, march, 1952, german, functionary, during, nazi, rose, through, ranks, becoming, highest, ranking, sicherheitsdienst, eventually, assumed, position, head, foreign, intelligence, nazi, germany. Walter Friedrich Schellenberg 16 January 1910 31 March 1952 was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era He rose through the ranks of the SS becoming one of the highest ranking men in the Sicherheitsdienst SD and eventually assumed the position as head of foreign intelligence for Nazi Germany following the abolition of the Abwehr in 1944 Walter SchellenbergSchellenberg as an SS Oberfuhrer in 1943Born16 January 1910Saarbrucken Prussia GermanyDied31 March 1952 1952 03 31 aged 42 Turin ItalyAllegiance Nazi GermanyService wbr branchSchutzstaffelYears of service1933 1945RankSS Brigadefuhrer und Generalmajor der PolizeiUnitSicherheitsdienstCommands heldChief of Amt VI Ausland SDAwardsIron Cross First ClassWar Merit Cross First and Second Class with Swords Contents 1 Career 2 Einsatzgruppen 1941 3 SD operations 3 1 Control of all intelligence operations 3 2 Operation Modellhut 4 Peace negotiations and capture 5 Nuremberg trials 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 8 1 Citations 8 2 Bibliography 9 External links and further readingCareer editSchellenberg born in Saarbrucken Germany 1 was his parents seventh child his father was a piano manufacturer 2 Schellenberg moved with his family to Luxembourg when the French occupied 1920 the Saar Basin after the First World War and the Weimar Republic experienced an economic crisis in the early 1920s Like many young intellectuals who later joined the Sicherheitsdienst SD Schellenberg was deeply affected by the economic woes which befell Germany in the wake of the First World War 3 Schellenberg returned to Germany to attend university first at the University of Marburg and then from 1929 at the University of Bonn He initially studied medicine but soon switched to law While in law school Schellenberg performed some spy work for the SD 4 He reported actually having been recruited by two SD agents who were college faculty who also advised him to join the Civil Service 5 After graduating he joined the SS in 1933 6 Schellenberg later wrote that the better type of people preferred the SS over the other Nazi organizations 7 Although educated as a lawyer Schellenberg distrusted administrative attorneys and was intent on ensuring that the SD could operate outside the constraints of normal law 8 Subscribing to the Fuhrerprinzip Schellenberg also regarded Hitler s directives as beyond the framework of the legal system and believed it was best to unquestioningly carry out anything ordered by the Nazi leader 9 In 1935 Schellenberg met Reinhard Heydrich and worked for him in the counter intelligence department of the SD 6 Besides his native German Schellenberg also spoke French and English fluently 2 Correspondingly his first foreign intelligence assignment was to Paris in 1934 to check up on the political views of a professor 10 Then in 1937 Schellenberg was sent to Italy for a police assignment which included security duties for an upcoming visit by Mussolini his outstanding work in providing security garnered positive attention from Heydrich who then gave him additional organizational responsibilities some of which later helped give birth to the Reich Security Main Office RSHA in 1939 11 The official SS personnel report on Schellenberg described him as open irreproachable and reliable the file also depicted him as firm tough possesses energy and as very sharp thinking his National Socialist worldview was labeled thoroughly fortified 12 Many of the SS street brawling types despised men like Schellenberg considering them effete but for the most part Schellenberg made a good impression on the Nazi elite 13 Sometime in 1938 Schellenberg married Kathe Kortekamp a seamstress three years his senior whom he dated for seven years and who had supported him through college Their marriage proved brief partially because of her social standing and because many things about her embarrassed him the relationship ended in divorce in 1939 but only after Schellenberg promised her an aryanized fashion business expropriated from Jewish owners 14 Shortly