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Podcast Transcript
During and before the Second World War, Nazi Germany had a string of successes both militarily and diplomatically.
A large reason for this success was its intelligence network.
What most people don’t know is that the Nazi head of military intelligence was actively working against Adolf Hitler.
Through a series of active and passive measures, he went from a loyal Nazi to a double agent.
Learn more about Wilhelm Canaris and how he resisted Hitler from one of the highest positions in the Third Reich on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Before we can describe how Wilhelm Canaris resisted and worked against Adolf Hitler, we must first understand how he became involved in the Nazi party in the first place.
Canaris was born in 1887 in Aplerbeck, Germany. His father was industrialist Carl Canaris.
He grew up believing that he was related to a hero of the Greek War of Independence, Constantine Kanaris, and this belief drew him to the military.
Later genealogical research revealed that his family actually came from Northern Italy, but the supposed Greek heritage provided the initial motivation for his interest.
His father had initially encouraged him to join the imperial army, despite his desire to join the Navy.
After his father died, he began his naval career, joining the German Imperial Navy in 1905.
From there, Canaris moved up in the Navy ranks and received accolades, including Venezuela’s Order of the Liberator in 1909. It is thought he might have received the award for facilitating discussions between the Venezuelan and German governments.
During WWI, Canaris was assigned as an intelligence officer on SMS Dresden.
When the Dresden was scuttled off the Chilean coast in 1915, Canaris escaped internment and made a daring journey back to Germany.
For much of the remainder of the war, he worked in naval intelligence, particularly focusing on sabotage and espionage operations.
Because of his language skills and astuteness, Canaris was selected to establish Germany’s intelligence operations in the Mediterranean.
He was sent to Spain to gather information about the enemy and their shipping operations, and to help establish a supply network for German U-boats.
He later became a U-Boat commander in 1917 and was awarded the Iron Cross First Class for his actions in Spain.
After Germany’s defeat in the War, during the Weimar Republic, Canaris organized a paramilitary unit to suppress Communism. Canaris was a staunch anti-Communist, and this would factor into his later decision to join the Nazi Party.
His hatred of Communists ran so deep that while serving as a member of a military court, he acquitted many cases involving the murder of leftist Germans, and even helped one accused murderer escape.
In 1919, Canaris married Erika Wagg, the daughter of a German industrialist. The couple later had two children.
In 1924, Canaris began covert work for the German military.
He was sent to Japan to supervise a secret U-boat construction program. This program was a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles and eventually came to an end.
However, even if this particular secret program ended, Canaris did not end his covert efforts on behalf of the German Navy.
He began to make deals with Spanish Merchants, the Spanish Navy, German industrialists, and Argentine capitalists so that Germany could continue its illegal naval ventures.
In 1928, Canaris was removed from intelligence and served for several years in the Navy, where he eventually rose to the rank of captain on the battleship SMS Schlesien.
Two months after becoming a Captain, Adolf Hitler became Chancellor.
Canaris was never a fan of the Weimar Republic. He was not convinced by Republican Principles, and many of his values fell in line with the Nazis.
He was drawn to state-centered authoritarianism, the concept of a strong leader, and the Nazis’ plans to break the Treaty of Versailles.
Another big draw to the Nazis was the fact that they were strident anti-Communists.
He was also drawn to a society based on military virtues, and he desired a stronger Navy and a return to Germany becoming a world power that Hitler and the Nazis promised.
Because of these reasons, Canaris became a member of the Nazi party and supported the new regime, believing that the party would restore German military greatness.
Canaris became the head of the Abwehr, or the German Military Intelligence Agency, in January 1935.
Some of Canaris’s friends expressed concern about him taking this position because of Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich was the head of the SD, or Sicherheitsdienst, which was the intelligence wing of the SS and the Nazi Party itself.
Heydrich blamed the Abwehr for many of the failures during World War I and wanted to oversee all of the intelligence gathering in Germany.
Canaris and Heydrich had an amicable relationship, though there was some distrust on both sides.
Canaris saw Heydrich as a “brutal fanatic,” whereas Heydrich was wary of Canaris and cautioned others about his motives.
Later, in May, Canaris was tasked with hiding the German rearmament program from counter-intelligence. This resulted in the expansion of the Abwehr, creating a new, extensive surveillance network.
At this time, Canaris was still a devotee of Hitler and the Nazi Party. He was a German Nationalist, a social Darwinist, and an anti-Semite.
His anti-Semitic beliefs led him to being the one to suggest that Jews wear the Star of David on their clothing, which made it easy for them to be targeted on the streets.
Canaris had strong relationships with the Spanish and used them to help convince Hitler to back Franco during the Spanish Civil War, despite treaties to the contrary.
He also personally oversaw much of Germany’s annexation of Austria and led the deception efforts prior to the annexation.
At this point, he is most definitely not the hero of the story.
Following the annexation of Austria in 1938, Canaris became concerned about the prospect of a greater European war. He was especially worried about Germany’s plans to invade Czechoslovakia.
This moment marks his first act of resistance to Hitler, as he did not want to see another world war.
He began to loosely ally with the anti-Nazi faction, and soon began to form plans to unseat Hitler and began secretly meeting with British Intelligence operatives and British politicians.
Canaris and the other conspirators were hopeful that if Hitler were to invade Czechoslovakia, Britain would declare War, which, in turn, would help people support an overthrow of Hitler due to the anti-war sentiment still present in Germany.
However, that’s not what happened. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain rolled over for Hitler, signed the Munich Agreement, and gave Germany the bordering Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia.
