Walter Schellenberg
Walter Schellenberg | |
|---|---|
| File:Walter Schellenberg.gif | |
| Allegiance |  Nazi Germany |
| Service |  SS |
| Years of service | 1933-1945 |
| Rank | SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei |
| Awards | EK I EK II War Merit Cross First Class with Swords War Merit Cross Second Class with Swords |
Walter (correctly Walther) Friedrich Schellenberg (January 161910 – March 311952) was a German Nazi who rose through the SS to become, following the abolition of the Abwehr in 1944, head of foreign intelligence.
Biography
Schellenberg was born in Saarbrücken, Germany, but moved with his family to Luxembourg when the French occupation of the Saarland after the First World War triggered an economic crisis in the Weimar Republic.
Schellenberg returned to Germany to attend university, first at the University of Marburg and then, in 1929, at the University of Bonn. He initially studied medicine, but soon switched to law. After graduating he joined the SS in May 1933 and worked in counter-intelligence. He met Reinhard Heydrich and from 1939 to 1942 was Heinrich Himmler's personal aide and a deputy leader of the Reich Central Security Office. In addition Himmler bestowed upon Schellenberg a unique position beyond that of a simple aide, making him his special-plenipotentiary (Sonderbevollmächtigter). Since Himmler held the position of general plenipotentiary to the whole Reichs administration (Generalbevollmächtigter für die Verwaltung), this effectively gave Schellenberg enormous influence within Nazi Germany.
In November 1939 Schellenberg played a major part in the Venlo Incident, which led to the capture of two British agents, Major Best and Captain Stefens. In 1940 he was charged to compile a list of 2300 prominent Britons to be arrested after a successful invasion of Britain. He also arranged many other plots of subterfuge and intelligence gathering, including the bugging of a Berlin brothel.
In 1940 he was also sent to Portugal to intercept the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and try to persuade them to work for Germany. The mission was a failure; Schellenberg managed only to delay their baggage for a few hours.
By the time he led the hunt for the Soviet spy ring Red Orchestra, Schellenberg had become a general (Brigadeführer) in the Waffen-SS. Schellenberg had been involved in planning operations in neutral Ireland including Operation Osprey, a plan involving No.1 SS Special Service Troop.[1] According to his memoirs, he was a friend of Wilhelm Canaris, the head of the Abwehr, whom he replaced in 1944.
At the end of the War Schellenberg persuaded Himmler to try negotiating with the Western Allies through Count Folke Bernadotte and personally went to Stockholm in April 1945 to arrange their meeting. He was in Denmark attempting to arrange his own surrender when Allied troops arrested him in June 1945.
During the postwar Nuremberg Trials, Schellenberg testified against other Nazis. In the 1949 Ministries Trial he was sentenced to six years' imprisonment, during which time he wrote his memoirs, The Labyrinth. He was released in 1951 on grounds of ill-health (a worsening liver condition) and moved to Switzerland before settling in Verbania Pallanza, Italy. The following year he died of cancer in Turin.
Fictional depictions
In 1976, Schellenberg was portrayed by Helmut Berger in the heavily fictionalized film version of the Salon Kitty incident, Salon Kitty, directed by Tinto Brass. He was also portrayed by Oleg Tabakov in the Soviet TV series Seventeen Moments of Spring, and featured in the Jack Higgins novel The Eagle Has Flown. Jack Higgins also depicted him in his novel The Judas Gate also known as To Catch A King and The Eagle has Flown. To Catch A King was filmed in 1984, directed by Clive Donner and with Horst Janson as Schellenberg. Additionally, Schellenberg is portrayed in the novel The Sands of Sakkara by Glenn Meade and is also depicted in Timothy Findley's 1981 novel, Famous Last Words. He also is featured in Daniel Silva's 1996 spy thriller, The Unlikely Spy. He was also featured as a main character in the Gordon Stevens book, And All the Kings Men. He was also fictionally depicted in German cartoons. Schellenberg also appears as a major character in Philip Kerr's 2005 novel, Hitler's Peace.
Summary of his military career
Dates of rank
- SS-Mann - January 10, 1934
- SS-Sturmmann - October 17, 1934
- SS-Rottenführer - January 15, 1935
- SS-Unterscharführer - May 15, 1935
- SS-Scharführer November 9, 1935
- SS-Oberscharführer September 13, 1936
- SS-Untersturmführer - April 20, 1937
- SS-Obersturmführer - January 30, 1938
- SS-Hauptsturmführer - August 1, 1938
- SS-Sturmbannführer - January 30, 1939
- SS-Obersturmbannführer - September 1, 1941
- SS-Standartenführer - June 21, 1942
- SS-Oberführer - June 21, 1943
- SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei - June 21, 1944
Notable decorations
- Iron Cross Second Class
- Iron Cross First Class
- SS-Honour Ring
- War Merit Cross First Class with Swords
- War Merit Cross Second Class with Swords
- Honor Sword of Reichsführer SS
References and Notes
- ^ Later becoming SS Parachute Battalion 500 (SS-Fallschirmjäger-Bataillon 500) an amalgamation of No.1 Troop and various penal battalions. Notably participating in Operation Rösselsprung, the raid against Tito's HQ. in 1944.
- Louis Hagen and Andre Deutsch, The Schellenberg Memoirs (André Deutsch, 1956)
- Walter Schellenberg, translated Louis Hagen, The Labyrinth (Da Capo, 2000)
- Deaths from cancer
- Nazi leaders
- People from Saarbrücken
- People from the Rhine Province
- People convicted by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals
- SS generals
- University of Bonn alumni
- World War II espionage
- World War II spies
- German prisoners and detainees
- Prisoners and detainees of the United States military