thereafter he married a more socially acceptable woman named Irene Grosse Schonepauck the daughter of an insurance executive but this relationship was also troubled 15 As the Nazis tightened their grip on German society Hitler and Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler determined that the SS and police organs should merge a move which Schellenberg fully supported on 24 February 1939 he released a memorandum which advocated further centralization within the state 16 In summer 1939 Schellenberg became one of the directors of Heydrich s foundation the Stiftung Nordhav Schellenberg was mentored by Herbert Mehlhorn while at the SS Hauptamt 17 When Heydrich announced his intention to create the Reich Security Main Office RSHA in July 1939 he had Schellenberg to thank as both the organisation s name and its existence resulted from his plans On 27 September 1939 Himmler decreed the RSHA an official state organisation 18 nbsp Georg Wilhelm Muller front row to the left and Reinhard Heydrich and SS Oberfuhrer Heinrich Fehlis leader of SD and SiPo in Norway to the right Also SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Hermann Kluckhohn SS Sturmbannfuhrer Walter Schellenberg Rudolf Schiedermair and other SS police officers at Ekeberg cemetery for German soldiers in Oslo during Heydrich s visit to Norway 3 6 September 1941 Einsatzgruppen 1941 editAs the role of the SS and its action groups the Einsatzgruppen expanded in the war zones and prospective war zones in May 1941 Schellenberg negotiated with the Wehrmacht to acquire logistical support from the army both on the front line and in rear areas so the Einsatzgruppen could carry out their killing operations more effectively 19 Acting on behalf of Heydrich Schellenberg issued a circular on 20 May 1941 to all segments of the German Security Police which forbade any Jews from emigrating out of German controlled territory this new policy formed part of the genocidal Final Solution 20 The language within the circular Schellenberg issued even contained the explicit expression in view of the undoubtedly imminent Final Solution of the Jewish question wording that makes it clear he was both complicit in and aware of the impending extermination activities 21 Despite being Heydrich s direct subordinate Schellenberg skillfully ingratiated himself with Himmler by first delivering his intelligence reports to him instead of to Heydrich which earned him the Reichsfuhrer s confidence 22 After Heydrich s death in June 1942 Schellenberg became the closest professional confidant of Himmler 23 Himmler bestowed upon Schellenberg a unique position beyond that of a simple aide making him his special plenipotentiary Sonderbevollmachtigter 24 SD operations editWhen Walter Schellenberg moved to Frankfurt in 1934 he recalled meeting an SS Oberfuhrer who explained to him the mission of the SD he was told the following which he wrote in his memoirs The SD was the chief organ of the intelligence service of the party Its task was to inform the top Party leaders of all opposition movements and forces at home and abroad It covered the administration the Party industry the theatre journalism the police in fact there was no sphere that was not under the watchful eye of the SD no place where it did not seek out the first signs of opposition among movements or individuals hostile to the state 25 dd In March 1938 Schellenberg traveled with Himmler and Heydrich to Vienna for the impending Anschluss with Austria One of the reasons for their journey was so the SD could confiscate Austrian secret service material 26 During the trip Schellenberg allegedly saved Himmler from a potential mishap when he noticed that the aircraft door that he had been leaning against was not properly secured Throwing Himmler aside in the process Schellenberg earned the gratitude of the Reichsfuhrer who promised to reciprocate the favor if the chance ever presented itself 27 Following the exuberant reception of Hitler when he arrived in Vienna Schellenberg later wrote never have I seen such tremendous enthusiastic and joyous crowds 28 Much like Austria the Nazis set their sights on the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia a region with over three