The General Was a Spy. C

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The General Was a Spy. C mE; YORK IIMES 16 APR 1972 The General Was a Spy. C The Truth About General Gehlen and His Spy Ring. By Heinz Hiihne and Hermann Zolling. DECLASSIFIED Translated by Richard Barry from the German "Pullach Intern." AND R With an Introduction by Hugh Trevor-Roper and a Preface ELEASED BY to the American Edition by Andrew Tully. CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY Illustrated. 347 pp. New York: Coward, McCann Geoghegan. $10. SOURCES METHODS EXEM PTIONS B 2 NAZI WAR cR iMES DISCLOSURE AC1 Gehlen DATE 2001 2005 Spy of the Century. By E. H. Cookridge. Illustrated. 402 pp. New York: Random House. $10. Hahne (author of "The Order of the By CHRISTOPHER FELIX General and his B.N.D. suffered set- bacas in the 1960s, notably the rev- Deaths Head," 1970, and "Codeword: Direktor," reviewed on P. 40 in this The Chief, Foreign Output Evaluation; elation that one of Gehlens trusted Issue) and Zolling, on the other hand, Central Intelligence Agency, deputies, a former S.S. officer, was a while recognizing Gehlens accom- Washington, D.C. (By safe hand to plishments (and even defending him Langley.) Christopher Felix is the pseudonym of a former American diplomat and on occasion — not without flashes Dear Chief: Intelligence officer. He is the author of national pride) are paitisan. The Lest it be supposed that my report )f "A Short Course in the Secret B.N.D. under Gehlen, they plainly violates the Agencys charter by en- War." "Three Cornered Cover" by feel, let Germany down. "The Fed- gaging in operations within the Unit- dr. relit. (with George Marton) will eral Republic," they write at the out- ed States, let me hasten to point out set, "requires an efficient secret serv- p ,hed this fall. that, except for Andrew Tullys Pref- ice if it is not to be exposed to un- ace to the Hahne and Zolling book longtime Soviet agent, and the necessary external dangers"; and (and for our reputation, of course). B.N.D.s involvement in the famous their major charge against Geh- the paper, print, and bindings are the November. 1962, Der Spiegel affair. len is that from 1958 on, he and the only things American Involved here. The latter added the enmity of Franz- B.N.D. were no longer efficient E. H. C.00kridge is a British subject: Josef Strauss, the West German De- Their opinion of the Gehlen or- his book was first published in Eng- fense Minister whose Bavarian C.S.U. ganization for most of the years be- land. Heinz HOhne and Hermann (Christian Socialist party) was an es- fore that seems revealed in their fre- Zoning are Gernians: Their book is sential prop of Christian Democratic quent use of the phrase, "the Amer- an elaboration of 15 articles pub- rule, to the existing hostility of many icans and their German minions at lished In West Germanys Der Spiegel Social Democrats. Pullach." This attitude, if understand- magazine In the spring of 1971, which In 1968 Chancellor Kurt Kiesinger, able in the middle 1950s, carries a were highly critical of Gen.. Rein- reportedly under some pressure from different weight nearly two decades hard Gehlens direction of the Federal his Socialist partners in the "grand later. Intelligence Service. • coalition," did not extend Gehlens ex- The German authors are severe Both books tell the same story: emption from mandatory retirement. about Gehlens use of former Nazis General Gehlen, a German officer Gehlens place, as president of the and about his organizations "inordi- since 1920, wartime head of F.H.O. B.N.D., was taken by Gen. Gerhard nate influence on government deci- (Fremde Heere Ost—Foreign Armies Wessel, a former associate of Gehlen, sions with no controlling authority" East), the intelligence section of the but no longer his friend. In 1970, to restrain it — given postwar West German General Staff concerned under the Brandt Government, a So- German history, that is a slap at with Eastern Europe, surrendered at cial Democratic party official was in- Adenauer in particular and German wars end to the Americans with the stalled In the B.N.D. as Vice Presi- Christian Democratic Governments In offer to put himself, his files, staff dent, former S.S. arta Gestapo Per general. and networks at their disposal. After -sonnel were removed, and B.N.D. de- The decline of the B.N.D. ("that some fencing, the offer was accepted, partment heads were replaced, sev- secret service which was once re- and the Gehlen organization was ul- eial by Social Democrats. garded as the best in Europe," they titnately installed in a compound at Although the story is the same in add nostalgically but inconsis- Pullach, near Munich. In 1949 Amer- both books — down to a striking tently, since they