Biography. General Karl Wolf: biography, history, key dates and events Karl Wolf general ss biography

On March 8, 1945, Allen Dulles and Karl Wolff met for the first time in Bern, and negotiations began on a separate peace between the Western Allies and Nazi Germany.

Speaking at a board of the FSB in mid-February, Vladimir Putin said that in 2016 the FSB exposed 53 regular foreign intelligence officers and almost 400 agents. The special services showed the main interest in the military-industrial complex, which is both comforting and alarming at the same time. Because the main interest of intelligence is people who make decisions.

Today, as we celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the meeting of the future CIA director and the SS general in neutral Switzerland, it is worth talking about the fact that the attempt to conclude a separate peace became the template for the formation of Pax Americana.

Why do the Germans need peace?

What is a separate peace for Germany? This is the flip side of the blitzkrieg. The goal of a lightning war, in the idea of which, in fact, little has changed since the times of Napoleon, is as simple as two pennies: the defeat of opponents one by one, over-tension. But getting bogged down in the war immediately makes one remember Vysotsky's song about a sprinter-skater who was set to run at a distance of 10 thousand meters. Once in the 20th century, Germany had already played this game, and the battle near Moscow forced the most far-sighted of the Nazi elite to admit the possibility of a not very good end to the war.

Therefore, the first attempt to make peace on the Western Front was made already in 1942. The Germans probed the situation through two channels at once: they sent an employee of their embassy in Sweden to London, and also asked the Secretary General of the Turkish Foreign Ministry to act as an intermediary (he met with the British ambassador and passed on the proposal). Britain responded to this not just with a refusal, but with a principled refusal: we will only talk if the USSR participates in the negotiations. Time to be touched? Not really.

London understood perfectly well why the Germans needed negotiations on a separate peace in 1942. Summer campaign of 1942, which will either be successful for Germany, or make her get bogged down in the war for another year. To start negotiations is to help the Germans fight. And then sooner or later they will return to their plans to invade the British Isles. All that is holding them back is the Russians, who have been grinding the German war machine for the second year.

Bern as an attempt to repeat 14 points

The figure of Allen Dulles is one of the first associations associated with separate negotiations. By the way, who is Dulles? Head of the European Office of the Office of Strategic Services (future) and its future head.

The theme is more familiar to us in the pop version (albeit of a fairly high quality) - a multi-part film. The film covers the period from March 24 to April 12, 1945. One of the episodes is the first meeting of SS General Karl Wolf with Allen Dulles. But here is the aberration of perception. When did Dulles come to Switzerland at all? In 1945? No. In 1944? Also no. In 1943, and in February - immediately after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad. We're not going to think that this is just a coincidence?

We have already analyzed this historical incident once with an example: we are better at fighting than enjoying the fruits of our victories. Meanwhile, if it were not for the well-known dexterity of the Soviet intelligence, the army, as well as the country's leadership, then Dulles would have been able to pull off the trick that the then American president succeeded in 1918: to single-handedly write the terms of the post-war peace.

It was not in vain that Dulles spent two years in Switzerland. And his first meeting with Wolf in March 1945 in Bern was not at all the first meeting with representatives of the highest circles of Nazi Germany, who were trying to integrate into the already discernible post-war world order on the horizon (Wolf is not even in the top five). Moreover, the Germans already had to negotiate peace with the United States in 1918, and they had a rough idea of what America wanted to achieve from the war and from the end of the war. And also what her pain points can be pressed.

Let's say a little about Wolfe himself. Why exactly he? First, because of his position in the table of ranks. He was considered the man of Heinrich Himmler, i.e. as a negotiator he was quite useful. However, he also enjoyed the confidence of Adolf Hitler himself, that is, he had a certain autonomy. Secondly, the SS and the police of Northern Italy were subordinate to Wolf. The assistance of such a figure could lead to the surrender of an entire grouping and sharply strengthen the position of the United States in post-war bargaining with the USSR.