million ethnic Germans which they wanted to incorporate into the Reich more than that Hitler once told his generals that he desired for Czechoslovakia to disappear from the map 29 In the summer of 1938 the Gestapo and SD Ausland which had taken control of the Secret Service in Czechoslovakia helped the Sudeten Nazis from the Sudetendeutsche Partei infiltrate regional and local organizations veterans groups musical societies sporting associations sailing clubs and cultural societies which gave them insight into the economic political and military situation there So thorough was the Nazi penetration in much of the Sudetenland that Schellenberg stated later it was necessary to establish two telephone transmission stations along the frontier to communicate with Berlin 30 Eventually after strained negotiations with the West Hitler acquired the Sudetenland when the Munich Agreement was concluded 31 Following this event Schellenberg accompanied Hitler Himmler and Heydrich into Prague on 15 March 1939 and reported that Himmler was so pleased with the performance and racial makeup of the Czech police that he incorporated them into the SS 32 In November 1939 Schellenberg played a major part in the Venlo Incident which led to the capture of two British MI6 agents Captain Sigismund Payne Best and Major Richard Stevens 33 Schellenberg posed as a Major Schaemmel claiming to be part of an anti Nazi group of officers planning a coup against Hitler At Schellenberg s third meeting with Stevens and Best in the German Dutch border town of Venlo the trap was sprung the two British agents were captured 34 Hitler awarded Schellenberg the Iron Cross for his actions 35 a Success in this operation helped the SD acquire greater leverage in foreign policy and gave their police Attaches access to foreign networks through the diplomatically immune offices of the German embassies abroad 36 The operation also damaged British morale and inclined them to mistrust the opposition in Germany 37 In June 1940 he was charged with compiling the Informationsheft G B a blueprint for the occupation of Britain after a proposed invasion by Nazi Germany The preparations for invasion known as Operation Sea Lion Unternehmen Seelowe were ultimately abandoned He based his work on the interrogations of British agents Best and Stevens along with his own preconceptions 38 Part of what he prepared was described as a handbook for German troops and officials as a guide to the British institutions they would encounter 39 The extent of his direct involvement in compiling the book and its supplement however has been disputed 40 The supplement was the Special Wanted List GB Sonderfahndungsliste G B also known as The Black Book which was a list of 2 300 prominent Britons to be arrested immediately after the successful invasion of Britain 41 Both Schellenberg and Heydrich perceived Great Britain as a country run by Freemasons Jews and a small public school trained elite 38 Despite the poor opinion of Britain shared by both men their full attention was turned there when on 10 May 1941 Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess made his infamous flight to Scotland 42 Subsequently SD Chief Schellenberg informed Hitler that Hess had been long under the influence of the British Secret Service and German collaborators 43 Upon further investigation Schellenberg also reported to Hitler that Hess made his flight under the advice of an astrologer which incited the activity of Heydrich who promptly arrested as many mediums psychics and astrologers he could round up in Berlin 44 Besides reactive intelligence reports like those he provided concerning Hess Schellenberg arranged numerous plots of subterfuge and intelligence gathering including the bugging of Salon Kitty a high class Berlin brothel Some of the Nazi regime s upper echelons even visited this brothel unaware at first such as Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop 45 However intelligence collection efforts at Salon Kitty were essentially a failure as they never revealed anything significant 46 Direct access to Himmler also made Schellenberg privy to some of the Reich s most sensitive material For example Schellenberg knew early on about the arrangement between