|
Eberhard Blum
Eberhard Blum (April 28, 1919 – July 9, 2003), born in Kiel, was the fourth head of the German Federal Intelligence Bureau (BND). He served for the Wehrmacht on the Eastern front during World War II, last in the position of a Rittmeister. After the war he finished his university studies in law and state science and in 1947 joined the Gehlen Organization, the precursor of the BND. He became personal consultant to Reinhard Gehlen under the codename HARTWIG. From 1961 to 1964 he was head of the subdivision "Personnel" of the BND. 1964 to 1968 he became resident spy of the BND in London. After the period in London he returned to Pullach as head of Department IV Administration (Abeitlung IV Verwaltung), a position he kept until 1970 when major disputes with the then BND president Gerhard Wessel arose and he was transferred as resident spy to Washington where he remained until 1982. He overtook the position as head of the Bundesnachrichtendienst in 1982 and remained in office until ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kiel
Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Bay of Kiel and lies in the southeast of the Jutland Peninsula, on the mouth of the Schwentine River, approximately northeast of Hamburg. The world's busiest artificial waterway, the Kiel Canal, has a terminus in Kiel's Holtenau district. This canal connects the Baltic to the North Sea, with its other end in Brunsbüttel. Most of Kiel is part of Holstein. The boroughs north of the Schwentine also belong to Wagria, while those north of the Kiel Canal are historically part of Southern Schleswig. Kiel is one of Germany's major maritime centres, known for a variety of international sailing events, including the annual Kiel Week, which is the biggest sailing event in the world. Kiel is also known for the Kiel mutiny, Kiel Mutiny, when sailors re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Swabian Jura and the Black Forest. Stuttgart has a population of 632,865 as of 2022, making it the list of cities in Germany by population, sixth largest city in Germany, while over 2.8 million people live in the city's administrative region and nearly 5.5 million people in Stuttgart Metropolitan Region, its metropolitan area, making it the metropolitan regions in Germany, fourth largest metropolitan area in Germany. The city and metropolitan area are consistently ranked among the List of EU metropolitan regions by GDP#2021 ranking of top four German metropolitan regions, top 5 Europea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising all resources in pursuit of total war. Tanks in World War II, Tanks and Air warfare of World War II, aircraft played major roles, enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, first and only nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II is the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflict in history, causing World War II casualties, the death of 70 to 85 million people, more than half of whom were civilians. Millions died in genocides, including the Holocaust, and by massacres, starvation, and disease. After the Allied victory, Allied-occupied Germany, Germany, Allied-occupied Austria, Austria, Occupation of Japan, Japan, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bundesnachrichtendienst
The Federal Intelligence Service (, ; BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Federal Chancellery of Germany, Chancellor's Office. The Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service, BND headquarters is located in central Berlin. The BND has 300 locations in Germany and foreign countries. In 2016, it employed around 6,500 people; 10% of them are military personnel who are formally employed by the Office for Military Sciences. The BND is the largest agency of the German Intelligence Community. The BND was founded during the Cold War in 1956 as the official foreign intelligence agency of West Germany, which had recently joined NATO, and in close cooperation with the Central Intelligence Agency, CIA. It was the successor to the earlier Gehlen Organization, often known simply as "The Organization" or "The Org", a West German intelligence organization affiliated with the CIA whose existence had not been officially acknowledged. The most centr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previously used term (''Reich Defence'') and was the manifestation of the Nazi regime's efforts to German rearmament, rearm Germany to a greater extent than the Treaty of Versailles permitted. After the Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Nazi rise to power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler's most overt and bellicose moves was to establish the ''Wehrmacht'', a modern offensively-capable armed force, fulfilling the Nazi regime's long-term goals of regaining lost territory as well as gaining new territory and dominating its neighbours. This required the reinstatement of conscription and massive investment and Military budget, defence spending on the arms industry. The ''Wehrmacht'' formed the heart of Germany's politico-military po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rittmeister
Rittmaster () is usually a commissioned officer military rank used in a few armies, usually equivalent to Captain. Historically it has been used in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Scandinavia, and some other countries. A is typically in charge of a squadron (a company-sized unit called a "troop" in the United States, as opposed to the U.S. cavalry squadron of larger battalion size), and is the equivalent of a ''Hauptmann'' rank (or captain in most army branches). Spelling * * * (until 1951) * (bokmål; the spelling ''ritmester'' was used until 1907) or ''rittmeister'' (nynorsk) * The armies of many Central and Eastern European countries adopted a localised term for the similar rank. * * * * * Czechia The rank of is an 'ensign' rank, used by both branches in the Czech Army. It is ranked OR-5 within the NATO rank structure. The immediate senior rank is called () and is ranked OR-6. The Netherlands The Dutch rank ''Ritmeester'', is the rank of squadron leading officers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gehlen Organization
