27 Note of a conference of the Seetransportabteilung, 31 January 1931, BA-MA, RM 6/267, folio 27.
28 Telephone note, Korvettenkapitän Fliess, 31 January 1931, BA-MA, RM 6/267, folio 38.
29 Comprehensive court files at Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv, PH 8-V (Batch Kavalleriedivisionen 1902–1932, here GKSD). Cf Gietinger, Eine Leiche, pp 57–9.
30 Statement of Vogel reprinted in: Hannover-Drück and Hannover, Der Mord, pp 88–91. Cf Höhne, Canaris, p 74f; Gietinger, Eine Leiche, p 58.
31 Extracts from judgment of court-martial reprinted in Hannover-Drück and Hannover, Der Mord, pp 116–21.
32 Gietinger, Eine Leiche, Annexe, Document IX, letter from Otto Kranzbühler to Klaus Gietinger, 12 January 1993, p 158f; ibid, p 111.
33 Gietinger considers Noske’s personal responsibility for the murders of Liebknecht and Luxemburg as proven. Noske’s biographer, Wette, prefers to place responsibility on the shoulders of leading Mehrheit-Social Democrat politicians; cf Wette, Noske, p 3I3f.
34 Noske, Von Kiel bis Kapp, p 76.
35 Berliner Volkszeitung, 28 April 1929, reprinted in: Hannover Drnck and Hannover, Der Mord, p 162f. Also quoted in Wette, Noske, p 315.
36 Bassett, Hitler’s Spy-Chief, alleges that Vickers’ manager and armaments lobbyist Basil Zaharoff, whom Canaris knew from 1916/17 in Spain and who worked for British intelligence, met Canaris in Berlin in January 1918. The purpose of the alleged talks was to discuss how to silence Liebknecht and Luxemburg, who were agitating against the international arms trade. Bassett cites Allfrey, Anthony, The Life and Legend of Basil Zaharoff, London, 1989, which in turn relies on McCormick, Donald, Pedlar of Death, London, 1965. The originator of this story therefore appears to be McCormick, who provides no sources. A meeting between Canaris and Zaharoff is not proven, and the National Archives in London have yielded nothing. To interpret the murders of Liebknecht and Luxemburg as a conspiracy involving the international arms lobby surrounding Canaris, Pabst, Zarahoff and their backers belongs in the realm of secret service legend rather than serious historical research.
37 Gietinger, Eine Leiche, p 60.
38 That it was Canaris who sprang Vogel from prison was confirmed later by Pabst. Cf Gietinger, Eine Leiche, Annexe, Document II, p 140. Cf Höhne, Canaris, p 76 with n 123. Höhne refers to the personal communication of Helmut Krausnick, to whom Vogel related the events in the 1930s. In the 1960s, Ritgen admitted forging the signature. Cf Gietinger, Eine Leiche, p 60 with n 157.
39 Cf here et seq Gietinger, Eine Leiche, pp 61–71.
40 BA-MA, RM 6/267, folio 50.
41 Gietinger, Eine Leiche, p 64.
42 Ibid, p 65. Cf BA-MA, RM 6/267, folio 38.
43 Vorwärts, 23 January 1931; BA-MA RM 6/267, folios 22ff. and 5off.
44 File note, Günter Nollau, 1 December 1959, regarding a conversation with Waldemar Pabst on 19 November 1959, extracts reproduced in Der Spiegel 1, 1970, p 49. See also Gietinger, Eine Leiche, Annexe, Document II, p 140.
45 Cf Gietinger, Eine Leiche, pp 95–105. After the painstaking reconstruction of Gietinger’s and Pabst’s statements, confirmed by several people whom Pabst talked to, there can no longer be a serious doubt as to the immediate involvement of Souchon.
7 ON THE SIDE OF THE PUTSCHISTS
1 Winkler, Weimar, p 91.
2 Here et seq Wette, Noske, p 466ff. Also see Winkler, Weimar, p 92f.
3 Wette, Noske, p 468.
4 Ibid, p 471.
5 Ibid, p 472.
6 Ibid, p 476.
7 Ibid, pp 476 and 477.
8 Ibid, p 476.
9 Wette, Wolfgang (ed.), Aus den Geburtsstunden der Weimarer Republik – Das Tagebuch des Obersten Ernst van den Bergh, Quellen zur Militärgeschichte, series A, vol 1, Düsseldorf, 1991, p 101. Ernst van den Bergh was head of the Ministerial Department at the Prussian War Ministry. He was made Oberst in 1920. Ibid, p iif.