place its apogee in ican support and supervision was Identity (and abundance) of detail— the period when Adenaucr dom- transferred from the United States their approach differs. Cookridge, inated and Gehlen Co. were still Army to the recently formed C.I.A. whose 13th book on secret opera- "minions" of the Americans) they at• In 1956 the Gehlen organization be- tions this is, writes as the "expert." tribute variously to Gehlens miscon- came the B.N.D. (Bundesnachrichten- Nevertheless, he -cannot avoid signs ceptions and uncurbed powers, to the dienst), the West German Federal in- of regret at the apparent decline in German tradition of regarding intel- telligence service, and Gehlen its later years of Gehlens organization: ligence as falling almost exclusively "President." Long a favorite of Chan- the General is, after all, the hero of in the domain of the military (they cellor Adenauer, who referred to him his book. In fact, at his hands Creiden do have a good short essay on the as "My dear General Gehlen," the takes on the proportions of a super- historical development of the German man. Intelligence services), and, among etontinued other things, to "[snooping) in West " --""•••••vgros:. :1rtsr vzcZ7-77, 4.• German internal politics." The tatter may or may not be so. I wouldnt know, Chief. But it seems to me that if it is so, the answer to excessive partisanship of a West German intel- „•••-^-1 if eft ligence service when the Christian v. / v.. • .) Democrats were in power is not nec- ! ...; • essarily to pack it with the opposi- „,4 tion party when they come to power. atThi.4". If the approaches of the two books are different, the books themselves nonetheless contain some remarkable •c0- ft, similarities. One is that the authors 1-, • would not last a week in any intelli- • 7,'" gence service. They are quite un- aware of the essential human element In secret operations; to them it is .all moving so many pawns around a vast board. As you once remarked, Chief, "perhaps only fiction can con- vey the reality of our work." Also, failing to understand the role of in- telligence. In larger policy, they greatly overestimate ft. "Under the Influence of [Gehlens] daily situa- tion reports on the East which paint- ed Moscows policy in the black- est of colors," write Hahne and Zon- ing of the period around 1950, "... The US. secret service officers inevi- tably [sic] came to accept the political 2 "."1 (sic!) of their German partners. Senior US. secret service officers were soon pleading for an end to the Occupation regime on this side of • the Elbe and the incorporation of West Germany into the political, mil- itary, and economic alliance of the West." • The role of "secret service officers" Is not to f General Gehlen in Hanover, 1958. ' plead major policies; and when they do, they often have a re- - laugh- verse effect. The authors really the Radio Waves" is otov and the heads of the Brit- they write: "The B.N.D:s new able. A better writer than the should read the memoirs of ish. American and Chinese mil- African friends gave it, almost two Germans (who may be suf- for the asking, what the ex- those men, such as Dirk Stikker itary missions . the British fering in translation), Cook- colonial powers such as Britain, of the Netherlands, Paul-Henri representative demanded Soviet ridge also succumbs to embroi- France and Belgium had had Speak „of Belgium, and Dean assistance in Egypt . offen- dery. On the Berlin telephone to employ a comprehensive net- Acheson, who, with the British sive operations In two sectors tunnel and the C.I.A. he says, and French, made and direct; of the front were decided work of agents to obtain — pic- "[Frank G.] Wisner was all for upon." As you know, Chief, I -ed Western policy in those tures of the situation.in.the.po-......_ it, but he was at that time pre- years. Cookridge, speaking of was in Moscow in July, 1942. litically emergent continent of occupied with C.I.A. operations the East German Ministry of Foreigners never participated in Africa." Come, come. Our Ger- in Guatemala." Anyone who State Security, says flatly, "It Soviet "war councils." Soviet man friends have amiarently thinks Frank Wisner couldnt operations were never planned• was the extremely hostile • in- never heard of the French. keep an eye on two things at or discussed in the presence of telligence produced by Its "Communauté" (nor of Mon- once doesnt know how affairs Czechoslovakia section against foreigners. The Admiral com- sieur Foccart). Nor of the Ken- are conducted in a large or- the Dubcck Government which manding the British military yan request to Britain for ganization — and obviously Frompted Moscow into armed mission was not at a level to troops to put down local rebel- didnt know Wisner.