As a result, the troops in Northern Italy surrendered. However, this happened on the day of the surrender of the garrison in Berlin, i.e. the effectiveness of the operation was highly questionable. A combination of several factors led to this.

1. Clarification of the relationship between and Roosevelt (March 22-April 12). There is one little-known episode connected with this. On April 12, the day of his death, Roosevelt wrote a telegram to Stalin, which he actually “handed back”: “ Thank you for your sincere explanation of the Soviet point of view regarding the Berne incident, which now appears to have faded and become a thing of the past without bringing any benefit. In anycase notthere should be mutual distrust, and minor misunderstandings of this nature should not arise in the future ...". Roosevelt additionally insisted on the transmission of the telegram in this form, despite the objections of the US Ambassador to the USSR, Harriman. Moreover, this telegram was the last in Roosevelt's life.

2. Due to the confusion in two decision-making centers at once (Roosevelt died, Hitler was already inadequate), Dulles and Wolf were unable to squeeze out practically nothing from the situation. The dying telegram largely tied Dulles' hands, and without his instructions, Wolf found it difficult to persuade the generals to surrender.

And so it happened that the first CIA operation (let's not be formal) failed, although it was well prepared.

Generals controlled by machines

The meeting and the entire operation "Sunrise" as a whole, however, were not unsuccessful. If we remember the US operations in the Middle East already in our time, we will notice their effectiveness. That the US army is against Saddam, that the rebels against Gaddafi and Assad are very successful. Because in every case we find such a Wolf. Someone handed over key defense facilities, someone handed over arsenals to the rebels. Years have passed and the circuit is working pretty well despite the first glitch.

In which case, they will be at war with us as a last resort. As to the last, they avoided a clash with the group in Northern Italy. At first, they will try to outbid the generals and high officials. The question is: what to do about it?

Patriotic education is a matter of course. The preventive work of the special services is the same. However, all methods involving the human factor, as a result, are reduced to the resilience of this very person in a particular post.

So far, apparently, to solve this problem will have to resort to the help of machines. In the sense of creating an electronic command system that analyzes threats and "gives orders" in such a way as to make it as difficult as possible for the weak links in the command to make openly treacherous and sabotage decisions. To bypass this insurance, you will have to take control of the entire vertical, this is already more difficult.

Sounds like science fiction, Terminator, Rise of the Machines? But such systems have already been implemented in the Strategic Missile Forces, it remains to adapt and scale them to the army as a whole. In addition, people will still give orders, the system will only prepare them and control their adequacy. We are not completely in control of the weaknesses of human nature, but no one bothers to fight the conditions in which the generals of Wolff appear and act.

General Karl Wolf (one of the highest SS officers), became widely known in the USSR, thanks to the writer Yulian Semenov and his novel "Seventeen Moments of Spring", based on which the eponymous multi-part feature film was filmed (the role of Wolf was played by V. Lanovoy). The plot was based on the real events of the time when Wolf was conducting separate negotiations secret from the Soviet Union, with Western representatives of the special services (although the United States, as allies then notified the USSR, but categorically refused to admit it). In any case, any novel or film adaptation is the result of the creation of the authors, and the true story and events that took place in the life of Karl Wolf will be described in this article.

photo: Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff

The full name of the SS Obergruppenfuehrer is "Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff", who was born on May 13, 1900, in a German town called Darmstadt, in the family of a court counselor. He studied at a Catholic school and, at the age of seventeen, volunteered for the front, reaching the end of the First World War, to the Order of Lieutenant, with the Iron Crosses of I and II degrees.

After the end of the First World War, Wolf retired from military service and took up commercial and banking activities. Having successfully married in 1923, to the daughter of one of the major industrialists, he founded his own trade and law firm.

photo: SS Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler with his adjutant Karl Wolf 1933.
Like most of the military personnel of the former German Empire, Karl Wolff was among the Nazis. He joined the SS and NSDAP quite late - in 1931. However, during his short service, he managed to gain a reputation as a calm, self-confident and sociable person who was very much loved and respected by his subordinates. In early September 1933, he was appointed adjutant of Heinrich Himmler himself, Reichsfuehrer SS.