Germany and the Soviet Union concerning the partition of Poland an agreement that presaged the military invasion 47 Once the Nazis invaded and occupied Polish territory Schellenberg was entrusted with securing the rear areas by Himmler and Heydrich which meant he oversaw the deployment of special commandos from the SD and Gestapo units which carried out brutal measures against the Poles 48 Another one of his areas of responsibility was counter espionage both within Germany and the occupied territories a task for which Schellenberg seemed well suited given his penchant for intrigue 49 Operating as an intelligence adviser to Himmler in Poland meant Schellenberg was at the front edge of the spear but this did not mean he was incapable of being surprised In fact he was particularly shocked at the utter devastation wrought by the Wehrmacht in Poland and commented in his Memoirs upon seeing it that Until then I had no real conception of what total war meant 50 In 1940 Schellenberg was sent to Portugal by Heydrich at Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop s request to intercept the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and try to persuade them to work for Germany Operation Willi 51 Schellenberg was supposed to offer them 50 million Swiss francs to go to neutral Switzerland However Winston Churchill dispatched an attorney Walter Monckton an old friend of the Duke s to convince them to leave Portugal 52 In the end the mission was a failure Schellenberg managed nothing more than a delay of the Duke s baggage for a few hours 1 In March 1940 he did help convince Hitler that Dutch military intelligence was working closely with the British intelligence services which Hitler used as a pretext to attack the Netherlands for violating their neutrality 53 In February 1942 after the 1941 German attack on the Soviet Union had stalled Schellenberg conceived and implemented a large scale spy operation designed to penetrate into the Soviet Union an initiative known as Operation Zeppelin Unternehmen Zeppelin 54 Using anti Communists selected from the many thousands of POWs captured by the Germans he soon had anywhere from 10 000 to 15 000 potential candidates in training who were accordingly indoctrinated Only between 2 000 and 3 000 completed the training and as little as a few hundred of them were ever committed to the operation due to insufficient numbers of aircraft and radio communication equipment 55 What started as a large scale effort by Schellenberg quickly became a precision one with very limited success Most of them produced little to no useful intelligence and or were killed once deployed One German intelligence officer commented that if losses were not over 90 percent we were satisfied 56 In March 1942 Heinz Jost was fired as RSHA Chief of Amt VI SD Ausland SD foreign intelligence 57 In his place Schellenberg was appointed chief of SD Ausland by Heydrich 58 Sometime in mid 1942 Schellenberg had been involved in planning operations in neutral Ireland including Operation Osprey a plan involving No 1 SS Special Service Troop b Knowledge that Germany might lose the war prompted Schellenberg to open communication channels during the fall of 1942 with the Swiss intelligence chief Colonel Roger Masson 59 He even went so far as providing Masson with a list of all the Abwehr military intelligence agents operating in Switzerland with the intention of having them expelled 60 When the Allies invaded Italy in 1943 Schellenberg went to great lengths to ensure the safety of Amin al Husseini the anti Semitic and anti British Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who was residing in Rome by having him transported away to Berlin 61 As the Red Army repulsed the Germans and began driving their forces back towards the west the German General Staff began planning a retreat into Fortress Europe which included the incorporation of Switzerland into the defensive operation Using his previous channels to Schellenberg the Swiss intelligence chief Masson who was privy to this plan known as Case Switzerland contacted Schellenberg as to whether or not an attack on Switzerland was imminent 62 By asking Schellenberg this question Masson naively revealed to Schellenberg