Erich Dethleffsen
 Erich Dethleffsen    (officer, spook) | ||||||||||||||
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| Born | 2 August 1904 Kiel | |||||||||||||
| Died | 4 July 1980 (Age 75) Munich, Bavaria | |||||||||||||
| Nationality | German | |||||||||||||
| Relatives | Nikolaus von Falkenhorst | |||||||||||||
German Nazi general, later Gehlen Organisation and BND. 1958 Bilderberg
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Erich Dethleffsen was a German officer and spook. During WW2 he was on the army General Staff in Adolf Hitler's headquarters. After the war he was part of the Gehlen Organisation under journalistic cover, before continuing as leader of the Analysis Section in the German Federal Intelligence Service].
Early career
Dethleffsen joined the Reichswehr on November 1, 1923. On December 1, 1927, he became a lieutenant in the 8th (Prussian) Infantry Regiment. On December 15, 1939, he was transferred to the General Staff of the army and promoted to major there on October 1, 1940. With effect from January 15, 1942, he became the First General Staff Officer of the newly formed 330th Infantry Division, but had to leave on February 4, 1942 due to a wound. After a long time in the Führerreserve, Dethleffsen, who had been a lieutenant colonel since April 1, 1942, was promoted to lieutenant colonel on April 1. August 1942. On April 1, 1943, he was promoted to colonel, and on June 1, 1943, he was appointed Chief of the General Staff of the XXXIX. Panzerkorps at Heeresgruppe Mitte.
From May 5, 1944 to February 15, 1945, Dethleffsen was chief of the General Staff of the 4th Army and in this capacity became Major General on November 9, 1944. He was transferred to the General Staff of the Army as chief of the command group on March 23, 1945, where he was the immediate superior of Reinhard Gehlen. Dethleffsen still managed to get out of Berlin, led the General Staff of the Army Group Vistula for a few days as a substitute from April 29, 1945 and had his last function in the Wehrmacht Command Staff of the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW) in the Flensburg enclave under Colonel General Alfred Jodl from May 4, 1945. On 23. In May 1945, Dethleffsen was taken prisoner of war in Flensburg together with the other members of the last German Reich government and the OKW and remained in various US internment camps until 1948, initially together with Karl Dönitz, Hermann Göring and Joachim von Ribbentrop in Camp Ashcan in Bad Mondorf.
Post-war career
After his release from captivity, Dethleffsen became the managing director of the Economic Policy Society of 1947 (WIPOG), an outfit whose goal was to spread a pro-Western attitude in Germany.[1] In this capacity, Dethleffsen gave numerous lectures and speeches on military topics, including the European Defense Community (ECG). Since 1949 Dethleffsen was an active "Special Connection" (J-1805) of the Gehlen Organization and worked for the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. In the 1950s he played an important role in the debate about German rearmament. He was considered close to the government, and was considered a "moderate" war veteran. In 1956, he received a positive result from the personnel appraiser committee, but he was not recruited into the newly established Bundeswehr. Dethleffsen was instead recruited to the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) under the service name Degenhardt and immediately afterwards, in July 1958, replaced Heinz Herre as the overall head of the Analysis Section. He was one of the few entrants who joined Gehlen's service late, but immediately got to a management post.[2] Dethleffsen remained head of the Analysis Section until at least 1968.[3]
Dethleffsen was married to the daughter of Colonel General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst and lived after the Second World War first in Frankfurt am Main and finally in Munich, where he died on July 4, 1980.
Event Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilderberg/1958 | 13 September 1958 | 15 September 1958 | Buxton UK England | The 7th Bilderberg and the first one in the UK. 72 guests |
References
- ↑ https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/cia-dokumente-rodenstock-linde-und-aeg-spionierten-fuer-den-bnd-a-1198782.html
- ↑ Thomas Wolf: Die Entstehung des BND. Aufbau, Finanzierung, Kontrolle (= Jost Dülffer, Klaus-Dietmar Henke, Wolfgang Krieger, Rolf-Dieter Müller [Hrsg.]: Veröffentlichungen der Unabhängigen Historikerkommission zur Erforschung der Geschichte des Bundesnachrichtendienstes 1945–1968. Band 9). 1. Auflage. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-96289-022-3, S. 396 f., 557.
- ↑ Armin Müller: Wellenkrieg – Agentenfunk und Funkaufklärung des Bundesnachrichtendienstes 1945–1968. Hrsg.: Jost Dülffer et al. (= Veröffentlichungen der Unabhängigen Historikerkommission zur Erforschung der Geschichte des Bundesnachrichtendienstes 1945–1968. Band 5). Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-86153-947-6, S. 47.