I must say that Wolf Karl never studied military affairs on purpose. His school was the war itself. In reality, he was more interested in banking, and in particular, the financing of the SS. It was easiest for him to do this, since he had close ties with the business circles of Germany. According to some reports, it was he who became the main initiator of the creation of the so-called Circle of SS Friends. This organization included both directors of various firms and ordinary citizens not only supporting Nazi policy, but also helping it with finances. Wolf also took an active part in the creation of the symbols of the SS, developed on the basis of Teutonic mysticism.

photo: Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Karl Wolff and others at the rate "Wolf's Lair".
Beginning in 1936, Karl Wolf became Himmler's closest associate and confidant. It was he who, for several years, carried out the connection between his boss and Hitler. Himmler highly valued his employee and considered him his best friend. This is evidenced by the fact that Wolf accompanied him almost everywhere: on numerous trips, at meetings and even during visits to the "death camps".

In 1943, their relationship deteriorated somewhat. The reason for their disagreement was Wolf's divorce and remarriage. But despite this, Hitler's confidence in him was still boundless. In the fall of 1943, Wolf received a new appointment and left for Italy. Here he becomes the Supreme Fuhrer of the Police and SS, and two months later - an adviser to the fascist government of Benito Mussolini.

photo: Kurt Dahluge, Benito Mussolini, Reinhard Heydrich, Heinrich Himmler, Karl Wolf.
Anticipating the imminent collapse of the Third Reich, Schellenberg, together with Himmler, decided to establish contact with the American special services. And again, the same reliable and proven Wolf acts as a connecting link. He manages to establish the necessary contact through Pope Pius XII. In early March 1945, Wolf met for the first time in Ascona, Switzerland, with a whole group of Americans led by Allen Dulles, where they discussed the surrender of the German army in the Apennines.

photo: Walter Schellenberg
In view of the fact that Washington and Moscow were allies at that time, the Americans decided on March 12 to inform the Soviet government about the negotiations that had begun. Upon learning of this, Stalin demanded that his representatives also participate in them, but was refused. Later, the American ambassador to the Soviet Union, Harriman, explained this decision by the fact that the United States was afraid of a breakdown in negotiations due to unrealizable conditions that could be put forward by representatives from the USSR.

photo: Special Representative of the President of the United States in Great Britain and the USSR
Meanwhile, rumors that Karl Wolf was in dialogue with the Americans reached Bormann, who tried to use this trump card in his game against Heinrich Himmler, who, together with Schellenberg, managed to save the negotiation process at the very last moment.

photo: Martin Bormann - personal secretary of the Fuhrer.
During the dialogue, the Americans did not leave doubts about the powers of Wolf himself, as well as the ability of the SS to organize such a large-scale event as the surrender of German troops stationed in fascist Italy. This mistrust was due to the fact that the German formations at that time were commanded by Field Marshal A. Kesselring.

photo: Albert Kesselring - Field Marshal of the Luftwaffe.
Surrender In order to dispel the last doubts of the Americans, Wolff had to provide his new allies with maps of the location of Nazi troops in Italy. In the future, it was these documents that helped the United States develop an optimal plan for an offensive on the Apennine Peninsula.

At the end of April 1945, when the victorious allied offensive in Italy began, Wolf finally received all the necessary powers in order to conclude the long-awaited truce. On April 29, he, together with Fitinghof, signs all the conditions for the surrender of the fascist troops in the Apennines.

photo: Heinrich von Fitinghof Colonel General
Karl Wolf, contrary to common sense, after the surrender of Hitlerite Germany and its occupation by allied troops, did not hide, but, on the contrary, hoped for pardon and even some compensation from the victors. Even during the negotiations held in Switzerland, he made it clear that after the fall of Hitler he expects to receive the post of Minister of the Interior in the new German government. But, contrary to his expectations, he was arrested by the Americans and convicted in Germany in 1946.

