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Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler's Spymaster

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It's not often you read a biography and still do not know a lot about the person. Admiral Wilhelm Canaris was great at what he did and he stayed out of the limelight, which combined to make him a great Spymaster. However, it also makes it a challenge for authors to find source material. Michael Mueller overcomes this challenge and delivers a masterpiece in world spycraft in his book "Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler's Spymaster".

The book follows the career of Wilhelm Canaris from his first dabbling in the intelligence business during the First World War during his fateful voyage aboard the SMS Dresden in 1914. After capture by the Royal Navy, he escaped from the Chilean island Mas-a-Tiera and found his way across South America to Buenos Aires.

After his amazing escape he transferred to Spain to set up a relay system for U-Boats. Mueller does an outstanding job highlighting the efforts of Canaris' in neutral Spain to build a network of informers and saboteurs against British interests. Mueller follows with a thorough description of Canaris' tenure as a commander of the U-27 during his Mediterranean cruises during World War I, ending with the decommissioning of his vessel as part of the armistice.

After the war, Canaris' life moves into the world of intrigue. Post World War I Germany was in turmoil with the socialist, nationalist, and the New Republic all vying for control after the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Mueller documents the roles of Canaris in assassinating political rivals. Canaris was clearly anti-socialist, but he walked a fine line between supporting the New Republic and the nascent nationalist movement. He survived numerous plots by his political rivals to become Hitler's Intelligence chief in 1932.

Quickly losing faith in Hitler and his party, Canaris was part of a ring of conspirators in 1938 who tried to assassinate Hitler before he got out of control. The cabal lost its nerve, and shelved its plan until July 20, 1944 when Claus von Stauffenberg set off a bomb in the failed attempt to kill Hitler.

Canaris and his compatriots kept detailed diaries of the atrocities and war crimes with the intent of turning them over to the allies when the war ended. These diaries were eventually discovered by the Nazis, leading to the execution of Canaris in 1945.

Mueller's book is an outstanding look at the life of the head of German Intelligence agency. There are so many nuances and surprises in this book, that no book review can do it justice.

Why was this book so dramatically reduced in size from the German original? The German book is nearly twice the length.