Нацистік Германияның барлау офицері Вальтер Фридрих Шеленберг

German intelligence officer in Nazi Germany

Walter Friedrich Schellenberg (16 January 1910 – 31 March 1952) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era. He rose through the ranks of the SS, becoming one of the highest ranking men in the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and eventually assumed the position as head of foreign intelligence for Nazi Germany following the abolition of the Abwehr in 1944.

Schellenberg, born in Saarbrücken, Germany, was his parents' seventh child; his father was a piano manufacturer. Schellenberg moved with his family to Luxembourg when the French occupied (1920) the Saar Basin after the First World War and the Weimar Republic experienced an economic crisis in the early 1920s. Like many young intellectuals who later joined the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), Schellenberg was deeply affected by the economic woes which befell Germany in the wake of the First World War. Schellenberg returned to Germany to attend university, first at the University of Marburg and then, from 1929, at the University of Bonn. He initially studied medicine, but soon switched to law. While in law school, Schellenberg performed some spy work for the SD. He reported actually having been recruited by two SD agents who were college faculty, who also advised him to join the Civil Service. After graduating he joined the SS in 1933. (Schellenberg later wrote that the "better type of people" preferred the SS over the other Nazi organizations.) Although educated as a lawyer, Schellenberg distrusted administrative attorneys and was intent on ensuring that the SD could operate outside the constraints of normal law. Subscribing to the Führerprinzip, Schellenberg also regarded Hitler's directives as beyond the framework of the legal system and believed it was best to "unquestioningly" carry out anything ordered by the Nazi leader. In 1935, Schellenberg met Reinhard Heydrich and worked for him in the counter intelligence department of the SD. Besides his native German, Schellenberg also spoke French and English fluently. Correspondingly, his first foreign intelligence assignment was to Paris in 1934 to check up on the political views of a professor. Then in 1937, Schellenberg was sent to Italy for a police assignment which included security duties for an upcoming visit by Mussolini; his outstanding work in providing security garnered positive attention from Heydrich, who then gave him additional organizational responsibilities, some of which later helped give birth to the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) in 1939. The official SS personnel report on Schellenberg described him as "open, irreproachable, and reliable"; the file also depicted him as "firm, tough, possesses energy" and as "very sharp thinking"; his National Socialist worldview was labeled "thoroughly fortified". Many of the SS street brawling types despised men like Schellenberg, considering them effete, but for the most part Schellenberg made a good impression on the Nazi elite. Sometime in 1938 Schellenberg married Käthe Kortekamp, a seamstress three years his senior, whom he dated for seven years and who had supported him through college. Their marriage proved brief, partially because of her social standing and because many things about her embarrassed him; the relationship ended in divorce in 1939, but only after Schellenberg promised her an "aryanized" fashion business expropriated from Jewish owners. Shortly thereafter, he married a more socially acceptable woman named Irene Grosse Schönepauck, the daughter of an insurance executive, but this relationship was also troubled. As the Nazis tightened their grip on German society, Hitler and Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler determined that the SS and police organs should merge, a move which Schellenberg fully supported: on 24 February 1939 he released a memorandum which advocated further centralization within the state. In summer 1939, Schellenberg became one of the directors of Heydrich's foundation, the Stiftung Nordhav. Schellenberg was mentored by Herbert Mehlhorn while at the SS Hauptamt. When Heydrich announced his intention to create the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) in July 1939, he had Schellenberg to thank as both the organisation's name and its existence resulted from his plans. On 27 September 1939, Himmler decreed the RSHA an official state organisation.

As the role of the SS and its action groups, the Einsatzgruppen, expanded in the war zones and prospective war zones in May 1941, Schellenberg negotiated with the Wehrmacht to acquire logistical support from the army (both on the front line and in rear areas) so the Einsatzgruppen could carry out their killing operations more effectively. Acting on behalf of Heydrich, Schellenberg issued a circular on 20 May 1941 to all segments of the German Security Police which forbade any Jews from emigrating out of German controlled territory; this new policy formed part of the genocidal Final Solution. The language within the circular Schellenberg issued even contained the explicit expression: "in view of the undoubtedly imminent Final Solution of the Jewish question", wording that makes it clear he was both complicit in and aware of the impending extermination activities. Despite being Heydrich's direct subordinate, Schellenberg skillfully ingratiated himself with Himmler by first delivering his intelligence reports to him instead of to Heydrich, which earned him the Reichsführer's confidence. After Heydrich's death in June 1942, Schellenberg became the "closest professional confidant" of Himmler. Himmler bestowed upon Schellenberg a unique position beyond that of a simple aide, making him his special plenipotentiary (Sonderbevollmächtigter).

