Wilhelm Franz Canaris, king of Spies in Germany and director of the Military Spy Service. He was an enigmatic figure, a man from an international merchant family with many overseas connections, and he himself held the position of intelligence worker during World War I, which allowed him to remain in the army after World War I. During this period, Canaris was not idle, and he not only continued to develop his personal relationships in order to later transform them into intelligence networks. At the same time, several investments were made so that I could rise later. Today we will see how the investment made by Kanaris has helped and significance him.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, Canaris's investment in 1923</h1>
Kanaris's first investment was in 1923, at the time of hitler and his Nazi party's rise. Canaris had previously acted as a right-winger, or a very radical one. He was involved in the famous German far-right group "Earhart Brigades" in German history, the "Cap Riot" launched in 1920 to overthrow the German government in Weimar, and Kanaris was also the backbone of this group. But after the failure of the Karp Rebellion, he was arrested. Thanks to the protection of the right-wing forces, he managed to escape the disaster. However, this did not cause Canaris to give up on continuing his right-wing activities, instead he realized that right-wing activities had great potential, and he needed to find a force that could help him rise.
The force Kanaris was looking for was the Nazi Party, whose influence was still relatively limited. But Kanaris remained interested in the Nazi Party, so he began to observe the Nazi Party and consider whether to invest. On November 8, 1923, the Nazi Party launched the Beer Hall Riot with the intention of seizing power. At this point, Kanaris, not knowing why, approached Hermann Goering in the beer hall and said he had the ability to help the Nazi Party seize power. After the beer hall riots, the main members of the Nazi Party were arrested and tried, but Canaris still helped the Nazi Party and gave an archive of all the German officers on active duty, which detailed the family origins, social relations, political tendencies, economic conditions, etc. of each officer.
This information was of great help to the Nazi Party, especially when Hitler came to power and controlled the army. Here are two examples, the first of which is Walter von Brauchitsch. At that time, Brauchitsch and his wife, Elisabeth von Kallestedt, had a terrible relationship, and even separated for five years. Brauchitsch and Countess Charlotte Schmidt had a hot relationship, so Brauchitsch finally decided to divorce his wife, Elizabeth.
But Elizabeth asked for a huge sum of money, and Brauchitsch was in debt at this time, where was so much money? However, Brauchitsch's personal circumstances and secrets were recorded by Kanaris, so Hitler immediately gave Brauchitsch a large amount of money and promoted the marriage of Brauchitsch and Charlotte. It is worth mentioning that Charlotte herself was a fanatical Nazi party member, so her presence helped brauchitsch to later begin to lean toward the Nazis.
Another example is Gunter von Kruger, who is known as the "wise Hans", not that he is smart at fighting, but that he is a political weather vane, because he has a very high sensitivity to politics and can always stand on the right side. But at first he was a clear opponent of Hitler and the Nazi Party, and Hitler had to win him over to gain support. Fortunately, Kanaris's file records this man's weakness —he was very greedy for money. So Hitler gave Kruger a million marks on his birthday, and the "wise Hans" immediately supported Hitler, along with a group of people. It can be said that all this is because of Kanaris's little book, if it were not for this little book, then Hitler would not have controlled the army so smoothly. It was for this reason that Canaris gained a certain degree of trust from Hitler.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > two, to schleicher</h1>
Another investment by Canaris took place between 1926 and 1933, when the political situation in Germany was undercurrents and various political parties competed for power. The strong contender was Kurt von Schleicher, a Junker nobleman who was also a member of the officer corps. This man was the liaison between the Wehrmacht and the government and was familiar with the tactics and tricks of political struggle. During the government of Heinrich Brunin from 1930 to 1932, he served as deputy to the Minister of Defence, General William Grenner. But this was not the end of Schleicher's career aspirations, his ultimate goal was to gain greater power, such as the position of Chancellor of Germany, or even the presidency.
There were many of his efforts, such as the division of the German National People's Party and the collapse of Brunin's government, all of which were Schleicher's efforts. Later, the collapse of Franz von Papen's government also had Schleicher relations. Although Schleicher was defense minister at this time, he was dissatisfied with Papen's conservatism and secretly plotted against him, which led to Papen's failure to gain a majority of seats in the November 1932 parliamentary election. In this situation, Papen was forced to resign, and was succeeded by then Defense Minister Schleicher. Parpen never knew that Schleicher had betrayed him, and thought that the other side could solve the crisis, so he elected Schleicher to the German president Paul von Hindenburg to form a cabinet.
It's hard to wonder how Schleicher got so much intelligence. Here we can make a bold assumption that Schleicher has indeed been secretly relying on the eyeliner of the various departments for intelligence, but to do so, he must have a strong intelligence network and a shrewd intelligence chief. So who can do that? The answer points to Canaris, for he alone can do all this quietly, just as he secretly collected information on all German officers.
