Admiral Canaris: biography. Exploration of Admiral Canaris

One of the outstanding German intelligence officers is Admiral Canaris. His biography is more than vague. There are more legends about this man than there are documents that can reliably and fully tell about how he lived, how brilliantly he carried out his operations, why he, the scout with a capital letter, ended his life on the gallows.

The beginning of the path of the brilliant scout of the Third Reich

Friedrich Wilhelm Canaris was born in a small town near Dortmund, in Anlerbek, in 1887. He went to study in the Naval Cadet Corps, which he graduated with as a lieutenant. He was a modest young officer, a hardy athlete. Special abilities he showed to the study of foreign languages, and it was very useful to him.

At the end of the corps, Lieutenant Canaris set off on the cruiser Bremen on a sea expedition. He had to study the culture, way of life and morals of the peoples of South Africa. Then on the ship "Dresden" - along the Balkan Peninsula. The task of Canaris was to collect information on the construction of the railroad track. In fact, it was the scout's first experience. The future Admiral Canaris was able to accurately note the necessary, establish contacts with local authorities, recruited informants. But after another skirmish with the British, the ship was flooded, and his team was captured.

Back to his homeland Canaris was able to return only with a fake Chilean passport, according to which he was now called Ros-Rosas. But already in 1916 he again arrived in Spain to carry out the recruitment of spies, organize sabotage, exploding the enemy ships.

Canaris's prewar service

In 1918, Canaris participated in the suppression of the Communist uprising in Berlin, organized the assassination of Luxembourg and Liebknecht.

Since 1919, the Navy has become assistant to the head of the Admiralty in the department.

In 1924, Canaris was promoted to captain of the third rank. He was sent to Japan to resolve the conflict that arose with the construction of submarines for Japan.

In 1930 he was appointed chief of staff of the North Sea base. In 1931 he was promoted to captain of the first rank.

Canaris supports Hitler's policy. In 1935 he was appointed head of counterintelligence.

In 1938 he was promoted to Rear Admirals. He noted the cruelty of the Hitler regime, but organized international provocations and sabotage in Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland.

The family of Wilhelm Canaris

In 1918, Canaris went to the south of Germany, where at that time it was relatively quiet. Being a typical bourgeois, he believed that a strong family is the foundation of a healthy society. The wife of Canaris was Erica Vaaga. She was well versed in art, played the violin, had a higher education. Erica gave birth to two beautiful daughters.

Shortly before his arrest, Canaris sent his family abroad, which, of course, saved them from reprisals.

The activities of Canaris during the Second World War

Friedrich supported the anti-Soviet policy of Hitler. The Office of Admiral Canaris convinced that in early 1941 Germany was preparing an attack on Britain, and not on the USSR.

In 1944, Canaris was removed from service. The reason for this was that the operations "Hawthorn", "Tiger" and "Shamil" were failed. During the war, the reconnaissance of Admiral Canaris, on the one hand, continued to produce especially important information, but, as some researchers noted, it was the "failures" of this reconnaissance that caused serious defeats of the German army. It is believed that Admiral Canaris helped the Jews, forwarding them to other countries.

The arrest and execution of Admiral Canaris

Sunday, July 23, 1944. Admiral Canaris Residence. Before it stops the car, from which after a while leaves Schellenberg. He must arrest the intelligence chief.

Admiral calmly takes Schellenberg: he knows the purpose of the Sunday visit, knows that he will be offered to shoot himself. Canaris refuses to let go of the bullet and follows Schellenberg into the underground prison of the Gestapo.

Canaris, like many German officers, was accused of preparing and conducting an attempt on Hitler, which occurred on June 20. Admiral long held in the RSHA, but after transported to the concentration camp Flossenbürg, from where, as you know, no one came back. There, Canaris was still subjected to endless interrogations, which were conducted in the presence of the head of the Kalterbrunner SD. Soon Canaris was sentenced to death, although no direct evidence of his guilt was found.

Admiral Canaris was hanged on April 8, 1945. His body was burnt.

The contradictory personality of the admiral

Among the former leaders of Germany, Canaris is the most controversial figure. It was said about him in different ways: some claimed that he was a patriot of his homeland, who wanted to liberate his country and the whole world from the monstrous policy of Hitler; Others thought that he was a cowardly fatalist; Others called him a cunning functionary, who was waiting for his time.

At the Nuremberg trial , Canaris was also said to be contradictory. According to K. Deniz, Canaris never participated in any resistance to the regime, he was a political coward and intriguer, an ordinary opportunist, who at the end wanted to simply go into the shadows.

In the same Nuremberg, another viewpoint was voiced about the role of Admiral Canaris. It was alleged that it was he and people close to him who sabotaged some of Hitler's orders, which led to devastating defeats on all fronts.

Canaris himself wrote in his diaries that all his life he had been fulfilling the duty of an officer, his conscience before Germany and her people was clear, and only one fault: they relied too much on the miracle and overestimated the Nazis, the epiphany, unfortunately, came too late.

The image of the leader of the Abwehr in literature

Canaris is an outstanding personality. Until now, there is no unequivocal opinion about what this person was. Who is he: a German patriot, one of the leaders of the Nazi machine, a conspirator or an accidental victim? Undoubtedly, Canaris is a brilliant scout, a person who has left a notable mark in history.

About him written a lot of books. In one of the last books created, Yu. A. Nepodaev ("Special Force of Admiral Canaris") in detail and vividly represents the German intelligence units. Interesting facts of classified documents are presented.

You will read about the life and work of the Abwehr boss in Karl Heinz Abhagen's book "Admiral Canaris". The writer helps the reader to learn about the operations that counterintelligence carried out. Modern researchers and writers devote their work to him.

So, Volkov and Slavin represent the biography and memoirs in the book "Admiral Canaris - Iron Admiral" (1999).

B. Sushinsky tells in the work "The Death of Admiral Canaris" about how the German scout died, about the last days of his life. About a subversive formation of the Third Reich narrates Yuri Nepodayev ("Special Force Admiral Canaris").

At the heart of these works lie the original documents, through which we can at least a little learn about the identity of Frederick William Canaris.