World War II:  Abwehr (German Military Intelligence) OSS - CIA Files

World War II:  Abwehr (German Military Intelligence) OSS - CIA Files

2,016 pages of documents created by or maintained by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), or reports by other U.S. intelligence agencies derived from information gained by the OSS, covering the Abwehr. Documents date from 1944 to 2014.

The Abwehr (German for defense) existed from 1920 to 1944. Wilhelm Canaris was the chief of the Abwehr from 1935 to 1944. Heinrich Himmler came to believe that Canaris was part of an anti-Third Reich resistance movement. In 1944, Himmler convinced Hitler to remove Canaris, who was later charged with treason and executed. The Abwehr was integrated into the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA), the Reich Main Security Office. The RSHA was established by Himmler in September 1939 through the consolidation of the Sicherheitshauptamt (SHA) and the Sicherheitsdienst-Hauptamt (SD-HA), the culmination of a process of integrating State and Nazi Party police and domestic intelligence functions at the national level.

Highlights in this collection include:

An OSS report on the future of German intelligence services after the removal of William Canaris and its new leadership under Heinrich Himmler.

A letter from Erika Canaris, wife of Admiral Canaris to William J. Donovan, Director of the Office of Strategic Services. She wrote of her husband's military career. She affirms her husband’s consistent opposition to National Socialism and the actions of the Third Reich. She testifies to his efforts to assist some individuals who were persecuted by the Nazis.

A list of Abwehr agents stationed in Switzerland.

A report on German counterintelligence activities in occupied Russia 1941 to 1944. Originally compiled by the Office of the Chief of Military History Department of the Army. The report's front material says the accounts were written by a Russian displaced person in Germany, revising the translation of the original Russian text, performing additional research, editing, and rewriting the narrative with an eye for continuity and correcting factual data. The report covers German pre-war attempts at establishing agent networks, methods of recruiting, the Abwehr in the field, employment of renegade agents, sabotage, the use of children as agents, political and economic factors affecting Abwehr operations.

A report on the dissension in German intelligence services. Abstract: Discord and duplication of function within the German Intelligence Services seriously crippled operations during hostilities and prohibited any well-coordinated plan of action after defeat. These circumstances are now being supported and illuminated by disclosures of GIS personnel under interrogation.

Career of Heinrich Himmler - A U.S. Department of War Strategic Services Unit report on the career of Heinrich Himmler from 1900 to his suicide. Covers Himmler's conflict with the Abwehr.

Studies in Intelligence - This collection includes 7 articles, dating from 1960 to 2014, from the CIA's journal, "Studies in intelligence."