One thing to support this was the Schleicher Incident of 1933, in which Canaris once again became a key figure. Schleicher, who succeeded Papen at the time, also faced a problem, namely, that he did not win a majority in parliament. The number of seats he had at hand was very limited, only one-fifth, and it was impossible to meet the criteria for forming a cabinet.
To this end, Schleicher came up with a solution to the domestic economic crisis by introducing a bill to confiscate the assets of the German Juncker aristocracy and levy heavy taxes. At the same time, he can also exchange the support of the left-wing parties in Germany for the purpose of forming a cabinet and forming the Labour government he wishes to form.
Of course, it was very difficult to get Hindenburg to agree to the bill, but Schleicher also had the handle of Hindenburg, that is, when Hindenburg launched the "Eastern Aid Fund" in 1926 to help the Junker aristocracy survive, he not only earned 650,000 marks himself, but also transferred the money to his son Oscar von Hindenburg through some secret means. This process is outright money laundering and tax evasion, which can be said to be a big shady scene in Hindenburg. Looking at the whole of Germany, the only person who can help Schleicher steal this secret is Canaris, and it is conceivable that Canaris helped Schleicher at this time. It's also part of his investment.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, Canaris's last investment</h1>
If nothing else, Hindenburg was destined to be blackmailed by Schleicher to pass the bill, which seriously damaged the German Junker aristocracy. But at this time, something suddenly happened that Schleicher could not have dreamed of, that is, the content of his bill was stolen. The person who stole the bill was Canaris, who had helped Schleicher before. After all, Schleicher himself was a careful man, and the only people who knew about the bill were Schleicher and a few of his cronies. It's not easy to steal the bill. But this is difficult for Canaris, who can only manage to open the safe and get a copy, without stealing the original.
And for Canaris, since he could know about it, it was easy for him to make a copy through his eyeliner. Canaris did this for the simple reason that he didn't want to perish with Schleicher. Schleicher's approach was to take the Junker nobles in exchange for his status and power.
However, it should be noted that the members of the German officer corps were all Junker nobles, and although Schleicher's approach could blackmail Hindenburg, it did not guarantee that the officer corps would give up on it. As soon as this happened, the officer corps would immediately stage a military coup d'état to wipe out Schleicher and his henchmen. As a person engaged in intelligence work, Kanaris naturally knew that the probability was extremely high, so he did not want to be killed with Schleicher.
But in addition to self-preservation, Canaris also considered another question, that is, who would he hand over this document to in exchange for the maximum profit? As someone who has been investing in himself, he has to weigh this carefully to make enough profits for himself. In the previous actions of Canaris, it is not difficult to find this.
From the point of view of self-preservation, then it is a good idea to give this document to Hindenburg. But Hindenburg's grasp of the situation was so poor that It was hard for Canaris to believe that he could make enough profits from Hindenburg. What's more, if Hindenburg found out that he had investigated him, it was estimated that Hindenburg would kill him immediately. Therefore, Hindenburg is not a good choice for Canaris.
At this time, Canaris thought of a perfect candidate, Hitler. Hitler's grasp of the situation since the Beer Hall Rebellion was excellent, and he steadily suppressed Schleicher. Canaris had reason to believe that Hitler would end up being the one in charge. However, Hitler did not have many allies, and it was difficult to completely control the situation. At this time, if Canaris helped Hitler, he would naturally become the key person who could make enough profits for himself in the future.
In particular, Canaris had already cooperated with the Nazi Party, and the SS security service was run by his old minister Reinhardt Heydrich, who was convinced of his judgment that he could make the most profit for himself if he gave the copy to Hitler. In the end, Canaris gave the copy to Hitler, who also succeeded in convincing Hindenburg to oust Schleicher from power and make Him Hitler the new Chancellor of Germany.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
Canaris's investment proved to be successful, and each of his three gambling-style investments helped him make a profit and make his career smooth. Hitler eventually made Canaris head of the German Military Intelligence Service. And in a short time, Canaris was promoted from captain to admiral. This is a very rare thing in a navy with a small number of generals. The reason why he was promoted so quickly, in addition to Kanaris's achievements in intelligence work, was due to his help to the Nazi Party. This became the beginning of Canaris's "peak", but his own contradictions with the Nazi Party grew. Of course, this is another story.
Reference: The Silent War: A History of Western Naval Espionage
"Soldiers Don't Get Tired of Cheating"
History of the Second World War
《Bodyguard of Lies》
《Admiral Wilhelm Canaris: Hitler's Military Elite》
《he Secret Servant：The Life of Sir Stewart Menzies》