08 Jan Hitler’s Intelligence Chief
(2009) Hitler’s Intelligence Chief: Walter Schellenberg is German professor Reinhard R. Doerries’ exhaustive biography of the life of one of Nazi Germany’s top officers, the head of foreign intelligence.
I read it for the account of “The White Busses,” the remarkable 1945 rescue mission pulled off by Schellenberg and Count Folke Bernadotte, along with others.
Schellenberg knew about the Nazi atrocities of course but did not deal with them directly. He avoided as much as possible visiting any concentration camps. During the war, he visited neutral Sweden often and was able to negotiate the release of several Swedes from prison or camps. This led to his relationship with Bernadotte with whom he also attempted to persuade Himmler to work out a peace deal with the Allies.
It’s fascinating to read how such a well educated, cordial, young man (only 35 years old in 1945) could rise up through the ranks and get sucked into the Hitler horrors.
In April of 1949 at Nuremberg Schellenberg was sentenced to six years imprisonment with a credit to time already in confinement. He received a medical pardon and parole in 1950 and died two years later of chronic gallbladder and liver disease. He was 42 years old.
Hitler’s Intelligence Chief: Walter Schellenberg at amazon.com
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