Recommended publications
  • CIA Files Relating to Heinz Felfe, SS Officer and KGB Spy
    CIA Files Relating to Heinz Felfe, SS officer and KGB Spy Norman J. W. Goda Ohio University Heinz Felfe was an officer in Hitler’s SS who after World War II became a KGB penetration agent, infiltrating West German intelligence for an entire decade. He was arrested by the West German authorities in 1961 and tried in 1963 whereupon the broad outlines of his case became public knowledge. Years after his 1969 release to East Germany (in exchange for three West German spies) Felfe also wrote memoirs and in the 1980s, CIA officers involved with the case granted interviews to author Mary Ellen Reese.1 In accordance with the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act the CIA has released significant formerly classified material on Felfe, including a massive “Name File” consisting of 1,900 pages; a CIA Damage Assessment of the Felfe case completed in 1963; and a 1969 study of Felfe as an example of a successful KGB penetration agent.2 These files represent the first release of official documents concerning the Felfe case, forty-five years after his arrest. The materials are of great historical significance and add detail to the Felfe case in the following ways: • They show in more detail than ever before how Soviet and Western intelligence alike used former Nazi SS officers during the Cold War years. 1 Heinz Felfe, Im Dienst des Gegners: 10 Jahre Moskaus Mann im BND (Hamburg: Rasch & Röhring, 1986); Mary Ellen Reese, General Reinhard Gehlen: The CIA Connection (Fairfax, VA: George Mason University Press, 1990), pp. 143-71. 2 Name File Felfe, Heinz, 4 vols., National Archives and Records Administration [NARA], Record Group [RG] 263 (Records of the Central Intelligence Agency), CIA Name Files, Second Release, Boxes 22-23; “Felfe, Heinz: Damage Assessment, NARA, RG 263, CIA Subject Files, Second Release, Box 1; “KGB Exploitation of Heinz Felfe: Successful KGB Penetration of a Western Intelligence Service,” March 1969, NARA, RG 263, CIA Subject Files, Second Release, Box 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Case Log October 2000 - April 2002
    Description of document: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Case Log October 2000 - April 2002 Requested date: 2002 Release date: 2003 Posted date: 08-February-2021 Source of document: Information and Privacy Coordinator Central Intelligence Agency Washington, DC 20505 Fax: 703-613-3007 Filing a FOIA Records Request Online The governmentattic.org web site (“the site”) is a First Amendment free speech web site and is noncommercial and free to the public. The site and materials made available on the site, such as this file, are for reference only. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals have made every effort to make this information as complete and as accurate as possible, however, there may be mistakes and omissions, both typographical and in content. The governmentattic.org web site and its principals shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information provided on the governmentattic.org web site or in this file. The public records published on the site were obtained from government agencies using proper legal channels. Each document is identified as to the source. Any concerns about the contents of the site should be directed to the agency originating the document in question. GovernmentAttic.org is not responsible for the contents of documents published on the website. 1 O ct 2000_30 April 2002 Creation Date Requester Last Name Case Subject 36802.28679 STRANEY TECHNOLOGICAL GROWTH OF INDIA; HONG KONG; CHINA AND WTO 36802.2992 CRAWFORD EIGHT DIFFERENT REQUESTS FOR REPORTS REGARDING CIA EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS 36802.43927 MONTAN EDWARD GRADY PARTIN 36802.44378 TAVAKOLI-NOURI STEPHEN FLACK GUNTHER 36810.54721 BISHOP SCIENCE OF IDENTITY FOUNDATION 36810.55028 KHEMANEY TI LEAF PRODUCTIONS, LTD.