The verdict struck him: four years in labor camps. Karl Wolf was released in 1949. Despite the fact that during his imprisonment he lost almost everything, already in the early 1950s his material well-being reached the level that he had in his best years.

Richard Brightman, a historian at Harvard University, believes that thanks to his participation in the negotiations that took place at the end of the war, as well as a personal intercession of Allen Dulles, Wolf was spared. Otherwise, the former Nazi general, as a war criminal, would have been assigned a place in the dock in Nuremberg next to his former boss Kaltenbrunner. Moreover, the Allies had every reason for this.

photo: Karl Wolf
Why didn't the Americans do this? And the fact is that in this situation, Wolf could have told a completely different version concerning both the surrender in Italy and the negotiations themselves, which could differ significantly from the official one presented by Allen Dulles. In addition, the possible confessions of the former general could negatively affect the reputation of the US Strategic Services Office, on the basis of which the CIA was created, and cause irreparable harm to the entire allied coalition.

photo: Allen Welch Dulles, Director of US Central Intelligence
This idea seems to be correct, since immediately after Dulles' resignation in 1961 as a result of the failed American attempt to invade Cuba, Karl Wolff was arrested again. This time, the German authorities charged him with aiding the extermination of more than 300 thousand people. Here it was about the deportation of Polish Jews to concentration camps located near the village of Treblinka. Wolf, as one would expect, of course, denied his involvement in the Holocaust, citing his forgetfulness.

The court hearings in this case lasted for several years. Finally, in September 1964, the sentence was handed down: 15 years in prison. However, the former Hitlerite general Karl Wolf was released much earlier - in 1971. The reason for early release is for health reasons. He died in mid-July 1984 in the city of Rosenheim (Bavaria, Germany).

Was born in Darmstadt. The son of a court counselor. In April 1917 he volunteered for the army. Member of the First World War, lieutenant. For military distinction he was awarded the Iron Cross of the 1st and 2nd class. In 1920 he was demobilized and worked in banks and trading companies in Frankfurt am Main. In 1923 he married the daughter of a major industrialist von Rentheld and founded his own trade and law firm "Karl Wolf - von Rentheld".

On October 7, 1931, he joined the NSDAP (party card number 695 131) and the SS (ticket number 14 235). On February 18, 1932, he was promoted to SS Sturmführer. In March 1933, Karl Wolff became an adjutant to the Prime Minister of Bavaria, General Franz von Epp. From June 1933 he was adjutant, and from 1935 chief adjutant of the Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler. He played an important role in the arrest of many SA leaders during the "Night of the Long Knives" on June 30, 1934. In April 1936 he was elected to the Reichstag from Hesse. On November 9, 1936, after the creation of the Personal Headquarters of the Reichsfuehrer SS, he became its chief. Participated in the creation of the SS, the closest associate and most confidant of Himmler. One of the authors of the symbols and ideology of the SS. Since 1939, he simultaneously served as Himmler's personal representative at Hitler's headquarters. Accompanying Himmler on all his trips, including to concentration camps. In 1942, on the personal instructions of the Reichsfuehrer SS, he supervised the transportation of the unreliable population and Jews from Warsaw to the Treblinka extermination camp (in total, about 300,000 people were killed on his order).

On February 18, 1943, the supreme leader of the SS and police in Verona (Northern Italy). From September 23, 1943, the supreme leader of the SS and police of Italy, from July 26, 1944, simultaneously authorized by the Wehrmacht under the government of the Italian Social Republic. On behalf of Himmler and Schellenberg, he established contact with the Americans through Pope Pius XII. On March 8, 1945, he met in Ascona (Switzerland) with a group of American representatives led by Dulles, with whom he discussed the surrender of the Italian army; after this meeting, several more meetings took place in Zurich. On March 12, Washington officially notified Moscow of the ongoing negotiations; Stalin demanded admission to the negotiations of the Soviet representatives, but was refused (as the US Ambassador to the USSR Harriman later explained, the Americans feared that the Soviet representatives would disrupt the negotiations, setting impossible conditions). Rumors of Karl Wolff's negotiations reached Bormann, who attempted to use them in his game against Himmler. However, Himmler and Schellenberg managed to prevent the breakdown of negotiations.

