Вальтер Фридрих Шелленберг - бригадефюрер СС, Major General Police and SS troops. He became the youngest figure of the Third Reich. Hitler had already arranged a "beer putsch" and was engaged in writing "Mein Kampf", when Walter just went to the fifth grade of the school in Luxembourg. Many viewers know this person due to the role played by Oleg Tabakov in the film “Seventeen Moments of Spring”. Then the majority liked that charming Schellenberg, and even his niece after years wrote a letter to the actor, in which she praised her playing.
Youth
Schellenberg Walter was born on January 16, 1910.Place of birth is the town of Saarbrücken. Walter became the seventh child in the family. Schellenberg's father was director of the piano factory. In 1923, the family had to move to Luxembourg. The reason for the move was the deterioration of the economic condition due to the war. In Luxembourg, his father was a branch of his plant, at which he continued to work.
Until 1929, Schellenberg Walter studied atreal school, where he was interested in history, and especially the Renaissance. By the age of twenty-three, he had a bachelor's degree in art history. This, as pointed Semenov. Y., greatly helped him during World War II, when he robbed Italian museums.
Bonn University and joining the Nazi Party
Молодой Вальтер Шелленберг, биография которого very rich and interesting, continued his studies at the University of Bonn. At first he entered the medical faculty, but then decided to study law, he was not interested in politics. This choice of a young man was influenced by the instruction of his father, who was inclined towards the humanities and economics. The student was able to pass the exam for a lawyer in March 1933.
At the same time, one of the teachers persuadedWalter join the NSDAP. To make it Schellenberg Walter decided only for career reasons and for the sake of the black SS uniform, which he liked. In addition, he had sympathy for Hitler, who was trying to restore the greatness of Germany. Then he began to work in various courts.
Walter wrote a variety of history works forstudents who were in the SS. Reports on German law interested Heydrich, and he invited Schellenberg to work in his department. Soon the man turned into confidence in Himmler, who served as head of the RSHA. Once Schellenberg Walter saved his life by jerking away from the tightly closed door in the plane.
Career
In 1935 Schellenberg (photo presented in the article)He began to perform the duties of the Gestapo refandaria, namely, its offices in Berlin. In the autumn of the same year, he went to work at the central office of the SD. There he began to work in the central file, made reports on various foreign policy issues. In 1937 he received the position of government adviser in the Ministry of the Interior.
In 1938 he created a project aimed at reforming the Reich police structure. The project was developed by order of Heydrich, but was not accepted by Himmler, who was afraid of disagreements with Hess.
In 1937, a member of the NSDAP decided to quitcatholic faith. In the same year he organized the Kitty Salon, which played the role of a brothel for diplomats. However, the difference of this place from similar ones was that it was equipped with listening devices.
Schellenberg office
Many are familiar with Hollywood pictures, inparticular with thrillers. It was on the scenery from a film of this genre that the cabinet in which Walter Schellenberg worked was similar. Memoirs perfectly described his situation. In the office there was a large table on which there was a huge number of phones. Everywhere were hidden small listening devices that worked at the slightest sound or rustle. It was almost impossible to notice them. The cabinet was secure with an electric alarm that protects safes, windows and every entrance. She worked at night, that is, when Schellenberg left the workplace. In the case of approaching the room, it worked, and the soldiers came to the alarm.
The table, it can be said, was a small fortress.Its design included automatic machines that could fire the entire office. In the case of opening the door, the barrels immediately aimed at her. For a shot it was enough to press a button. In addition, there was another button that allowed the guards to warn about the danger, and those, in turn, blocked each entrance.
The beginning of World War II
В 1938 году Вальтер Шелленберг принимал активное participation in the accession of Austria to Germany, forming reports for the management of the German security services regarding the position on this issue of Italy. In March, he was sent to Vienna, where he obtained information and counterintelligence materials from Austria, and also engaged in ensuring the protection of Adolf Hitler. Already in the autumn I went to Dakar in order to obtain information about the French Navy.
Schellenberg, whose photo in those days is notprinted in newspapers, was not a major Nazi leader. In addition, even his name was little known. However, he had a position high enough to be aware of all political events, and also had information about the actions of Hitler and the heads of the occupied countries.
In addition to the general leadership of intelligence, whichcarried out the fascists of Germany, Walter was also directly involved in operations. They entered the history of the Second World War, so it is worthwhile to at least briefly highlight the most famous.
Operation Venlo
Осенью 1939 года разведка Германии начала "игру" with "Intelligence Service". With the help of a Dutch spy, the Germans managed to send disinformation to the British, allowing them to understand that there are a number of oppositionists in the Wehrmacht who are linked to the West. This was done in order to calculate several spies working in Germany.
Schellenberg was also involved. Fate threw him in different places; this time he went to Holland under the guise of an opposition member.
In his younger years, Walter had no expressivegeneral appearance, so for this role, he attracted Dr. Krinis, who went perfectly for the operation. Intelligence was excellent. Schellenberg Walter and Crinis held several productive meetings with members of the British intelligence - Captain Best and Major Stevenson. And suddenly it became known about the assassination attempt on Hitler. The Fuhrer suggested that the British tried to kill him, and ordered him to be captured Best and Stevenson. Walter himself did not agree with this order, but was obliged to obey. The capture of the British occurred during one of the meetings in the Dutch town of Venlo. During the meeting, the SS soldiers arrived and ferried the British to Germany.
The guilt of Best and Stevenson could not be proved, but, once in the Gestapo, the British gave a lot of useful information.