10 Ibid, p 100.
11 Höhne, Canaris, p 77.
12 Here et seq Wette, Noske, p 483.
13 Ibid, p 484.
14 Noske, Von Kiel bis Kapp, p 155.
15 Volkmann, Ernst Otto, Revolution über Deutschland, Oldenburg, 1930, p 322. For detail, see Wette, Noske, p 509; Noske, Von Kiel bis Kapp, p 200.
16 Wette, Noske, p 509.
17 Noske, Von Kiel bis Kapp, p 200.
18 Erger, Johannes, Die Kapp-Lüttwitz-Putsch. Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Innenpolitik, Beiträge zur Geschichte des Parlamentarismus und der politischen Parteien, vol 35, Düsseldorf, 1967, p, 36f; Wette, Noske, p 551f.
19 Ibid p 5I3f.
20 Meinl, Susanne, Nationalsozialisten gegen Hitler. Die nationalrevolutionäre Opposition um Friedrich Wilhelm Heinz, Berlin, 2000, p 28f; Wette, Noske, p 514; Höhne, Canaris, p 79.
21 Heinz, Friedrich Wilhelm, ‘Von Wilhelm Canaris zum NKWD’, typescript, private possession of Michael Heinz, p 2.
22 Noske, Erlebtes, p 178f; Wette, Noske, p 517.
23 Noske, Von Kiel bis Kapp, p 203; Erger, Kapp-Lüttwitz-Putsch, p 115; Wette, Noske, p 628.
24 Quoted in Wette, Noske, p 628 (quote 1) with n 5 (quote 2).
25 Ibid, p 329.
26 Noske, Von Kiel bis Kapp, p 204; Wette, Das Tagebuch des Obersten Ernst van den Bergh, p 124.
27 Wette, Noske, p 631.
28 Ibid, p 632; Noske, Von Kiel bis Kapp, p 207. For the text of the conversation see also the statements of Noske, Oven and Oldershausen to the Reichsgericht. Extracts reprinted in Erger, Kapp-Lüttwitz-Putsch, Document 20, p 317f.
29 Canaris’s statement of 7 March 1923, Walter Luetgebrune literary bequest, BAK, N 1150.
30 Ibid.
31 Trotha, Adolf von, Persönliches, Briefe, Reden und Aufzeichnungen, selected and published by Bendix von Bargen, Berlin, 1938, p 19f.
32 Ibid, p 20. Cf Noske, Von Kiel bis Kapp, p 208.
33 Erger, Kapp-Lüttwitz-Putsch, p 136b Cf the Dülffering statements of Trotha and Canaris during the investigation: Luetgebrune literary bequest.
34 Erger, Kapp-Lüttwitz-Putsch, p 136b
35 Ibid, p 137; Noske, Von Kiel bis Kapp, p 208.
36 Wette, Noske, p 635 f.
37 Ernst, Fritz, Aus dem Nachlaß des Generals Walther Reinhardt, Stuttgart, 1958, p 62. See also Wette, Noske, p 638.
38 Quoted from ibid. Somewhat Dülfferent is Noske, Von Kiel bis Kapp, p 209: ‘The Navy will perhaps let the Reich have the remnants, but the officer corps will not be amongst them . . .’
