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Wilhelm Franz Canaris

Wilhelm Franz Canaris
Born1 January 1887 (1887-01)
Aplerbeck (a part of Dortmund) in Westphalia
Died9 April 1945 (1945-04-10) (aged 58)
Flossenburg concentration camp, Nazi Germany
49°44′06″N 12°21′21″E? / ?49.734958°N 12.35577°E? / 49.734958; 12.35577? (Execution Site of 20 July 1944 Plot (Nazi Germany Resistance))
Allegiance German Empire
 Weimar Republic
 Nazi Germany
Service/branch Kaiserliche Marine
 Reichsmarine
Abwehr
Years of service1905 ? 1944
RankAdmiral
Battles/wars

World War I

Battle of Coronel

Battle of the Falkland Islands

Battle of Mas a Tierra
World War II
AwardsIron Cross First and Second Class
German Cross in Silver
Cross of Honor
Wehrmacht's Twelve and Twenty-Five Year Long-Service Ribbons.

Wilhelm Franz Canaris (1 January 1887 ? 9 April 1945) was a German admiral, and head of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944. During the Second World War, he was among the military officers involved in the clandestine opposition to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. He was executed in the Flossenburg concentration camp for the act of high treason.
Contents

1 Early life and World War I

2 Interwar years

3 Munich Agreement

4 World War II

5 Foiling Hitler's plot to kidnap Pope Pius XII

6 Downfall and execution

7 In popular culture

8 References

9 Further reading

10 External links


Early life and World War I

Canaris was born in Aplerbeck (now a part of Dortmund) in Westphalia, the son of wealthy industrialist Carl Canaris and his wife Auguste (nee Popp). Canaris believed that his family was related to the Greek admiral, freedom fighter and politician Constantine Kanaris, which influenced his decision to join the navy. While on a visit to Corfu he was given a portrait of the Greek hero, which he always kept in his office. But Richard Bassett claims that a 1938 investigation showed that his family was of Northern Italian descent, originally called Canarisi, and had lived in Germany since the 17th century.[1] His grandfather had converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism.

In 1905, aged seventeen, Canaris joined the German Imperial Navy and by the outbreak of World War I was serving on board the SMS Dresden as an intelligence officer. This cruiser was the only ship that managed to evade the British Fleet for a prolonged period during the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December 1914, largely due to his excellent deception tactics. Whilst anchored in Cumberland Bay, Robinson Crusoe Island, the Dresden was trapped and forced to scuttle after fighting a battle there with the British. Most of the crew were interned in Chile in March 1915, but Canaris escaped in August 1915, using his fluency in Spanish; with the aid of some German merchants he returned to Germany in October 1915 via, among other countries, Great Britain.

He was then given intelligence work and sent to Spain, where he survived a British assassination attempt. Returning to active service, he ended the war as a celebrated U-boat commander from late 1917 in the Mediterranean, credited with eighteen sinkings. He spoke English fluently (as well as four other foreign languages) and as a naval officer of the old school, he respected Great Britain's Royal Navy despite the rivalry between the two nations.

During the German Revolution of 1918?1919, Canaris helped organise the formation of vigilante forces in order to suppress the revolutionary movements. He was also a member of the military court that tried (and mostly acquitted) those involved in the assassination of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. He was appointed to the adjutancy of defence minister Gustav Noske.[2]

In 1919, Canaris married Erika Waag, also the child of an industrialist. They had two daughters, Eva and Brigitte.
Interwar years Canaris, while a Korvettenkapitan

Canaris remained in the military after the war, first as a member of the Freikorps and then as part of the Reichsmarine. He was promoted rapidly, becoming a Captain in 1931, the Executive Officer of the cruiser Berlin and then the Commanding Officer of the battleship Schlesien. At this time, he became involved in intelligence work again. He made a series of contacts with high-ranking German officers, politicians and industrialists for the purpose of creating order in German politics. During his Freikorps period, he was on intimate terms with the people such as Horst von Pflugk-Harttung who were accused of political assassinations of leaders of the left, and was even accused himself, although later acquitted, of being involved in the assassinations and other crimes (such as his alleged involvement in Rosa Luxembourg's "trial").