This operation during the Second World Wargot the name "Venlo". Germany accused Holland of violating neutrality and invaded its lands on May 10, 1941. Four days later, Holland capitulated.
The concentration camp of Best and Stevenson was the concentration camp in which they were located until the end of the war.
In anticipation of the attack on the USSR
До начала войны с Советским Союзом оставалось a few months, and Schellenberg threw all his strength on the formation and sending of spies in the USSR. At the same time, the work of counterintelligence against the Russians was strengthened. In addition to diplomats, special attention was paid to emigrants. Of the three displaced persons, one was Walter's agent. The main goal of these spies was to work in the occupied territory of the USSR. Schellenberg wrote about the work done in his memoirs, stating that Germany’s counterintelligence was able to uncover many courier routes and the location of the transmitters. In addition, it was said about what was known about the methods of work of agents. However, perhaps, Walter simply boasted, because before the start of the war the Russian agents did not tolerate heavy losses in Germany.
The invasion of the USSR
June 22, 1941 Schellenberg received a serviceappointment to the place of intelligence chief abroad. Soon, Walter made sure that his intelligence did not provide accurate information about the situation in the Soviet Union. A complete surprise was the resistance and actions of the partisan detachments.
Soon, Walter took over the organization moresuccessful intelligence work. He collected and threw detachments of Russian prisoners of war into the rear. They were well prepared and tested, but, as Schellenberg later admitted, most of them were captured by the NKVD.
Walter attracted to fight the Soviet armypersons who went over to the Germans, in particular, Vlasov. Memoirs of Shelenberg later told about how the Germans created a part of prisoners of war ("Druzhina"), which was able to destroy the SS detachment guarding the prisoners, and joined the partisans. In general, the partisans delivered a lot of problems to the entire German army.
Adolf Hitler demanded data from Schellenbergpartisan detachments, their assignments and so on. He was surprised that in the Soviet Union he was met with tremendous resistance and a large-scale partisan war. In his report, Walter called the cruelty of the troops the main cause of resistance. However, the report was rejected by Hitler.
In addition, a report was rejected, in whichIt was said about the revision of the conduct of combat operations in the territory of the Soviet Union, since the enemy's potential was underestimated. In addition, the experts who drafted this report were arrested. Later, Schellenberg managed to defend his workers, but he was unable to convince of his rightness neither the Fuhrer nor Himmler.
"Red Chapel"
In 1942, German counterintelligence discovered anddestroyed a large-scale agent network of Russians, which was given the name "Red Chapel". In fact, there were two such networks: one - in Berlin, the second - in Brussels. A great deal of effort in exposing and put Schellenberg. A radio game was launched using captured transmitters. Although Walter himself admitted that in order to gain confidence, we had to send reliable information for several months. However, the Russian intelligence officers realized that a “game” was being conducted with them, and they began to act according to the situation. It turns out that the destruction of the network was just luck, but in the future all attempts were unsuccessful and did not bring any benefit.
The last stages of the war
Approaching the end of the war.The blows inflicted on the German troops confirmed Schellenberg’s doubts about the outcome of the Second World War. Walter was ready to negotiate even with the Soviet Union. However, first met with an American diplomat. Subsequently, Himmler was very unhappy with these contacts with the enemy.
Вместо переговоров рейхсфюрер СС предложил make an attempt on Stalin. To do this, several soldiers were recruited, who were sent to the rear, but the mission was failed, as the agents were caught on the same day. The murder was to be accomplished with a radio-controlled mine. Subsequently, on their behalf carried out radio communications with German intelligence.
At this time, Walter witnessed somestatements by Adolf Hitler related to the options for ending the war. He stated that in the event of a defeat, the German people would confirm their biological abnormality and the impossibility of continued existence.
However, Schellenberg Walter did not leave attemptsconducting peace negotiations. So, at the end of 1944, Himmler had a secret meeting with the former president of Switzerland. The result was the release of 200 Jews from concentration camps in exchange for tractors and medicines, which Germany needed most.
Schellenberg with the help of the Red Cross was able to obtain permission to export the captured French women who were in the camp of Ravensbrück.
On May 5, 1945, Admiral Doenitz, who replaced Hitler as head of government, sent Schellenberg to Stockholm. So ended his service.
After the surrender of Germany, Walter managed to find refuge with Count Bernadot. Then he began to compile all the reports on the negotiations that were conducted in recent months.
Nuremberg process
Нацистские преступники (правда, не все) понесли deserved punishment. The International Military Tribunal recognized the aggression of fascist Germany as the gravest crime of an international character and had a significant impact on the final defeat of Nazism. But first things first.
Вскоре союзники выдвинули требование о выдаче Schellenberg, who was to stand trial. After some time, he arrived at the Nuremberg process. Nazi criminals were put in charge by such persons as Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, and many others (Himmler had already had time to poison himself). Schellenberg himself was a witness at that trial. He himself was tried in 1947. Many charges were dropped from him. Walter was a member of the SS and SD, which were recognized as criminal organizations. He also had to be punished for the execution of Russian prisoners of war.
Mitigation of the sentence contributed to the attemptsassistance to prisoners in the final stages of the war. The court issued a verdict: six years in prison, but the prisoner was released in 1951 due to a surgical operation. He then settled in Switzerland and began writing memoirs. Walter Schellenberg, whose “Labyrinth” is fairly well known, managed to create quite interesting memoirs. However, he was soon forced to leave the state at the request of the police. After that, he moved to Italy, namely in the small town of Pallanzo.
Schellenberg died on March 31, 1952 in one of the clinics of Turin, where he prepared for a surgery on the liver. At the time of death, Walter was forty-two years old.