that a leak existed within Hitler s headquarters but it also meant the Germans lost the opportunity for a surprise attack against Switzerland To further ingratiate himself to the Swiss Schellenberg claimed that he had convinced the German high command of the needlessness for such an operation 62 Despite having direct contacts to Schellenberg himself the Director in Switzerland of the OSS Allen Dulles expressed deep concern about the possible intelligence leaks between Masson and Schellenberg 63 Signals intelligence intercepts alerted the Gestapo and SD to the Red Orchestra the Soviet spy ring in Germany 64 Schellenberg led extensive efforts over many months to identify the participants 116 were arrested by the Gestapo half of whom were executed following intense interrogations 65 By this time Schellenberg had become a general Brigadefuhrer in the Allgemeine SS General SS 66 The operation was a major victory for the RSHA at the expense of the Abwehr who had been oblivious to the Soviet operation 67 Historian Klaus Fischer asserts that Schellenberg s only major success was smashing the Red Orchestra 68 Control of all intelligence operations edit Reportedly Schellenberg and Wilhelm Canaris the head of the Abwehr were friends They would go horseback riding together in Berlin s wooded Grunewald where they discussed the future of Nazi Germany 69 Often present at these equestrian outings were Heydrich and Werner Best 70 Their alleged friendship aside Canaris was careful around Schellenberg a man whose ambitions included controlling all intelligence for the Reich 71 Like Heydrich Schellenberg ultimately envisioned a centrally directed all embracing security system and a singular Greater German Intelligence Service under direct Nazi control unlike the Abwehr which was part of the Wehrmacht 72 Nonetheless there are indications that Schellenberg preferred to deal with Canaris Abwehr over the Gestapo particularly since he distrusted its chief Heinrich Muller 73 However after the attempted assassination of Hitler on 20 July 1944 the Abwehr was dissolved and the SD was given additional powers over intelligence across the Reich 74 c Canaris was arrested on 23 July 1944 on the basis of the interrogation of his successor at military intelligence Georg Hansen 75 As a result sections of the Abwehr were incorporated into RSHA Amt VI SD Ausland and therefore placed under Schellenberg s command 76 Assumption of these powers made Schellenberg the absolute master of Nazi intelligence 77 He was infamous for his office fortress desk which had two automatic guns built into it that could be fired by the touch of a button 78 According to the memoirs of SS intelligence officer Wilhelm Hoettl Schellenberg was very suspicious of Gestapo Chief Muller whom he claimed to have evidence against by way of radio surveillance recordings allegedly revealing Muller s plans to work with the Soviets when he informed then RSHA chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner of possessing proof to that end he was ignored 79 Kaltenbrunner disliked Schellenberg perhaps due to his direct access to Himmler and complained about him in particular on a number of occasions 80 Despite Kaltenbrunner s animosity towards Schellenberg the latter s soothing manners kept him in good graces with Himmler and allowed him to retain the ear of the SS overlord 81 Operation Modellhut edit Allied military intelligence documents have been unearthed linking French couturier Coco Chanel to espionage activity in concert with Schellenberg who reportedly was also one of her romantic liaisons 82 In 1943 1944 Operation Modellhut Operation Model Hat was conceived to capitalize on Chanel s long standing associations with British aristocracy and her friendship with Winston Churchill Schellenberg recruited Chanel to act as an intermediary in a plan proposed by Chanel whose goal was to broker a separate peace between Nazi Germany and Britain independently of other Allied powers Operation Modellhut failed 83 Peace negotiations and capture edit nbsp Himmler 1942 During early 1945 Schellenberg encouraged Himmler to overthrow Hitler in order to negotiate a separate peace with the Western Allies using as an excuse Hitler s poor health however