Editing Wilhelm Canaris (section)

==Second World War==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B00407, Berlin, Canaris, Vitez Bartha, v. Glaise-Horstenau.jpg|thumb|Canaris with the Hungarian Minister of Defence [[Károly Bartha (Minister of Defence)|Károly Bartha]] and [[Edmund Glaise-Horstenau|Glaise-Horstenau]], the former Vice-Chancellor of Austria, January 1941]]
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-L19106, Doorn, Beisetzung Kaiser Wilhelm II..jpg|thumb|Canaris (left) at [[Wilhelm II]]'s funeral, June 1941]]
After the outbreak of war between Germany and Poland in September 1939, Canaris visited the front, where he saw the devastation rendered by the German military. Seeing [[Warsaw]] in flames nearly brought him to tears and it was reported that he exclaimed, "our children's children will have to bear the blame for this".{{sfn|Höhne|1979|p=361}} He also witnessed examples of the [[war crimes]] committed by the ''[[Einsatzgruppen]]'' of the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]], including the burning of the synagogue in [[Będzin]] with 200 Polish Jews inside.{{sfn|Stewart|2009|p=58}} Moreover, he received reports from ''Abwehr'' agents about several incidents of mass murder throughout Poland.{{sfn|Höhne|1979|pp=363–365}} Canaris visited Hitler's headquarters train on 12 September 1939, then in the [[Province of Silesia]], to register his objection to the atrocities.{{sfn|Höhne|1979|p=364}} Canaris told chief of the ''[[Oberkommando der Wehrmacht]]'' (OKW, Supreme Command of the Armed Forces) [[Wilhelm Keitel]] about the "extensive shootings... and that the nobility and clergy were to be exterminated" to which Keitel informed him that Hitler had already "decided" the matter.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=520}} Keitel warned Canaris to go no further with his protest, as the detailed plan of atrocities came directly from Hitler.{{sfn|Gilbert|2004|p=8}}

Canaris began working more actively to overthrow Hitler's regime but he co-operated with the SD to create a decoy. That made it possible for him to pose as a trusted man for some time. He was promoted to the rank of full admiral in January 1940. With his subordinate [[Erwin Lahousen]], he attempted in the autumn of 1940 to form a circle of like-minded Wehrmacht officers, but that had little success at the time.{{sfn|Kershaw|2008|p=542}} When the OKW decrees regarding the brutal treatment of Soviet prisoners of war related to the [[Commissar Order]] came to the attention of Canaris in mid-September 1941, he registered another complaint. Keitel reminded Canaris that he was thinking in terms of "chivalrous war", which did not apply, since it was "a matter of destroying a world ideology".{{sfn|Jacobsen|1968|p=526}}

Meanwhile, the complaints and Canaris's apparent squeamishness were noted by Heydrich and added to his file on the "political unreliability" of the ''Abwehr''.{{sfn|Bassett|2011|p=224}} Canaris also worked to thwart the proposed [[Operation Felix]], the German plan to seize [[Gibraltar]].{{sfn|Waller|1996|pp=155–157, 159–161}}
 
At a conference of senior officers in Berlin, in December 1941, Canaris is quoted as saying that "the ''Abwehr'' has nothing to do with the persecution of Jews.... no concern of ours, we hold ourselves aloof from it".{{sfn|Breitman|Goda|Naftali|Wolfe|2005|p=99}}

Canaris had a sexual relationship with a Polish spy based in Switzerland, [[Halina Szymanska]], who passed information from him to the [[Polish government-in-exile]] based in London and also put her at the disposal of the British and Americans, including [[Allen Dulles]].{{sfn|Delattre|2006|p=79}} A key piece of intelligence that passed from Canaris via Szymanska to the Allies was advance warning of the launch of [[Operation Barbarossa]], the German invasion of the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Delattre|2006|p=79}}

