Wilhelm Canaris: The Nazi Spy Chief who Brought Down Hitler

Comments · 490

• VA

  @vampiro4236 · 2 years ago

  I had read that Canaris had been working with the British, but I never knew it was quite that extensive. Incredible.

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• MR

  @MrTyltto · 2 years ago

  The people who made Oppenhiemer could probably set their sights on this guy next. A day in his life sounds unimaginable.

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• CL

  @claywest9528 · 2 years ago

  He was kept alive until the end,  but like Elser he had to know he was doomed and would not be allowed to survive the end of the war.

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• PR

  @ProffyChaos · 2 years ago

  Very interesting man. He was a cruel, and conniving man but at least he was able to see his mistakes and remember that his loyalty was to the nation, not any party in power. It reminds us that there aren't just good and evil people BUT many shades of grey.

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• ST

  @stu8642 · 2 years ago

  I'm glad he wasn't sentenced to forced labour. He would have been the Canaris in the coal mine.

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• 13

  @13minutestomidnight · 2 years ago

  His position was an incredibly difficult one. On the one hand, his actions to deceive Hitler and publicly support him did help support the Nazi&apos;s military operations, and sure, he could have opposed Hitler in an open fashion and deserted the Nazi regime completely (well… from a different country, otherwise he&apos;d just be killed).. But if he&apos;d left, a Nazi crony would just have filled his position instead and supported Hitler far more faithfully. with terrible results for the Allies. <br><br>The cruel reality is that nothing he could have done as an individual would have been as effective to stop the Nazi&apos;s as taking an entire German intelligence service and turning them into a weapon against Hitler. His and his intelligence agency&apos;s actions in espionage undermined the entire Nazi regime, and they were all incredibly brave for doing so.

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• YU

  @YuleRulz · 2 years ago

  Can you do an episode on Robspierre and the Terror during the French Revolution?

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• MA

  @mattkelley6267 · 2 years ago

  Another incredible piece of research journalism from Simon and his team

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• DS

  @DS-si5cp · 2 years ago

  feel like this should be on biographics

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• DE

  @DeaconBlu · 2 years ago

  Wow…<br>I honestly had no clue.<br>Unreal…<br>I’ve studied the Second World War my whole life.<br>I’ve never heard this information.<br><br>Thanks folks!<br>It’s stuff like this that makes me a subscriber and a fan of the channel!<br><br>Well. &nbsp;Done!<br>Well done indeed.<br>😎👍

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• TH

  @theawesomeman9821 · 2 years ago

  This Wilhelm Canaris guy sounds like a character in a Hollywood film.

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• WO

  @wolfm33 · 1 year ago

  Another interesting fact. Canaris fervently believed (most likely erroneously) that he was related to the great hero of the Greek war of Independence Konstantinos Kanaris (he sank Ottoman warships with fireships and later became an admiral and a politician in the newly created Kingdom of Greece) and this fact reportedly influenced his naval career. Canaris did visit Greece and was given a portrait of Kanaris which he reportedly kept in his office.

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