During the negotiations, he was constantly under pressure from Himmler and Kaltenbrunner on the one hand and Allen Dulles on the other. The Americans expressed doubts about the powers of K. Wolf and the ability of the SS to organize the surrender of German troops in Italy, which are subordinate to the army command (Field Marshal Albert Kesselring). Wolff was repeatedly recalled to Berlin, where he was required to fully account for the negotiations. However, he refused to open all the details of the negotiations, since if he failed he would have fallen under the charge of high treason. For example, to confirm his authority and intentions, he presented the allies in Switzerland with maps of the deployment of German troops in Italy, which greatly facilitated the Americans' plans for a further offensive in the Apennines.

Only on April 24, 1945, after the start of the successful start of the Allied offensive in Italy, Karl Wolff received the authority to conclude an armistice. On April 29, 1945, together with Fitinghof, he signed the terms of the surrender of the German troops in Italy. As a result, he spoiled relations with Himmler, but retained Hitler's confidence in himself.

After the war

After the capitulation and occupation of Germany by the allies, Wolf did not hide from the occupation authorities, as he counted on compensation from the victors. At the beginning of negotiations in Switzerland, he made it clear to the allies that in the future government of Germany he was counting on the post of Minister of the Interior. However, he was soon interned by American troops and in 1946 was sentenced by a German court to 4 years in labor camps. In 1949 he was released. Despite the well-known losses, by the 50s of the twentieth century, Wolff had reached the same level of personal wealth that he had in the best years of his SS career.

According to the historian researcher from Harvard University Professor Richard Brightman, Wolf's reward for participating in the negotiations in Switzerland from A. Dulles was the preservation of Wolf's life. It would be fairer to put Karl Wolf as a war criminal in the dock of the Nuremberg trials next to his boss Kaltenbrunner. The Americans had every reason for this. However, in this case, Wolf would have spoken, and his version of the history of negotiations and surrender in Italy would be significantly different from the version of Allen Dulles, which for a long time was considered the main and authoritative. In addition, Wolff's potential confessions would seriously undermine the authority of the Office of Strategic Services and the CIA created on its basis, as well as damage the entire complex of allies.

Only after the resignation of A. Dulles from the post of director of the CIA in 1961, Karl Wolf was again arrested by the now German authorities on charges of assisting in the murder of about 300,000 Jews (their deportation to Treblinka). Karl Wolff denied his involvement in the Holocaust and cited forgetfulness. However, on September 30, 1964, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In 1971 he was released for health reasons.

Testimonials

According to the testimony of the Soviet writer Yulian Semyonov (author of Seventeen Moments of Spring), in the afterword to the cycle Position, he writes: “Karl Wolf himself, SS Obergruppenfuehrer, chief of Himmler’s personal staff, I recently found in Germany, is a quite vigorous eighty-year-old Nazi, In no way deviated from the former principles of racism, anti-communism and anti-Sovietism: “Yes, I was, is and remain a faithful paladin of the Fuehrer.”

The image in the cinema

Wolf is widely known in Russia thanks to the Soviet television movie "Seventeen Moments of Spring" (1973), in which he was played by Vasily Lanovoy.
In the 1983 film Scarlet and Black, the character of German General Max Helm, played by Walter Gotell, was based on the biography of Karl Wolff.