Himmler never took action but instead vacillated 84 He also convinced Himmler to meet with the former president of Switzerland Jean Marie Musy who promised to pay in Swiss francs for the release of Jews 85 At the end of the war Schellenberg was able to persuade Himmler to try negotiating with the Western Allies through Count Folke Bernadotte 86 Schellenberg had earlier in the year worked as an intermediary between Count Bernadotte and Himmler for the release and safe passage of a number of prisoners and inmates held in concentration camps through the Swedish Red Cross 86 In the spring of 1945 Schellenberg instigated further meetings with Count Bernadotte as an opening to the western powers 86 He personally went to Stockholm in April 1945 to arrange the meetings for Himmler Both Himmler and Schellenberg continued to believe that the Jews interned in concentration camps represented a bargaining chip for the Nazi leadership one they could use to derive concessions from the Western allies 87 To foster goodwill for their negotiations Schellenberg with Himmler s consent organised the transport of 1 700 Jews out of German controlled territory to Switzerland and Sweden 88 Hitler found out and put a stop to further evacuations 89 After the first set of failed meetings Schellenberg requested Bernadotte to intercede directly with General Eisenhower but this final action proved futile as well 90 At war s end Schellenberg was in Denmark attempting to arrange his own surrender when the British took him into custody in June 1945 That same month a Swedish dispatch reported that Schellenberg had confessed to Germany s complicity in the massacre of Polish officers at the Katyn forest According to Schellenberg the Germans then blamed the Soviets for the atrocity in an effort to split the allies The U S British and Soviet intelligence services had all been searching for him as a valuable intelligence asset Captain Horace Hahn a member of the OSS was one of the few Americans allowed to interrogate Schellenberg 91 Looking to recover as much information as they could from Schellenberg the British sent him to London in July 1945 where he was extensively interrogated their intention along with the Americans was to extract information on any remaining Nazi resistance yet to surface and to gather what they could on Germany s possible postwar intelligence activities Schellenberg confirmed to the Allies that no such plans were in place which was supported by Allied intelligence efforts 92 The fact that Schellenberg had been on the opposite side of the RSHA faction which included Kaltenbrunner Muller Ohlendorf and Skorzeny along with other war criminals was the best thing he had going for him at the end of the war Additional independent signals intelligence also proved helpful in evaluating Schellenberg 93 Nuremberg trials editAfter the war Schellenberg was arrested by British military police and eventually stood trial in Nuremberg To spare himself from a long prison sentence Schellenberg testified against the SS organisation and the Nazi leaders in its fold during the postwar trials 94 d During the Ministries Trial he wrote his memoirs titled The Labyrinth Historian Robert Gerwarth describes certain content of Schellenberg s memoirs as questionable 95 e On 4 November 1949 he was sentenced to six years in prison for failing to prevent the murder of Soviet POWs who were utilized as agents in Operation Zeppelin 96 The tribunal found that near the end of the war Schellenberg had started aiding victims of the Nazi regime It questioned whether he was acting out of good faith but nevertheless credited him for his actions He was released from prison after two years on the grounds of ill health due to a worsening liver condition and moved to Switzerland f before settling in Verbania Pallanza Italy In 1952 he died in Turin Italy 98 See also editGlossary of Nazi Germany List of Nazi Party leaders and officials List of SS personnelNotes edit The Venlo Kidnapping The Times 19 February 1948 Later becoming 500th SS Parachute Battalion a k a SS Fallschirmjager Bataillon 500 an amalgamation of No 1 Troop and various SS penal battalions notably participating in Operation Rosselsprung the raid against Tito s HQ in 1944 