Eberhard Blum (April 28, 1919 – July 9, 2003), born in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland pe ...

, was the fourth head of the German Federal Intelligence Bureau (BND). He served for the

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previou ...

on the Eastern front during World War II, last in the position of a

Rittmeister __NOTOC__ (German and Scandinavian for "riding master" or "cavalry master") is or was a military rank of a commissioned cavalry officer in the armies of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Scandinavia, and some other countries. A ''Rittmeister'' is typi ...

. 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 Reinhard Gehlen (3 April 1902 – 8 June 1979) was a German lieutenant-general and intelligence officer. He was chief of the Wehrmacht Foreign Armies East military intelligence service on the eastern front during World War II, spymaster of the ...

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 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 (, 're ...

of the BND in London. After the period in London he returned to

Pullach Pullach, officially Pullach i. Isartal, is a municipality in the district of Munich in Bavaria in Germany. It lies on the Isar Valley Railway and is served by the S 7 line of the Munich S-Bahn, at the Großhesselohe Isartalbahnhof, Pullach a ...

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 1985. Blum died on July 9, 2003 in Stuttgart.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blum, Eberhard German Army officers of World War II People of the Federal Intelligence Service 1919 births 2003 deaths