What is Karl Wolf best known for? The image in the cinema, which has developed thanks to the famous TV series "Seventeen Moments of Spring", is most often associated with the name of this military man who held key posts in the SS troops. Indeed, the writer Yulian Semyonov, who was writing his immortal novel, found the elderly Wolf himself in the Federal Republic of Germany. Fate took pity on this close associate of Himmler. He managed to escape execution and live to a ripe old age. Today historians associate his name with the Holocaust and the Treblinka concentration camp.

early years

The future SS General Karl Wolf was born on May 13, 1900 in Darmstadt into the family of a judicial adviser. The boy graduated from a Catholic school. At 17, he went to the Western Front of the First World War. Towards the end of the campaign, he became a lieutenant and received the award-winning Iron Cross.

At the age of 20, Karl Wolff demobilized and moved to Frankfurt am Main. There he worked in trading companies and banks. In 1923, the young man got married. His wife Frida von Remheld was the daughter of an industrialist. Having arranged his personal life, Wolf opened his own law firm specializing in trade.

Approximate Himmler

Wolf became a member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party in 1931. Then he joined the SS - in the future, his name was most associated with these troops. A year later, Karl Wolff became Sturmführer. In the spring of 1933, he was appointed adjutant to the Bavarian Prime Minister Franz von Epp.

However, a much more important career turn for Wolf was his acquaintance with Heinrich Himmler. In 1935, he was already the adjutant chief of one of the main political figures of the Third Reich. As a close associate of Himmler, the military began to play an important role in all further activities of the SS. His position made itself felt during the Night of the Long Knives.

Service in the SS

In 1936, Karl Wolff was elected to the Reichstag, where he represented the voters of Hesse. In the same autumn, he became the head of the new SS organ. The personal headquarters of the Reichsfuehrer needed a chief, and the diligent and diligent Wolf was elected to this position. For several years, he, together with Himmler, determined the vector of development of the elite troops.

The chief of staff was the actual co-author of the ideology and symbols of the SS. The Reichsleiter himself treated him with rare confidence. Where Himmler did not have time to be present in person, but had to be in accordance with his position, his right hand turned out to be Wolf Karl. The general often served as an intermediary between his immediate superior and Adolf Hitler.

Holocaust involvement and work in Italy

Another area of Wolf's responsibility was concentration camps. For example, in 1942 he oversaw the shipment of Warsaw Jews to Treblinka. There the prisoners were systematically destroyed. It is believed that Karl Wolf, whose biography is full of criminal episodes, authorized the murder of about 300 thousand people.

In 1943, the general was sent to Verona. He soon became the supreme leader of the SS throughout Italy. After Mussolini formed the Republic of Salo, a close associate of Himmler was appointed the representative of the Wehrmacht in this state. According to one version, the "business trip" to Italy was caused by Wolf's spat with his boss. Himmler did not like that a subordinate contacted Hitler bypassing him. Wolff wanted to divorce and received permission from the Fuhrer for a divorce. Himmler was against the dissolution of the marriage. Moreover, he was outraged by Wolf's defiant independence. One way or another, but shortly after this episode, the military was assigned to Northern Italy.

Sunrise

The successful Allied operation in the Apennine Peninsula led to the fall of the Mussolini regime. In this situation, Berlin began to take steps to evacuate German forces from Italy. Karl Wolf was in charge of this operation. The SS general took advantage of the mediation of Pope Pius XII and contacted the American representatives. The military managed to start diplomatic negotiations, which eventually took place on the territory of neutral Switzerland. Interestingly, Wolf went to an audience with the Pope in secret. He even had to borrow someone else's civilian suit.

Negotiations on the fate of Italy were generally secret. The Americans, acting together with the British, even gave them the code name "Sunrise" - "Crossword", that is, they equated them with a secret operation. Wolf's conversation with Pius was successful. The day before, he, most likely without the knowledge of Himmler (this issue remains controversial among historians), met with the Fuhrer. The military offered to make peace with the Americans and the British as soon as possible in order to focus on the fight against the Bolsheviks. Although Hitler did not give an unambiguous answer, he actually untied his subordinate's hands. From that moment on, Wolf negotiated Italy at his own peril and risk.