Despite Canaris falling from grace and being implicated as a double agent who worked against Germany Schellenberg referred to Canaris as Germany s finest spy until the end of his life 72 http avalon law yale edu imt 01 04 46 asp Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Twenty Seventh Day Yale University s AVALON Project cited 15 April 2016 A formerly classified book review by CIA intelligence officer Clinton Gallagher from 1957 reveals that doubt has long been cast on the validity of some of Schellenberg s claims See Gallagher CIA Book Review of The Labyrnth Some of his memoir was also written while he was in Switzerland with the assistance of his favorite secretary Marie Luise Schienke 97 References editCitations edit a b Hamilton 1996 p 64 a b Wistrich 1995 p 221 Kahn 1978 p 255 Hohne 2001 p 214 Browder 1996 pp 225 226 a b Weale 2012 p 141 Hohne 2001 p 132 Hohne 2001 pp 254 255 Hohne 2001 p 255 Kahn 1978 pp 255 256 Kahn 1978 p 256 Kahn 1978 p 258 Kahn 1978 p 260 Kahn 1978 pp 256 257 Kahn 1978 p 257 Buchheim 1968 p 204 Doerries amp Weinberg 2009 pp 19 20 Longerich 2012 p 470 Rhodes 2003 p 15 Gilbert 1989 pp 187 188 Fleming 1994 pp 44 45 Kahn 1978 p 267 Weale 2012 p 398 Doerries 2003 p 29 Schellenberg 1956 p 9 Gerwarth 2012 pp 163 164 Manvell amp Fraenkel 1987 p 68 Manvell amp Fraenkel 1987 p 70 Evans 2006 pp 664 667 Delarue 2008 pp 166 167 Evans 2006 pp 678 683 Delarue 2008 pp 170 171 Waller 1996 pp 104 118 Weale 2012 p 147 Kahn 1978 p 259 Grunberger 1993 p 47 Hassell MacRae amp Ameskamp 2006 p 60 a b Gerwarth 2012 p 177 Evans 2010 p 139 Doerries amp Weinberg 2009 p 33 Shirer 1990 p 965 Evans 2006 pp 167 170 Waller 1996 p 178 Waller 1996 p 181 Manvell amp Fraenkel 1987 pp 80 81 Gerwarth 2012 p 166 Manvell amp Fraenkel 1987 p 83 Delarue 2008 p 176 Manvell amp Fraenkel 1987 pp 83 84 Schellenberg 1956 p 75 Read 2005 p 658 Hassell MacRae amp Ameskamp 2006 p 102 Manvell amp Fraenkel 1987 p 96 Biddiscombe 2000 pp 1115 1142 Kahn 1978 p 360 Kahn 1978 pp 360 361 Doerries 2003 pp 21 80 Kahn 1978 p 61 Hassell MacRae amp Ameskamp 2006 p 196 Halbrook 2010 p 293 Hastings 2016 p 476 a b Halbrook 2010 p 247 Halbrook 2010 p 287 Richelson 1995 p 126 Hastings 2016 pp 241 247 Zentner amp Bedurftig 1997 pp 833 834 Hastings 2016 p 243 Fischer 1995 p 544 Doerries amp Weinberg 2009 pp 51 52 Hohne 1979 pp 370 371 Hassell MacRae amp Ameskamp 2006 p 24 a b Hohne 1979 p 371 Doerries amp Weinberg 2009 p 52 Kahn 1978 p 62 Hohne 1979 pp 559 570 Weale 2012 pp 398 400 Delarue 2008 p 320 Infield 1981 pp 22 23 Waller 1996 p 297 Delarue 2008 p 267 Hastings 2016 p 477 Zeitz New York Times 8 May 2005 Vaughan 2011 pp 163 175 Graber 1978 p 187 Toland 1966 p 163 a b c Kershaw 2008 p 943 Mayer 2012 p 444 Kershaw 2008 p 944 Doerries 2003 pp 23 24 Mayer 2012 pp 444 445 Doerries 2003 p 360 Breitman et al 2005 p 113 Breitman et al 2005 pp 113 114 Horvitz amp Catherwood 2006 p 386 Gerwarth 2012 p 95 Deutsche Biographie Walter Schellenberg Hastings 2016 p 541 Hamilton 1996 p 66 Bibliography edit Biddiscombe Perry 2000 Unternehmen Zeppelin The Deployment of SS Saboteurs and Spies in the Soviet Union 1942 1945 Europe Asia Studies 52 6 1115 1142 doi 10 1080 09668130050143851 JSTOR 153592 S2CID 144885216 Breitman Richard Goda Norman J W Naftali Timothy Wolfe Robert 2005 U S Intelligence and the Nazis Cambridge and New York Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 52161 794 9 Browder George C 1996 Hitler s Enforcers The Gestapo and the SS Security Service in the Nazi Revolution Oxford and New York Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19820 297 4 Buchheim Hans 1968 The SS Instrument of Domination In Krausnick Helmut Buchheim Hans Broszat Martin Z Jacobsen Hans Adolf eds Anatomy of the SS State New York Walker and Company ISBN 978 0 00211 026 6 Delarue Jacques 2008 The Gestapo A History of Horror New York Skyhorse ISBN 978 1 60239 246 5 Deutsche Biographie Walter Schellenberg Retrieved 15 August 2016 Doerries Reinhard R 2003 Hitler s Last Chief of Foreign Intelligence Allied interrogations of Walter Schellenberg Portland Frank Cass Publishers ISBN 0 7146 5400 0 Doerries Reinhard R Weinberg Gerhard L 2009 Hitler s Intelligence Chief Walter Schellenberg New York Enigma Books ISBN 978 1 92963 