The head of [[MI6]], [[Stewart Menzies]], who shared Canaris' anticommunism, praised Canaris' courage and bravery at the end of the war. In December 1940, Hitler sent Canaris to Spain to conclude an agreement, through strong coercion if necessary, with Franco for Spanish support in the war against the Allies, but instead of prompting him to acquiesce to Hitler's desire, Canaris reported that Franco would not commit Spanish forces until Britain had been defeated.{{sfn|Rich|1973|pp=173–174}} Conversations from the period between Franco and Canaris remain unknown, since none were recorded, but the Spanish government expressed gratitude to Canaris's widow by paying her a pension.{{sfn|Rich|1973|p=174}} Franco remained "forever grateful" to Canaris for his advice to keep Spain out of the war.{{sfn|Trigg|2019|pp=300–301}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1976-138-02A, Russland, Wilhelm Canaris, v. Bentivegni.jpg|thumb|Canaris during a visit to the Eastern Front, near Smolensk, October 1941]]

In June 1942, Canaris sent eight ''Abwehr'' agents to the [[East Coast of the United States]] as part of [[Operation Pastorius]]. The mission was to [[sabotage]] American economic targets and demoralise the US civilian population. However, two weeks later, all were arrested by the FBI thanks to two ''Abwehr'' agents who betrayed the mission. Because the ''Abwehr'' agents were arrested in civilian clothes, they were subject to [[court martial]] by a [[military justice|military tribunal]] in [[Washington, DC]]. All were found guilty and sentenced to death. Two others who co-operated with the FBI received sentences of life imprisonment instead.{{sfn|MacDonnell|1995|pp=131–133}} The others were executed by the [[electric chair]] in the District of Columbia jail.{{sfn|Johnson|2007|p=204}} Because of the embarrassing failure of Operation Pastorius, there were no further sabotage attempts in the United States.{{sfn|MacDonnell|1995|p=133}}

After 1942, Canaris visited Spain frequently and was probably in contact with British agents from Gibraltar. In 1943, in occupied France, Canaris is said to have made contact with British agents. In Paris, he was conducted blindfolded to the Convent of the Nuns of the Passion of Our Blessed Lord, 127 Rue de la Santé, where he met the local head of the British Intelligence Services, codenamed "[[Jade-Amicol network|Jade Amicol]]", who was in reality [[Colonel Ollivier]]. Canaris wanted to know the terms for peace if Germany got rid of Hitler. Churchill's reply, sent to him two weeks later, was simple: "Unconditional surrender".{{sfn|Lindgren|1970|pp=279–281}}

SS General Heydrich was suspicious of the ''Abwehr''.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2012|p=177}} Not long after Heydrich was posted in [[Prague]], he requested that Canaris place the ''Abwehr'' under SD and SS control, which pitted the two men against one another over jurisdictional control.{{sfn|Bassett|2011|pp=226–231}}{{sfn|Gerwarth|2012|pp=272–273}} Canaris handled the situation diplomatically, with no immediate effect on the ''Abwehr'', but it did mean a greater degree of collaboration and SS control in Prague.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2012|p=273}} Despite the two men experiencing professional differences, Canaris seems to have maintained a personal relationship with Heydrich and was "deeply shaken" by the latter's [[Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich|assassination]] a few weeks after their administrative disagreements.{{sfn|Gerwarth|2012|p=273}}

Playing both sides, Canaris established two more links with Britain's MI6, one via [[Zürich]] and the other via Spain and Gibraltar. Vatican contacts may have also provided a third route to his British counterparts.{{sfn|Bassett|2011|pp=231–236}} Canaris also intervened to save a number of victims from Nazi persecution, including [[Jews]], by getting them out of harm's way. He was instrumental, for example, in getting 500 Dutch Jews to safety in May 1941.{{sfn|Höhne|1979|p=489}} Many such people were given token training as ''Abwehr'' "agents" and then issued papers, which allowed them to leave Germany. One notable person he is said to have assisted was the then [[Lubavitcher Rebbe]] in [[Warsaw]], [[Rabbi]] [[Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn]].{{sfn|Altein|2002|p=160}} That has led [[Chabad Lubavitch]] to campaign for his recognition as a [[Righteous Among the Nations|Righteous Gentile]] by the [[Yad Vashem]] [[Holocaust]] memorial.{{sfn|Wagner|2009}}