Secret meetings in Switzerland

The US delegation was led by Allen Dulles, the future head of the CIA. Wolf met with him several times. In between negotiations, he was summoned to Berlin. The situation was paradoxical. A prominent SS official was under double pressure. On the one hand, his own Berlin leadership demanded an answer from him, on the other hand, the Americans put forward weighty demands. The Soviet factor was also important. The allies did not allow the USSR diplomats to negotiate, as they feared that they would frighten Wolf with inflated conditions.

The German representative did not warn Mussolini about plans to surrender Northern Italy. Even when he began to suspect that the ally might be negotiating with the enemy, Wolf's associates convinced him that there was nothing to fear. In order to demonstrate to the Americans that he was serious about his intentions, the soldier released several Resistance prisoners. As in the case of the Pope, he crossed the Swiss border in secret. The accomplices sheltered him in a private clinic located in Lugano.

Risky diplomacy

At the final stage, negotiations in Switzerland were thwarted. In April, Soviet troops launched their final offensive against Berlin. Meanwhile, President Roosevelt has died in the United States. Dulles had to wait for additional instructions from the new American leadership.

Meanwhile, Wolf returned from another Berlin meeting to Switzerland. Fearing that he would lose the remnants of control over the SS in Italy, the military crossed the border. Leaving neutral territory turned out to be a mistake. Soon, Wolf fell into a trap, as the villa in which he was staying was surrounded by partisans. Only thanks to a special operation carried out by loyal people, he managed to escape and return to Switzerland. There he gave the Americans a paper announcing the surrender of the SS.

Court

Already at the Italian negotiations, realizing that the end of the war was near, Karl Wolf, whose story never ended with capital punishment, tried to negotiate with the Americans about his personal future. For his assistance in diplomatic contacts, he counted on retaining his public office after the fall of the Third Reich. However, when the Allies did win, a prominent SS figure could hardly impose his demands.

In 1946, Wolf was interned, and soon he was sentenced to 4 years in labor camps. Nevertheless, the court treated the Obergruppenfuehrer extremely softly. Moreover, Wolf ended up in a completely different way from his boss Himmler, who was caught trying to flee to Denmark, after which he took an ampoule of poison. He did not have to wait for a death sentence at the Nuremberg trials, as happened with many people in the highest echelons of power in the Third Reich.

Further destiny

There are several versions about why Wolf received such a short sentence and was released already in 1949. There is a widespread point of view that Dulles personally saved his life, who did not want the general to disclose in court the details of secret negotiations about the future of Italy at the end of the war. Already in 1961, that is, after the resignation of the head of the CIA, one of the key figures of the SS was again arrested. This time, the German authorities took up his case, accusing him of murdering hundreds of thousands of Jews. Wolf's key crime was his complicity in the deportation of prisoners to the infamous Treblinka.

Already an old man, a former military man denied his connection with the politics of the Holocaust. He gave confused testimonies and explained them in every possible way by his own forgetfulness caused by his middle age. Despite this, in 1964, a member of the NSDAP was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He remained behind bars until 1971, when he was released due to poor health.

Few key figures in the Nazi Party lived to a ripe old age. Karl Wolff, whose photo once flaunted in the newspapers next to pictures of Himmler and Hitler, was one of them. He died in the Bavarian city of Rosenheim on July 15, 1984.

Largely thanks to the writer Yulian Semenov and his novel "Seventeen Moments of Spring", which was used to make the eponymous 12-episode TV movie, which was released on the screens of the country in 1973. However, it was just an on-screen character, and the real biography of Wolf Karl, the main dates and events that took place in his life, will be described later in this article.

The beginning of the way

Karl Friedrich Otto Wolff was born on 13 May 1900 in Darmstadt to the family of a court counselor. When he was 17 years old, he voluntarily joined the army. At the end of the First World War, he already had the rank of lieutenant and such awards as the Iron Cross of I and II degrees.

