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Admiral Wilhelm
Canaris was Chief of the German Military Intelligence, the Abwehr spy
network - a
shrewd, brilliant spymaster who not only managed to keep control of the Abwehr.
Admiral Canaris was a strange man, whom nobody seemed to be able to assess correctly. He had a wife and two daughters, but took little part in family life and seemed more attached to his two dachshunds. Walter Schellenberg, head of the unified German secret services after the arrest of Canaris, recalled him in his memoirs: "Canaris was a highly intelligent and sensitive man with many likeable qualities. He loved his dogs and his horse almost more than any other living creatures. He often said to me, Schellenberg, always remember the goodness of animals. You see, my dachshund is discreet and will never betray me - I cannot say that of any human being .." In
his book Righteous Deception: German Officers Against Hitler the
author David Alan Johnson focuses on the activities of Canaris who did
everything possible to prevent Hitler from winning the war, which the
Admiral believed would be a catastrophe. Not only was Canaris a
dedicated anti-Nazi. He probably accomplished more toward the downfall
of Hitler than the rest of his companions combined. "Canaris hated not only Hitler and Himmler, but the entire Nazi system as a political phenomenon .. He was everywhere and nowhere at once. Everywhere he traveled, at home and abroad and to the front, he always left a whirl of confusion behind him .. In reality this small, frail, and somewhat timid man was a vibrating bundle of nerves. Extremely well read, oversensitive, Canaris was an outsider in every respect. In bearing and manner of work he was the most unmilitary of persons .." After
World War 2 The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials revealed Canaris'
strenuous efforts in trying to put a stop to the crimes of war and
genocide committed by the Nazis. It was also revealed that Canaris
prevented the killing of captured French officers in Tunisia just as he
saved hundreds of Jews during the war ..
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Louis Bülow - www.folkeeje.dk
- ©2010-12 |