This agreement actually restored Canaris’ faith in Hitler, as Hitler had found a peaceful solution to the conflict. That, combined with the inaccurate intelligence given to him by his British connections, renewed Canaris’s loyalty to Hitler.
Other events that occurred before the outbreak of World War II were his involvement in the “Dutch War Scare.” He leaked false information regarding an operation to use Dutch Airfields to bomb British targets.
His goal in creating the war scare was to change British foreign policy, which he succeeded in, as this was the reason Chamberlain committed to defending France if war were to break out.
In 1937, Canaris set up a ring of Nazi spies within the United States. The program was initially successful before an agent became an informant for the FBI.
It was the invasion of Poland that served as a wake-up call for Canaris.
He was devastated by the atrocities and war crimes committed by the SS and was disgusted by the reports of mass murder given to him by the Abwehr agents.
Given his position as the head of military intelligence, he knew exactly what was happening.
He went to formally object to the atrocities, namely focusing on the murder of clergymen, nobility, and mass shootings.
Canaris was warned when registering his objections that he should not go any further in protesting these actions, as the orders came directly from Hitler.
At this point, Canaris became more active in his efforts to thwart Hitler’s plans.
To act as a decoy, he continued to cooperate with the SD.
In 1940, he attempted to form a circle of officers who shared his concerns about Hitler, but made little progress.
In 1941, he registered another formal complaint regarding the treatment of Soviet Prisoners, but was told that his complaint did not matter because they were working to destroy communism.
His discomfort with Nazi war crimes became noticed by his rival, Heydrich, who reported that Canaris had become politically unreliable.
In 1941, Canaris was sent to Spain as part of Operation Felix, which was the plan for the German invasion of Gibraltar, a subject I covered on a previous episode.
The goal of the operation was to have Franco back Germany’s attempt to gain control of Gibraltar, which allowed the British to control the entrance to the Mediterranean.
Canaris was considered to be an expert on Spain and was sent to meet with Franco.
During this meeting, he warned Franco not to become involved in World War II. He provided a report that showed evidence against the operation’s feasibility, thereby sabotaging the operation and helping to secure Spain’s neutrality in the war.
Canaris returned to Germany and reported that Spain would not become involved in the war without the defeat of Britain.
Later, after the war, Franco formally thanked Canaris’ widow for keeping Spain out of the conflict.
In a similar fashion, he gave false information directly to Hitler regarding an invasion of Switzerland, known as Operation Taunenbaum, a subject which I also covered in a previous episode. As a result of his efforts, the invasion never took place.
He then began to supply information directly to the Allies.
Throughout 1942 and 43, Canaris played a double agent. Via Spain and occupied France, he would make contact with British agents. He used these meetings to ask the allies for the conditions of surrender if Hitler were to be dethroned.
Heydrich began to grow suspicious of Canaris and acted to gain control of the Abwehr.
Though the two men struggled over jurisdiction, they had a decent personal relationship, and Canaris was reportedly distraught over Heydrich’s assassination in Prague in 1942.
Despite his initial anti-semitism before the war, Canaris went out of his way to publically deny any Abwehr involvement in the persecution of Jews.
In fact, he saved hundreds of Jews by training them as Abwehr agents and giving them papers that would allow them to leave Germany.
In 1944, suspicions against Canaris intensified. Himmler, eager to consolidate all intelligence services under the SS, accused the Abwehr of incompetence and subversion.
The Abwehr was dissolved in February 1944, and its functions were absorbed into the SS. Canaris was dismissed and placed under house arrest.
On July 20, 1944, Operation Valkyrie was initiated, which was an attempt to assassinate Hitler via a bomb, a topic I covered in a previous episode.
While there was no direct evidence of Canaris’s involvement in the plot, he was closely involved with many of the conspirators. Even if he wasn’t one of the plotters, he was accused of being its “spiritual instigator.”
He was arrested and imprisoned at Flossenbürg concentration camp.
There, he was kept in solitary confinement and subjected to brutal interrogations. In early April 1945, as the Allies were closing in, Hitler ordered the execution of several high-profile resistance figures, including Canaris.
He was executed just a few weeks before Germany surrendered on April 9th at Flossenbürg.
His execution was designed to be humiliating as he was stripped and hung on a butcher’s hook.
Before his death, it is reported by a fellow prisoner of the camp that Canaris tapped in code on his cell wall. His message was that he was not a traitor, but rather acted for his country.
After the War ended, two of the men who survived and worked for Canaris testified in the Nuremberg Trials about Canaris’s attempts to undermine Hitler. Canaris’s defiance was used to help convict those who claimed to “just be following orders.”
The case of Wilhelm Canaris is a troubling one. On one hand, he was, at least at first, a committed Nazi and fully supported Hitler. However, after the war began, he was one of the only high-ranking officers who worked actively against Hitler.
Declassified documents and testimonies have increasingly affirmed that, despite his numerous flaws, Canaris was a central figure in the German resistance.
One of the only men who used his power to mitigate the crimes of the regime he served.
The Executive Producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The Associate Producers are Austin Oetken and Cameron Kieffer.
Research and writing for this episode were provided by Olivia Ashe.
Today’s review comes from listener JayWelsh2 over on Apple Podcasts in the United States. They write:
Concise awesomeness
Gary’s ability to provide interesting, concise content on Everything
Everywhere Daily continues to amaze and intrigue. Keep up the great
Work!
I officially joined the Completionist as I write this review!
Thanks, Jay! Congratulations on joining the completionist club. This accomplishment is getting more difficult every day as more episodes come out.
Those who join the club at this point, five years after the launch of the show, are showing a great amount of commitment and tenacity.
Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostagram, you, too, can have it read on the show.