Wilhelm Canaris

This article is about the 20th-century German military officer. For the 19th-century Greek naval officer, see Constantine Kanaris.

Wilhelm Franz Canaris (January 1, 1887 – April 9, 1945) was head of the German military intelligence service, the Abwehr, for much of World War II.

He was born in Aplerbeck, in Westphalia. Wilhelm considered himself to be a distant descendent of the Greek Admiral, freedom fighter and politician Constantine Kanaris but the exact genealogical connection remains uncertain.

He joined the navy in 1905 and served as an officer in WW I aboard the SMS Dresden in the Battle of the Falkland Islands (December 8, 1914). He was later interned in Chile. Escaping in August of 1915, he returned home. On his homecoming he was awarded the Iron Cross and transferred to intelligence, initially working in Spain. After a British assassination plot failed, he returned to active service and ended the war as a U-boat commander in the Mediterranean, credited with eighteen sinkings.

He remained in the military after the war, first with the Freikorp and then working for the post-Versailles navy. He entered intelligence work in 1931 and after the ascension of Adolf Hitler, he was made head of the Abwehr on January 1, 1935.

In 1938-1939, Canaris opposed Hitler's aggressive plans and feared that he would involve Germany in a military catastrophe. When Hitler invaded Poland, Canaris visited the front and personally witnessed atrocities by the SS Einsatzgruppen, including the burning of the Bedzin synagogue and the fiery death of the Jewish residents of the town. He also received reports from his Abwehr agents about many other incidents of mass murder throughout Poland.

Canaris was shocked by this incident and he actively worked to overthrow Hitler and attempted to organize putsch attempts with the General Staff.

Two of his subordinates, General Erwin Lahousen and Hans Bernd Gisevius, survived the war and testified during the Nuremberg trial about Canaris' bravery in opposing Hitler. During the trial of the Major German War Criminals, Lahousen recalled a conversation between Canaris and General Keitel, in which Canaris warned Keitel that the German military would ultimately be held responsible for the atrocities in Poland. Keitel responded that the Fuhrer had ordered it. At Nuremberg, Keitel was found guilty and hanged.

Canaris continued his opposition to Hitler together with Lahousen and the rest of the "Canaris Circle" of German officers, who sought to overthrow the Nazi dictator. Most of this group was executed by the Gestapo or forced to commit suicide.

Canaris also intervened to save a number of victims of Nazi persecution, including hundreds of Jews, many of whom were given token training as "agents" of the Abwehr and issued papers allowing them to escape Nazi Germany. On more than one occasion, Canaris rescued Jews from the Gestapo on the grounds they were his "agents" and should be set free.

Hitler dismissed Canaris him from command in February 1944, replacing him with Walter Schellenberg and merging most of the Abwehr with the SD. Later that year Canaris was placed under house arrest, preventing him from participating in the July 20 Plot to assassinate Hitler. Canaris' long-time rival, Heinrich Himmler, persuaded Hitler that Canaris was linked to the July 20 conspiracy, and Canaris was executed by slow strangulation at Flossenbürg concentration camp together with Hans Oster, Carl Sack, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Ludwig Gehre - a few weeks before the end of World War II.

External links

• A more detailed profile of him: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/canaris.html
• An evaluation of him, along with his last words: http://www.joric.com/Conspiracy/Canaris.htmda:Wilhelm Canaris

de:Wilhelm Canaris el:Βίλχελμ Κανάρις fr:Wilhelm Canaris he:וילהלם קנריס nl:Wilhelm Canaris no:Wilhelm Canaris pl:Wilhelm Canaris ru:Канарис, Фридрих Вильгельм sr:Вилхелм Канарис sv:Wilhelm Canaris