39 Noske, Von Kiel bis Kapp, p 209.
40 Wette, Noske, p 640.
41 Ernst, Nachlaß Reinhardt, p 63.
42 Noske, Von Kiel bis Kapp, p 211; Wette, Noske, p 642; Höhne, Canaris, p 83; Abshagen, Canaris, p 74.
43 Canaris, statement, 7 March 1923, Luetgebrune literary bequest, BAK, N 1150.
44 Abshagen, Canaris, p 74.
45 Wette, Noske, p 635.
46 Ibid, p 643.
47 Quoted from ibid, p 645.
48 Forstmeier, ‘Zur Rolle der Marine im Kapp-Putsch’, p 56.
49 Ibid, pp 61 and 65.
50 Quoted in ibid, p 59.
51 Abshagen, Canaris, p 74.
52 Forstmeier, ‘Zur Rolle der Marine im Kapp-Putsch’, p 76f.
53 Canaris-IfZ, folio 92.
8 Agent of the Counter-Revolution
1 Dülffer, ‘Die Reichs- und Kriegsmarine’, p 366.
2 Ibid and p 402f.
3 Ibid.
4 Canaris PSR, service assessment report at 1 August 1921, folio 17.
5 Dülffer, ‘Die Reichs- und Kriegsmarine’, p 402; Dülffer, Jost, Weimar, Hitler und die Marine. Reichspolitik undFlottenbau ìŷ2θ–ìŷjŷ, Düsseldorf, 1972, p 60.
6 Loewenfeld, Wilfried, ‘Das Freikorps von Loewenfeld’, typescript., BA-MA, RM 122/116, folio 52.
7 Dülffer, ‘Die Reichs- und Kriegsmarine’, p 404 and Krüger, Gabriele, Die Brigade Ehrhardt, Hamburger Beiträge zur Zeitgeschichte, vol 7, Hamburg, 1971, p 71.
8 Ibid, pp 72ff. and 78.
9
Ibid, p 89.
10 Ibid, p 91; for Organisation Consul and its involvement in the contemporary political murders see especially Sabrow, Martin, Der Rathenaumord. Rekonstruktion einer Verschwörung gegen die Republik von Weimar, Schriftenreihe der Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, vol 69, Munich, 1994.
11 Oliver, ‘Das Geheimnis um Canaris’, Die Weltbühne 34, 23 August 1927, p 285–9.
12 Ibid, p 286.
13 Sabrow, Rathenaumord, p 112.
14 Discussed comprehensively in Krüger, Brigade Ehrhardt, ch V; Sabrow, Rathenaumord, pp 183–215.
15 Oliver, ‘Das Geheimnis um Canaris’, p 287.
16 ‘Der Kampf der Marine gegen Versailles 1919–1935’, edited by Kapitän zur See Schüssler, Berlin, 1937. Reproduced in IMG, vol XXXIV, exhibit 156-c, pp 530–607. Hereafter Schüssler, ‘Kampf’.
17 Ibid, p 541.
18 Ibid, p 542.
19 Ibid and Höhne, Canaris, p 22.
20 Oliver, ‘Das Geheimnis um Canaris’, p 287f.
21 Schüssler, ‘Kampf’, p 550.
22 Ibid.
23 Bird, German Naval Officer Corps, p 171.
24 Carsten, Reichswehr und Politik, p 277.
25 Krüger, Brigade Ehrhardt, p 105.
26 Ibid, p. 148, note 18.
27 Bird, German Naval Officer Corps, p 172.
28 Indictment of Kapitän Ehrhardt, 5 May 1923, pp 16f and 28, Luetgebrune literary bequest, BAK, N 1150/29.
29 Note on conversation with Admiral Pfeiffer regarding events at Kiel in 1923: 25 November 1926, BA-MA, RM 6/269, folio 194–6; Bird, German Naval Officer Corps, p 173.
30 Ibid, p 174.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid, p 176.
33 Statement of Otto Schuster to State attorney (Oberreichsanwalt), 31 January 1927, BA-MA, RM 6/269, folio mf.
34 Bird, German Naval Officer Corps, p 179.
35 Entry: »Bei Abkommandierung am 18. Juni 1923«, Canaris PSR, folio 18.
36 Bird, German Naval Officer Corps, personal service record at p 92.
37 Herzog, Bodo, ‘Wilhelm Canaris: I. Offizier an Bord des Schulkreuzers Berlin, Die Nachhut 31, 1973, pp 18–2ļ (Part 1) and 1, 1974, pp ļ–7 (Part 2), BA-MA, MSg 3–22/1.
38 With numerous contemporary reports: Aronson, Shlomo, Reinhard Heydrich unddie Frühgeschichte von Gestapo und SS, Stuttgart, 1971, pp 25–34; cf: Deschner, Günther, Reinhard Heydrich. Statthalter der totalen Macht, Esslingen, 1977, pp 26–35; most recently, Dederichs, Mario R., Heydrich. Das Gesicht des Bösen, Munich and Zürich, 2005, pp 40–5.