    [Show full text]
  • A Report to the Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, U.S
    Robert Jan Verbelen and the United States Government A Report to the Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice NEAL M. SHER, Director Office of Special Investigations ARON A. GOLBERG, Attorney Office of Special Investigations ELIZABETH B. WHITE, Historian Office of Special Investigations June 16, 1988 TABLE OF CONTENTS Pacre I . Introduction A . Background of Verbelen Investigation ...... 1 B . Scope of Investigation ............. 2 C . Conduct of Investigation ............ 4 I1. Early Life Through World War I1 .......... 7 I11 . War Crimes Trial in Belgium ............ 11 IV . The 430th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment in Austria ..................... 12 A . Mission. Organization. and Personnel ...... 12 B . Use of Former Nazis and Nazi Collaborators ... 15 V . Verbelen's Versions of His Work for the CIC .... 20 A . Explanation to the 66th CIC Group ....... 20 B . Testimony at War Crimes Trial ......... 21 C . Flemish Interview ............... 23 D . Statement to Austrian Journalist ........ 24 E . Version Told to OSI .............. 26 VI . Verbelen's Employment with the 430th CIC Detachment ..................... 28 A . Work for Harris ................ 28 B . Project Newton ................. 35 C . Change of Alias from Mayer to Schwab ...... 44 D . The CIC Ignores Verbelen's Change of Identity .................... 52 E . Verbelen's Work for the 430th CIC from 1950 to1955 .................... 54 1 . Work for Ekstrom .............. 54 2 . Work for Paulson .............. 55 3 . The 430th CIC Refuses to Conduct Checks on Verbelen and His Informants ....... 56 4 . Work for Giles ............... 60 Verbelen's Employment with the 66th CIC Group ... 62 A . Work for Wood ................. 62 B . Verbelen Reveals His True Identity ....... 63 C . A Western European Intelligence Agency Recruits Verbelen ..............
    [Show full text]
  • Critchfield-Barlow Review Pdf
    A Global Forum for Naval Historical Scholarship International Journal of Naval History April 2005 Volume 4 Number 1 James H. Critchfield, Partners at the Creation: The Men Behind Postwar Germany’s Defense and Intelligence Establishments. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2003. X, 243pp. ISBN 1-59114-136-2. Illustrations, appendix, bibliography, index. Reviewed by Jeffrey G. Barlow U.S. Naval Historical Center, Washington D.C. USA _______________________________________________________________ In recent months, the book under review has received two highly negative reviews by other historians. In the July 2004 issue of The Journal of Military History, David Kahn, one of the deans of American intelligence history, wrote that the book was an insignificant memoir that adds nothing of any value to “the history of the establishment of post-World War II intelligence” (p. 1011). Similarly, in the July/August 2004 issue of Foreign Affairs, historian Timothy Naftali of the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, took James Critchfield to task for arguing in his book that the CIA’s support of Reinhard Gehlen’s intelligence organization in occupied Germany in the early Cold War years was on balance a benefit both to the United States and to the West German state that emerged in May 1949. In fact, Naftali asserted, the CIA’s arrangement with the Gehlen organization was a Faustian bargain that “plunged the United States into moral and political corruption” (p. 131) and moreover proved of little value, since Gehlen’s operation “was thoroughly penetrated by the Soviets, and its ability to collect useful intelligence for NATO questionable” (p.
    [Show full text]
  • I Bonn Spy Network 14 Riddled by Soviet
    I Bonn Spy Network C.I.A. Created Organization 14 The United States Central Riddled by Soviet Intelligence Agency created the Gehlen organization. By ARTHUR J. OLSEN General Gehlen, a regular of- to The New York Times ficer in the prewar Reichswehr, Special 4made his reputation as an intel- BONN., July 11—Testimony ligence man on the Russian in a Karlsruhe courtroom this ! front during World War II. As week has tarnished the vaunt- head of the intelligence section ed reputation of the West of the Army High Command, he German espionage apparatus produced situation reports on the Soviet armies that are said officially known as the Fed- to have emerged in postwar re- eral Intelligence Agency once views as spectacularly accurate. headed by its founder, Rein- As the war ended, General hard Gehlen, a former Wehr- Gehlen went underground,- macht general. emerging to approach Gen. Thre of General Gehlens George S. Patton, then com- mander of the United States operatives are on trial before Third Army, with an offer to the Federal Constitutional cooperate with the victors. The Court, charged with 10 years former lieutenant general of the of conscientious labor on be- Wehrmacht supported his lob half of the Soviet Union. application with a promise to • turn over his hidden archives. All three—Heinz Felfe, 45 • :,The newly created C.I.A.', hair- years old; Hans Clemens, 61, lag. studied its recruit - for and Erwin Tiebel, 60—have months, authorized him in 1947 admitted systematic betrayal ta.-establish a full-scale German of the agency, known popu- intelligence organization.
