File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1979-013-43,_Wilhelm_Canaris.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Wilhelm Canaris
Sign in to saveAlso known as Wilhelm Franz Canaris
German admiral, head of military intelligence service (1887–1945)
Wilhelm Canaris was a German admiral who led Nazi Germany's military intelligence service during World War II. He is historically significant because of his role in gathering intelligence for the German military and his later involvement in plots against Adolf Hitler, before being executed in 1945.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Franz
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Germany
- Place of birth
- Aplerbeck
- Place of death
- Flossenbürg concentration camp
- Occupation
- resistance fighter
- Educated at
- Naval Academy at Mürwik
- Languages spoken
- German
- Religion
- Lutheranism
- Participant in
- 20 July plot
- Conflict
- World War II
- Military branch
- Imperial German Navy
- Military rank
- admiral
- Image
- Wilhelm Canaris.jpg
Show 14 more facts
- Commons category
- Wilhelm Canaris
- date of birth
- 1877-01-01
- date of death
- 1945-04-09
- cause of death
- hanging to death
- name in native language
- Wilhelm Franz Canaris
- manner of death
- capital punishment
- commander of (DEPRECATED)
- SM UB-128
- relative
- Constantin Canaris
- allegiance
- Nazi Germany
- place of burial
- Bavaria
- place of detention
- Flossenbürg concentration camp
- start of work period
- 1905-00-00
- end of work period
- 1944-00-00
- archives at
- German Federal Archives
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
Wilhelm Franz Canaris (1 January 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a German admiral and the chief of the Abwehr (the German military-intelligence service) from 1935 to 1944. Initially a supporter of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, Canaris turned against Hitler and committed acts of both passive and active resistance during World War II following the German invasion of Poland in 1939.
Being the head of Nazi Germany's military-intelligence agency, he was in a key position to participate in resistance and sabotage the Nazi war effort. As the war turned against Germany, Canaris and other military officers expanded their clandestine opposition to the leadership of Nazi Germany. By 1945, his acts of resistance and sabotage against the Nazi regime came to light and Canaris was hanged in the Flossenbürg concentration camp for high treason as the Allied forces advanced through Southern Germany.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Wilhelm Canaris” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.