177 3 Evans Richard 2006 The Third Reich in Power New York Penguin ISBN 978 0 14303 790 3 Evans Richard 2010 The Third Reich at War New York Penguin ISBN 978 0 14311 671 4 Fischer Klaus 1995 Nazi Germany A New History New York Continuum ISBN 978 0 82640 797 9 Fleming Gerald 1994 Hitler and the Final Solution Berkeley and Los Angeles University of California Press ISBN 0 520 06022 9 Gerwarth Robert 2012 Hitler s Hangman The Life of Heydrich New Haven CT Yale University Press ISBN 978 0 30018 772 4 Gilbert Martin 1989 The Second World War A Complete History New York Henry Holt and Company ISBN 0 8050 0534 X Graber G S 1978 The History of the SS New York D McKay ISBN 0 679 50754 X Grunberger Richard 1993 Hitler s SS New York Dorset Press ISBN 978 1 56619 152 4 Halbrook Stephen 2010 The Swiss and the Nazis Philadelphia PA Casemate Publishing ISBN 978 1 93514 934 7 Hamilton Charles 1996 Leaders amp Personalities of the Third Reich Vol 2 R James Bender Publishing ISBN 0 912138 66 1 Hassell Agostino von MacRae Sigrid Ameskamp Simone 2006 Alliance of Enemies The Untold Story of the Secret American and German Collaboration to End World War II New York Thomas Dunne Books ISBN 978 0 31237 482 2 Hastings Max 2016 The Secret War Spies Ciphers and Guerrillas 1939 1945 New York Harper ISBN 978 0 06225 927 1 Hohne Heinz 1979 Canaris Hitler s Master Spy New York Doubleday ISBN 0 385 08777 2 Hohne Heinz 2001 The Order of the Death s Head The Story of Hitler s SS New York Penguin Press ISBN 978 0 14139 012 3 Horvitz Leslie Alan Catherwood Christopher 2006 Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide New York Facts on File ISBN 978 1 43811 029 5 Infield Glenn B 1981 Skorzeny Hitler s Commando New York St Martin s ISBN 978 0 312 72777 2 Kahn David 1978 Hitler s Spies German Military Intelligence in World War II New York MacMillan ISBN 0 02 560610 7 Kershaw Ian 2008 Hitler A Biography New York W W Norton amp Company ISBN 978 0 393 06757 6 Longerich Peter 2012 Heinrich Himmler Oxford and New York Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0199592326 Manvell Roger Fraenkel Heinrich 1987 Heinrich Himmler New York Skyhorse Publishing ISBN 978 1 85367 740 3 Mayer Arno 2012 Why Did the Heavens Not Darken The Final Solution in History New York Verso Publishing ISBN 978 1 84467 777 1 Read Anthony 2005 The Devil s Disciples Hitler s Inner Circle New York Norton ISBN 978 039332 697 0 Rhodes Richard 2003 Masters of Death The SS Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust New York Vintage ISBN 978 0 37570 822 0 Richelson Jeffrey 1995 A Century of Spies Intelligence in the Twentieth Century Oxford and New York Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 511390 X Schellenberg Walter 1956 The Schellenberg Memoirs Translated by Louis Hagen New York Andre Deutsch Schellenberg Walter 2000 1956 The Labyrinth Memoirs of Walter Schellenberg Hitler s Chief of Counterintelligence translated by Louis Hagen Da Capo Press ISBN 978 0306809279 Shirer William 1990 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich New York MJF Books ISBN 978 1 56731 163 1 Toland John 1966 The Last 100 Days New York Random House Vaughan Hal 2011 Sleeping with the Enemy Coco Chanel s Secret War New York Knopf ISBN 978 0 307 59263 7 Waller John H 1996 The Unseen War in Europe Espionage and Conspiracy in the Second World War New York Random House ISBN 978 0 67944 826 6 Weale Adrian 2012 Army of Evil A History of the SS New York Caliber Printing ISBN 978 0 451 23791 0 Wistrich Robert 1995 Who s Who in Nazi Germany New York Routledge ISBN 978 0 41511 888 0 Zeitz Joshua M 8 May 2005 The Nazis and Coco The New York Times Zentner Christian Bedurftig Friedemann 1997 1991 The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich New York Da Capo Press ISBN 978 0 3068079 3 0 External links and further reading edit nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Walter Schellenberg World War II Spying and Counterintelligence Germany Stevens Gordon 1991 And All The King s Men Pan ISBN 0 330 31534 X Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Walter Schellenberg amp oldid 1222636047, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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