    [Show full text]
  • American Intelligence and the Gehlen Organization, 1945-49- (S) Kevin C
    • DECLASS IF IED AND RELEASED BY Secret CENTRAL I NTELL BENCE AGENCY Studies in Intelligence (1997) SOURCES METHODS EXEMPT I ON38211 NAZI WAR CR IMES DISCLOSURE ACT DATE 2001 2006 A Controversial Liaison Relationship American Intelligence and the Gehlen Organization, 1945-49- (S) Kevin C. Ruffner The CIA's sponsorship of the three years later, he served as a staff nascent West German intelligence officer in an infantry division where service in mid-1949 marked an his organizational planning and staff expansion into uncharted opera- work attracted the attention of senior tional waters. 1 This new direction irrevocably linked the CIA with officers. By mid-1942, Gehlen took former members of the General Staff charge of the German Army High of the defeated Wehrrnacht and Nazi Command's Fremde Heer Ost (FHO Germany's intelligence services, or Foreign Armies East), with the 44 some of whom had notorious war- responsibility of preparing intelli- As the Soviets drew closer time reputations. 2 The Agency made gence on the Soviet Union. Gehlen's this decision after a long-running to Berlin, Gehlen dispersed debite with the US Army about the work in this position eventually his staff and transferred wisdom of supporting a resurrected incurred the wrath of Hitler, who German General Staff and a quasi- rejected Gehlen's pessimistic reports the FHOs intelligence files independent national intelligence about the strength and capabilities of to secret locations in organization. (v) the Soviet Army. Hitler summarily Bavaria. There, Gehlen dismissed Gehlen, now Genera/ma- The story behind CIA's involvement jor, in April 1945.
    [Show full text]
  • CIA. Declassifies Its Records on Dealings with Ex-Nazis Documents May Give Clues About Obstacles in Hunt for War Cnmirtals• • / • by GEORGE Lardner JR
    CIA. Declassifies Its Records On Dealings With Ex-Nazis • • Documents May Give Clues About Obstacles In Hunt for War Cnmirtals / • By GEORGE LaRDNER JR. Washington. Post Staff Writer The CIA is fmally getting around to declassifying the records of its dealings with former Nazi spies after World War II. It says it has found 251 boxes and 2,901 file folders of potentially relevant documents—apparently more than 250,000 pages—and that it will take about two years to complete work on them. Carl Oglesby, a political writer and researcher, has been seeking the records since 1985 in connection with a study of Reinhard Geh- len, a German general who had been head of Nazi intelligence for the eastern front. After the war, at the request of U.S. occupation forces in Europe, he set up "the Gehlen organization," a counterespionage network that supplied the Pentagon and the CIA with the bulk of their intelligence on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The organization, which employed thousands of people, many of them former Nazis, was the forerunner of West Germany's secret service, the BND. It was formal- ly recognized in 1956 and Gehlen headed it until he retired in 1968. When Oglesby got only a smattering of documents from the Army and the CIA, he sued in 1987, emphasizing meetings that Gehlen held in the summer of 1945 with U.S. officials at Fort Hunt, Va. He and some other researchers believe that the post-war hunt for Nazi war criminals was severely compromised by American intelligence de- mands for help in meeting the new Soviet menace.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Conference Program