39 Deschner, Heydrich, p 30.
40 Höhne, Canaris, p 91.
41 Dederichs, Heydrich, p 42.
42 Ibid, p 42.
43 Letter requesting permission to resign, 15 January 1924, longhand, Canaris PSR, folio 75.
44 Naval medical certificate, 15 January 1924, Canaris PSR, folio 79f.
45 Letter requesting permission to resign, 15 January 1924, longhand, Canaris PSR, folio 75.
46 Von Gagern’s letter of 6 February 1924, photocopy, Canaris PSR, folios 104–8. Emphasis in original.
47 Ibid, folio 107.
48 Ibid, folio 108.
49 Copy file observation, 31 March 1924, Canaris PSR, folio 81.
9 Military-Political Secret Missions
1 Report by Korvettenkapitän Canaris on his visit to Japan 17 May–26 September 1924, BA-MA, RM 20/1635, folios 537–93.
2 Quoted from: Treue, Wilhelm, Möller, Eberhard, and Rahn, Werner, Deutsche Marinerüstung 1919–1949. Die Gefahren der Tirpitz-Tradition, Herford and Bonn, Ī992 p 139.
3 Schüssler, ‘Kampf’, p 566; Treue, Möller and Rahn, Marinerüstung, p 139; Rahn, Werner, Reichsmarine und Landesverteidigung 1919–1928, Munich, 1976, p 173.
4 Schüssler, ‘Kampf’, p 566.
5 For Lohmann and a detailed and up-to-date review of the whole ‘Lohmann Affair’, see Remmele, Bernd, ‘Die maritime Geheimrüstung unter Kapitän z. S. Lohmann’, Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen 56, 1997, pp 315 and 317b For his research Remmele initiated the first researches into forty volumes of folios containing Lohmann’s correspondence which had been returned to Germany by the Moscow archive: BA-MA, RM 21/162–201. Other than these the most comprehensive material on the Lohmann case are to be found amongst the Reichskanzlei files, BAK, R 43 I 603–605, especially ‘Bericht des Staatssekretärs i. R. Dr. Fritze über den durch Urkunde vom 22. Mai 1928 erteilten Auftrag, die Frage einer etwaigen persönlichen Haftung der verantwortlichen Reichsminister, Reichsbeamten und Offiziere fiar die sogenannten Lohmann-Unternehmungen zu kklären’, BAK, R 43 I 605, folios 26–295. Hereafter ‘Fritze Report’. Cf Rahn, Reichsmarine, p 214ff; Dülffer, Weimar, Hitler und die Marine, pp 90–7; Bird, German Naval Officer Corps, p 180–9; Raeder, Mein Leben, vol 1, p 229–233; Gessler, Otto, Reichswehrpolitik in der Weimarer Zeit, published by Kurt Sendtner, Stuttgart, 1958, pp 443–57.
6 Rahn, Reichsmarine, p 173.
7 Report by Korvettenkapitän Canaris on his visit to Japan 17 May–26 September 1924, BA-MA, RM 20/1635, folio 554.
8 Rahn, Reichsmarine, p 175.
9 Dülffer, Weimar, Hitler und die Marine, p 75.
10 Assessment report at 1 November 1921, Canaris PSR, folio 24.
11 Report by Korvettenkapitän Canaris on his visit to Spain of 15 June–1 July 1922, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folios 1–6.
12 Ibid, folio 1.
13 Rahn, Reichsmarine, p. 182.
14 Report by Korvettenkapitän Canaris on his visit to Spain of 28 January–17 February 1925, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folios 30–45.
15 Ibid, folios 31 and 35.
16 Ibid, folio 30f.
17 Ibid, folio 38f.
18 Ibid, folio 33f.
19 Ibid, folio 30.
20 Ibid, folio 32.
21 Ibid, folio 33.
22 Canaris, report, N-work [Translator’s note: ie setting up intelligence network] in Spain during tour from 28 January to 17 February 1925, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folios 46–9.
23 Ibid, folio 46.
24 Ibid, folio 47.
25 Höhne, Canaris, p 101.
26 Report by Korvettenkapitän Canaris on his visit to Spain of 28 January–17 February 1925, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 33.