Reportedly, Schellenberg and Wilhelm Canaris, the head of the Abwehr, were friends. They would go horseback riding together in Berlin's wooded Grunewald, where they discussed the future of Nazi Germany. Often present at these equestrian outings were Heydrich and Werner Best. Their alleged friendship aside, Canaris was careful around Schellenberg, a man whose ambitions included controlling all intelligence for the Reich. Like Heydrich, Schellenberg ultimately envisioned a centrally directed "all embracing security system" and a singular "Greater German Intelligence Service" under direct Nazi control (unlike the Abwehr, which was part of the Wehrmacht). Nonetheless, there are indications that Schellenberg preferred to deal with Canaris' Abwehr over the Gestapo, particularly since he distrusted its chief, Heinrich Müller. However, after the attempted assassination of Hitler on 20 July 1944, the Abwehr was dissolved and the SD was given additional powers over intelligence across the Reich. Canaris was arrested on 23 July 1944 on the basis of the interrogation of his successor at military intelligence, Georg Hansen. As a result, sections of the Abwehr were incorporated into RSHA Amt VI SD Ausland and therefore placed under Schellenberg's command. Assumption of these powers made Schellenberg the "absolute master" of Nazi intelligence". He was infamous for his "office fortress" desk, which had two automatic guns built into it that could be fired by the touch of a button. According to the memoirs of SS intelligence officer Wilhelm Hoettl, Schellenberg was very suspicious of Gestapo Chief Müller, whom he claimed to have evidence against by way of radio surveillance recordings (allegedly revealing Müller's plans to work with the Soviets); when he informed then RSHA chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner of possessing proof to that end, he was ignored. Kaltenbrunner disliked Schellenberg, perhaps due to his direct access to Himmler, and complained about him in particular on a number of occasions. Despite Kaltenbrunner's animosity towards Schellenberg, the latter's soothing manners kept him in good graces with Himmler and allowed him to "retain the ear of the SS overlord".

Allied military intelligence documents have been unearthed linking French couturier Coco Chanel to espionage activity in concert with Schellenberg, who reportedly was also one of her romantic liaisons. In 1943–1944, Operation Modellhut (Operation Model Hat) was conceived to capitalize on Chanel's long standing associations with British aristocracy and her friendship with Winston Churchill. Schellenberg recruited Chanel to act as an intermediary in a plan (proposed by Chanel) whose goal was to broker a separate peace between Nazi Germany and Britain independently of other Allied powers; Operation Modellhut failed.

During early 1945, Schellenberg encouraged Himmler to overthrow Hitler in order to negotiate a separate peace with the Western Allies, using as an excuse Hitler's poor health; however, Himmler never took action, but instead vacillated. He also convinced Himmler to meet with the former president of Switzerland, Jean Marie Musy, who promised to pay in Swiss francs for the release of Jews. At the end of the war, Schellenberg was able to persuade Himmler to try negotiating with the Western Allies through Count Folke Bernadotte. Schellenberg had earlier in the year worked as an intermediary between Count Bernadotte and Himmler for the release and safe passage of a number of prisoners and inmates held in concentration camps through the Swedish Red Cross. In the spring of 1945, Schellenberg instigated further meetings with Count Bernadotte as an opening to the western powers. He personally went to Stockholm in April, 1945 to arrange the meetings for Himmler. Both Himmler and Schellenberg continued to believe that the Jews interned in concentration camps represented a bargaining chip for the Nazi leadership: one they could use to derive concessions from the Western allies. To foster goodwill for their negotiations, Schellenberg—with Himmler's consent—organised the transport of 1,700 Jews out of German controlled territory to Switzerland and Sweden. Hitler found out and put a stop to further evacuations. After the first set of failed meetings, Schellenberg requested Bernadotte to intercede directly with General Eisenhower but this final action proved futile as well. At war's end, Schellenberg was in Denmark attempting to arrange his own surrender when the British took him into custody in June, 1945. That same month, a Swedish dispatch reported that Schellenberg had "confessed" to Germany's complicity in the massacre of Polish officers at the Katyn forest. According to Schellenberg, the Germans then blamed the Soviets for the atrocity in an effort to split the allies. The U. S., British, and Soviet intelligence services had all been searching for him as a valuable intelligence asset. Captain Horace Hahn, a member of the OSS, was one of the few Americans allowed to interrogate Schellenberg. Looking to recover as much information as they could from Schellenberg, the British sent him to London in July, 1945 where he was extensively interrogated; their intention (along with the Americans) was to extract information on any remaining Nazi resistance yet to surface and to gather what they could on Germany's possible postwar intelligence activities. Schellenberg confirmed to the Allies that no such plans were in place, which was supported by Allied intelligence efforts. The fact that Schellenberg had been on the opposite side of the RSHA faction which included Kaltenbrunner, Müller, Ohlendorf and Skorzeny, along with other war criminals, was the "best thing" he had going for him at the end of the war. Additional independent signals intelligence also proved helpful in evaluating Schellenberg.

After the war, Schellenberg was arrested by British military police and eventually stood trial in Nuremberg. To spare himself from a long prison sentence, Schellenberg testified against the SS organisation and the Nazi leaders in its fold during the postwar trials. During the Ministries Trial, he wrote his memoirs, titled The Labyrinth. Historian Robert Gerwarth describes certain content of Schellenberg's memoirs as "questionable." On 4 November 1949, he was sentenced to six years in prison for failing to prevent the murder of Soviet POWs who were utilized as agents in Operation Zeppelin. The tribunal found that near the end of the war, Schellenberg had started aiding victims of the Nazi regime. It questioned whether he was acting out of good faith, but nevertheless credited him for his actions. He was released from prison after two years on the grounds of ill health, due to a worsening liver condition, and moved to Switzerland, before settling in Verbania Pallanza, Italy. In 1952, he died in Turin, Italy.