    Help BuckeyeLink Map Find People Webmail Search Ohio State SOCIETY FOR MILITARY HISTORY CONFERENCE HOME Program CFP SMH2020 Conference Program (subject to change) COLUMBUS: NEEDS 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for Military History AND WANTS “Soldiers and Civilians in the Cauldron of War” May 9 – 12, 2019, Columbus, Ohio COLUMBUS: RESTAURANTS Thursday 05/09/2019 COLUMBUS: THINGS TO 8 am – 6 pm SEE AND DO Bellows Ballroom ABC: Book Exhibit Setup CONFERENCE HOTEL 8:30 am – 5 pm ROOM SHARE Burkhart A: Chinese Military History Society Meeting EXHIBITORS 12 pm – 5 pm Burkhart B: SMH Executive Board Lunch and Meeting MAPS 12 pm – 6 pm MENTORSHIP Registration Desk (Lower Level): Conference Registration NEH CHAIRMAN 6 pm – 9 pm SPEECH AND LUNCH Ohio Statehouse Atrium and Rotunda: SMH Annual Meeting Opening Reception (1 Capitol Square: a walkable .7 miles away) NEH GRANTS Buses depart from the Lower Level Alley every ten minutes between 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm WORKSHOP Return from Statehouse every fifteen minutes beginning at 7:00 and ending at 9:15 pm ONE DAY PASS 8 pm – 10 pm Bellows Ballroom DEF: SMH Awards Banquet (Ticketed Event) OPENING RECEPTION: THE OHIO STATEHOUSE Friday 05/10/2019 PROGRAM 7 am – 8 am REGISTRATION Private Dining Room (Second Floor): Editorial Committee Breakfast REUNIONS/MEETUPS 8 am – 6 pm SMH 2020 AND SMH Registration Desk, Lower Level: Conference Registration 2021 SMH2019 FAQ 8 am – 6 pm Bellows Ballroom ABC: Book Exhibit SPONSORS 9 am – 5 pm TEACHER DAY AT SMH2019 Departure point: Lower Level Alley: Tour of National Museum of the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • The Invisible Government
    Date: 4/5/2011 Page: 1 of 237 THE INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT by David Wise and Thomas B. Ross © Copyright 1964, by David Wise and Thomas B. Ross The Invisible Government, by Tara Carreon Molehunt, by David Wise Table of Contents 1. The Invisible Government 2. 48 Hours Date: 4/5/2011 Page: 2 of 237 3. Build-Up 4. Invasion 5. The Case of the Birmingham Widows 6. A History 7. Burma: The Innocent Ambassador 8. Indonesia: "Soldiers of Fortune" 9. Laos: The Pacifist Warriors 10. Vietnam: The Secret War 11. Guatemala: CIA's Banana Revolt 12. The Kennedy Shake-up 13. The Secret Elite 14. The National Security Agency 15. The Defense Intelligence Agency 16. CIA: "It's Well Hidden" 17. CIA: The Inner Workings 18. The Search for Control 19. Purity in the Peace Corps 20. A Gray Operation 21. Missile Crisis 22. Electronic Spies 23. Black Radio 24. CIA's Guano Paradise 25. The 1960 Campaign -- And Now 26. A Conclusion Notes Indexhttp://www.american-buddha.com/invisiblegov.toc.htm Date: 4/5/2011 Page: 3 of 237 THE INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT -- THE INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT THERE ARE two governments in the United States today. One is visible. The other is invisible. The first is the government that citizens read about in their newspapers and children study about in their civics books. The second is the interlocking, hidden machinery that carries out the policies of the United States in the Cold War. This second, invisible government gathers intelligence, conducts espionage, and plans and executes secret operations all over the globe.