Wolf managed to try himself in a peaceful life - it was in the commercial and banking spheres. This choice of occupation was not made by chance: this was largely facilitated by his marriage to the daughter of one of the largest German industrialists, von Rentheld, which took place in 1923. He soon opened his own trade and law firm.

Career

Like most of the military personnel of the former German Empire, Karl Wolff was among the Nazis. He joined the SS and NSDAP quite late - in 1931. However, during his short service, he managed to gain a reputation as a calm, self-confident and sociable person who was very much loved and respected by his subordinates. In early September 1933, he was appointed adjutant of Heinrich Himmler himself, Reichsfuehrer SS.

Connecting link

Beginning in 1936, Karl Wolf became Himmler's closest associate and confidant. It was he who, for several years, carried out the connection between his boss and Hitler. Himmler highly valued his employee and considered him his best friend. This is evidenced by the fact that Wolf accompanied him almost everywhere: on numerous trips, at meetings and even during visits to the "death camps".

Beginning of negotiations

Anticipating the imminent collapse of Schellenberg, together with Himmler, they decided to establish contact with the American special services. And again, the same reliable and proven Wolf acts as a connecting link. He manages to establish the necessary contact through Pope Pius XII. In early March 1945, Wolf met for the first time in Ascona, Switzerland, with a whole group of Americans led by Allen Dulles, where they discussed the surrender of the German army in the Apennines.

In view of the fact that Washington and Moscow were allies at that time, the Americans decided on March 12 to inform the Soviet government about the negotiations that had begun. Upon learning of this, Stalin demanded that his representatives also participate in them, but was refused. Later, the American ambassador to the Soviet Union, Harriman, explained this decision by the fact that the United States was afraid of a breakdown in negotiations due to unrealizable conditions that could be put forward by representatives from the USSR.

The final stage

Meanwhile, rumors that Karl Wolf was in dialogue with the Americans reached Bormann, who tried to use this trump card in his game against Heinrich Himmler, who, together with Schellenberg, managed to save the negotiation process at the very last moment.

During the dialogue, the Americans did not leave doubts about the powers of Wolf himself, as well as the ability of the SS to organize such a large-scale event as the surrender of German troops stationed in fascist Italy. This mistrust was due to the fact that the German formations at that time were commanded by Field Marshal A. Kesselring.

Surrender

In order to dispel the last doubts of the Americans, Wolff had to provide his new allies with maps of the location of Hitler's troops in Italy. In the future, it was these documents that helped the United States develop an optimal plan for an offensive on the Apennine Peninsula.

Postwar biography

Karl Wolf, contrary to common sense, after the surrender of Hitlerite Germany and its occupation by allied troops, did not hide, but, on the contrary, hoped for pardon and even some compensation from the victors. Even during the negotiations held in Switzerland, he made it clear that after the fall of Hitler he expects to receive the post of Minister of the Interior in the new German government. But, contrary to his expectations, he was arrested by the Americans and convicted in Germany in 1946.

The verdict amazed him: Karl Wolff was released for four years in 1949. Despite the fact that during his imprisonment he lost almost everything, already in the early 1950s his material well-being reached the level that he had in his best years.

Second arrest

Why didn't the Americans do this? And the fact is that in this situation, Wolf could have told a completely different version concerning both the surrender in Italy and the negotiations themselves, which could differ significantly from the official one presented by Allen Dulles. In addition, the possible confessions of the former general could negatively affect the reputation of the US Strategic Services Office, on the basis of which the CIA was created, and cause irreparable harm to the entire allied coalition.

This idea seems to be correct, since immediately after Dulles' resignation in 1961 as a result of the failed American attempt to invade Cuba, Karl Wolff was arrested again. This time, the German authorities charged him with aiding the extermination of more than 300 thousand people. Here it was about the deportation of Polish Jews to the nearby village of Treblinka. Wolf, as one would expect, of course, denied his involvement in the Holocaust, citing his forgetfulness.