The Gehlen Organization or Gehlen Org (often referred to as The Org) was an intelligence agency established in June 1946 by U.S. occupation authorities in the United States zone of post-war occupied Germany, and consisted of former members of the 12th Department of the German Army General Staff ( Foreign Armies East, or FHO). It was headed by Reinhard Gehlen who had previously been a Wehrmacht Major General and head of the Nazi German military intelligence in the Eastern Front during World War II. The agency was a precursor to the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND or Federal Intelligence Service) which was formed in 1956. Establishment After World War II, Reinhard Gehlen acted under the tutelage of US Army G-2 (intelligence), but he wished to establish an association with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In 1947, in alliance with the CIA, the military orientation of the organization turned increasingly toward political, economic and technical espionage against the Eastern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reinhard Gehlen
Reinhard Gehlen (3 April 1902 – 8 June 1979) was a German military and intelligence officer, later dubbed "Hitler's Super Spy," who served the Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany, and West Germany, and also worked for the United States during the early years of the Cold War. He led the Gehlen Organization, which worked with the CIA from its founding, employing former SS and Wehrmacht officers, and later became the first head of West Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND). In years prior, he was in charge of German military intelligence on the Eastern Front during World War II and later became one of the founders of the West German armed forces, the Bundeswehr. The son of an army officer and World War I veteran, in 1920 Gehlen joined the Reichswehr, the truncated army of the Weimar Republic, and was an operations staff officer in an infantry division during the invasion of Poland in 1939. After that he was appointed to the staff of General Franz Halder, the Chief of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Resident Spy
A resident spy in the world of espionage is an agent operating within a foreign country for extended periods of time. A base of operations within a foreign country with which a resident spy may liaise is known as a "station" in English and a (, 'residency') in Russian. What the U.S. would call a " station chief", the head spy, is known as a () in Russian. Types of resident spies In the Soviet Union nomenclature, there are two types of resident spies: ' (, legal resident spy) and ' (, illegal resident spy). In U.S. parlance, the same distinction is between " official cover" and " non-official cover". A legal resident spy operates in a foreign country under official cover (such as from their country's embassy). They are an official member of the consular staff, such as a commercial, cultural, or military attaché. They have diplomatic immunity from prosecution and cannot be arrested by the host country if suspected of espionage. The host country can expel such a person, requiring ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pullach
Pullach, officially Pullach i. Isartal (, ), is a municipality in the district of Munich (district), Munich in Bavaria in Germany. It lies on the Isar Valley Railway and is served by the S7 (Munich), S 7 line of the Munich S-Bahn, at the Großhesselohe Isartalbahnhof station, Großhesselohe Isartalbahnhof, Pullach station , Pullach and Höllriegelskreuth railway stations. The Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service , headquarters of the intelligence agency of the German government, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), was located in Pullach from 1956 until the agency moved to Berlin. The new headquarters in Berlin, completed in 2017, opened officially in February 2019. Until the move to Berlin, "Pullach" was a metonym for "the BND" just as "Langley, Virginia, Langley" is for "the Central Intelligence Agency, CIA" in the United States. Geography Pullach sits on the western bank of the Isar river, just south of Munich. Neighbouring municipalities On the opposite bank of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerhard Wessel
Gerhard Wessel (December 24, 1913 – July 28, 2002) was President of the Federal Intelligence Bureau from May 1968 to December 1978. He previously served in the Reichswehr (1932–35) and Army, including the Foreign Armies East of Reinhard Gehlen during World War II. After the war, he was part of the Gehlen Organisation, and then the Bundeswehr (1956–1952). He was head of the BND, Germany's Federal Intelligence Service from 1 May 1968 to 31 December 1978. According to his obituary in the Los Angeles Times, entitled ''Gerhard Wessel, 88; Did Espionage Work for Hitler, West Germany'', the "former intelligence officer in Adolf Hitler’s anti-Soviet spy operations" ... "is credited with modernizing the BND by hiring academic analysts and electronics specialists". The obituary issued by the New York Times News Service summarized some of the BND's successes under Wessel: "It informed the government three months in advance of the Soviet Union's plans to invade Czechoslovakia in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Klaus Kinkel
Klaus Kinkel (17 December 1936 – 4 March 2019) ZDF 5. March 2019 was a German statesman, civil servant, and lawyer who served as the (1992–1998) and the vice chancello ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