    [Show full text]
  • Colonel Reinhard Gehlen (1902-1979)
    Colonel Reinhard Gehlen (1902-1979) Chief of Foreign Armies East (1942- 45) Chief of Federal Intelligence Service (1956-68) | The Conspiracy | Surrender | The Gehlen Organization | 1920: Joins the Reichwehr 1933-35: Attends the Staff College. Promoted to captain and posted to the Army General Staff. 1939: Promoted to major. May 1940: Liaison officer to Army Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch and to General Guderian's panzer group. June 1940: Later adjutant to Army Chief of Staff General Franz Halder. July 1941: Promoted to lieutenant-colonel. The Conspiracy Winter of 1941-42: Visit from Colonel Henning von Tresckow. Gehlen and Tresckow discuss the war situation and agree that Hitler must be removed. Although not an active member of the conspiracy, Gehlen develops close ties with Tresckow and fellow German conspirators Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, General Helmuth Stieff, Colonel Wessel von Loringhoven, General Adolf Heusinger, and Colonel Alexis von Roenne. Heusinger brings Gehlen into the plot while Stieff and Gehlen discuss "actual tactics" of the planned coup d'etat. 1942: Promoted to colonel and appointed head of Foreign Armies East. In that capacity becomes responsible for presiding over army intelligence operations on the eastern front. Horrified at atrocities commited against Russian prisoners of war and civilians. Recruits over 100,000 former Soviet prisoners of war into the Russian Liberation Army. [see photo at top of page: Gehlen reviewing RLA troops]. July 17, 1944: Colonel von Loringhoven informs Gehlen that Stauffenberg plans to assassinate Hitler at the next scheduled Fuehrer briefing. Successfully eludes the Nazi regime's suspicion throughout the witch hunt trials that follow Stauffenberg's July 20th uprising.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Partners at Creation: the Men Behind Postwar Germany's Defense and Intelligence Establishments'
    H-German Paehler on Critchfield, 'Partners at Creation: The Men Behind Postwar Germany's Defense and Intelligence Establishments' Review published on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 James H. Critchfield. Partners at Creation: The Men Behind Postwar Germany's Defense and Intelligence Establishments. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2003. x + 243 pp. $32.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-59114-136-5. Reviewed by Katrin Paehler (Department of History, Illinois State University)Published on H- German (November, 2005) "Here One Can Embrace His Partner" In 1951, Reinhard Gehlen and Heinz Herre, formerly of Fremde Heere Ost, Hitler's army's intelligence department at the Eastern front and in 1951 leading members of Organisation Gehlen, the future Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND) of the Federal Republic of Germany, toured the United States. One evening found the Germans and their American hosts, James Critchfield of the CIA and John Boker--who, while with the U.S. army, had located Gehlen at the Wiesbaden interrogation center in 1945--in a New York nightclub. A photograph, reproduced in James H. Critchfield's autobiographical account of the foundation of West Germany's postwar intelligence and defense establishments (to use the author's apt and descriptive subtitle) depicts the men and the wives of their American hosts smiling brightly into a camera. Above their heads the banner that provided this review with its title floats.[1] CIA official James H. Critchfield, who passed away in 2003, had more than a first-class seat in the drama and the tedium that was the establishment of West Germany's postwar intelligence and defense structures in the context of the Western alliance.
    [Show full text]
  • Carl Oglesby Papers Finding
    Special Collections and University Archives UMass Amherst Libraries Carl Oglesby Papers Digital 1942-2005 96 boxes (67.5 linear ft.) Call no.: MS 514 About SCUA SCUA home Credo digital Scope Overview Series 1: Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Series 2: John F. Kennedy Assassination Series 3: Yankee and Cowboy War Series 4: Gehlen Organization Series 5: Other Writings Series 6: Personal Series 7: Audio-Visual Inventory Series 1: Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Series 2: John F. Kennedy Assassination Series 3: Yankee and Cowboy War Series 4: Gehlen Organization Series 5: Other Writings and Research Series 6: Personal Series 7: Audio-Visual Admin info Download xml version print version (pdf) Read collection overview Reflective, critical, and radical, Carl Oglesby was an eloquent voice of the New Left during the 1960s and 1970s. A native of Ohio, Oglesby was working in the defense industry in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1964 when he became radicalized by what he saw transpiring in Vietnam. Through his contacts with the Students for a Democratic Society, he was drawn into the nascent antiwar movement, and thanks to his formidable skills as a speaker and writer, rose rapidly to prominence. Elected president of the SDS in 1965, he spent several years traveling nationally and internationally advocating for a variety of political and social causes. In 1972, Oglesby helped co-found the Assassination Information Bureau which ultimately helped prod the U.S. Congress to reopen the investigation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. A prolific writer and editor, his major works include Containment and Change (1967), The New Left Reader (1969), The Yankee and Cowboy War (1976), and The JFK Assassination: The Facts and the Theories (1992).
    [Show full text]