27 Ibid, folio 34.
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid, folio 35.
30 Ibid, folio 37.
31 Ibid, folio 38.
32 Ibid, folio 44f.
33 Ibid, folio 42f.
34 Ibid, folio 45.
35 Höhne, Canaris, p 104.
36 Canaris’s report on state of U-boat and torpedo opportunity, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 62 (Appendix to foregoing journey report).
37 Report by Korvettenkapitän Canaris on his visit to Spain of 20 April–8 May 1925, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folios 57–61.
38 Canaris’s report on the state of the Spanish opportunity (probably end July 1925), BA-MA, RM 6/48, folios 67–71.
39 Canaris’s report on state of U-boat and torpedo opportunity, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 62 (Appendix to foregoing journey report).
40 Ibid, folio 63f.
41 Ibid, folio 66.
42 Ibid, folio 68f.
43 Situation report on the Spanish business, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 72.
44 Rahn, Reichsmarine, p 183.
45 Canaris’s note of 22 February 1926, regarding torpedo manufacture in Spain, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 75f.
46 Ibid and report by Kapitän zur See Lohmann on his visit to northern Spain, and the calls of the rotor-ship Barbara at Bilbao and Santander, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 96.
47 Record of a session at the Reich Finance Ministry of 13 April 1926, re: Echevarrieta, ADAP, series B, vol III, no 112, p 23lff.
48 Ibid, p 231.
49 Ibid, p 232.
50 Ibid, p 233.
51 Note, Legationssekretär Wagenmann, 11 February 1927, ADAP, series B, vol IV, no 132, p 290, n 2.
52 Tortella, Teresa, A Guide to Sources of Information on Foreign Investment in Spain 1780–1914, published for the Section o
f Business and Labour Archives of the International Council on Archives by the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, 2000, p 12.
53 Report by Korvettenkapitän Canaris on his visit to Spain of 9 May-10 June 1926, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 87; Opinion of Korvettenkapitän Canaris on the Lohmann affair, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 183; Note of Ministerialdirektor Köpke, 10 January 1931, regarding change in the conditions of a credit in the sum of 240,000 pounds sterling paid to the Spanish industrialist Echevarrieta on military/political grounds at the request of the Naval Administration in 1926: ADAP, series B, vol XVI, no 148, pp 371–3-
54 IbiT p 371.
55 Report by Korvettenkapitän Canaris on his visit to Spain of 9 May–10 June 1926, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 88.
56 Ibid, folio 89.
57 Ibid, folio 93.
58 Madrid ambassador Graf von Welczeck to Foreign Ministry, Madrid, 11 June 1926, ADAP, series B, vol III, no 149, pp 307–9.
59 Report by Korvettenkapitän Canaris on his visit to Spain of 9 May–10 June 1926, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 94f.
60 Madrid ambassador Graf von Welczeck to Foreign Ministry, Madrid, 11 June 1926, ADAP, series B, vol III, no 149, p 308, n 6.
61 Report by Kapitän zur See Lohmann on his visit to northern Spain, and the calls of the rotor-ship Barbara at Bilbao and Santander, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 97.
62 Ibid, folio 100.
63 Opinion of Korvettenkapitän Canaris on the Lohmann affair, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 184f.
64 Report by Kapitän zur See Lohmann on his visit to northern Spain, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio ι0ι.
65 Opinion of Korvettenkapitän Canaris on the Lohmann affair, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 185.
66 Note by Ministerialdirektor Köpke (regarding a conversation with Canaris), 15 December 1926, ADAP, series B, vol III, no 246, p 494.
67 Ibid, p 495.
68 Ibid, p 495, n 7.
69 Assessment report, 1 November 1927, Canaris-PSR, folio 29.
70 Schüssler, ‘Kampf’, p 569.
71 Note by Legationssekretär Wagenmann, 11 February 1927, ADAP, series B, vol IV, no 132, pp 289–91, quote here from p 290, n 2.
72 Ibid, p 290.
73 Canaris’s report on visit to Spain, February 1927, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 109f.
74 Ibid and report on visit to Spain, 28 April-18 May 1927, BA-MA, RM 6/48, folio 113–42.
75 Schüssler, ‘Kampf’, p 570; Rahn, Reichsmarine, p 184.
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