General Carl Wolf: biography, history, major dates and events

Karl Wolf is a SS general who gained wide popularity in the Soviet Union largely thanks to the writer Julian Semenov and his novel "Seventeen Moments of Spring", on which the eponymous 12-episode TV movie was released, which was released in 1973 in the country. However, it was just a screen character, and the real biography of Wolf Carl, the main dates and events that took place in his life, will be described later in this article.

The beginning of the way

Carl Friedrich Otto Wolf was born May 13, 1900 in Darmstadt (German Empire) in the family counselor for court cases. When he was 17 years old, he voluntarily joined the army. At the end of World War I he already had the rank of lieutenant and such awards as Iron Cross I and II degrees.

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

Career

Like most of the cadre military of the former German Empire, Karl Wolf was among the Nazis. In the SS and the NSDAP he entered rather late - in 1931. However, during a short service, he managed to win the reputation of a calm, self-confident and sociable person, whom the subordinates loved and respected. In early September 1933 he was appointed adjutant himself Henry Himmler, Reichsfuhrer SS.

It must be said that Wolfe Carl never specifically studied military affairs. His school was the war itself. In reality, he was more involved in banking, and in particular, the financing of the SS. It was easier for him to do this, since he had close ties with the German business community. According to some reports, it was he who became the main initiator of the creation of the so-called Circle of Friends of the SS. This organization included both directors of various companies, as well as ordinary citizens, not only supporting the Nazi policy, but also helping finance it. Wolf also took a very active part in the creation of SS symbols, developed on the basis of Teutonic mysticism.

Connecting link

Beginning in 1936, Karl Wolf became the closest associate and confidant of Himmler. It was he who for several years had been communicating with his boss and Hitler. Himmler valued his employee very much and considered him to be a best friend. This is evidenced by the fact that Wolff accompanied him almost everywhere: on numerous trips, at meetings and even during visits to "death camps".

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

Start of negotiations

Sensing the imminent collapse of the Third Reich, Schellenberg, along with Himmler, decided to establish contact with the American special services. Again, the same reliable and proven Wolf appears as the connecting link. He manages to establish the necessary contact through Pope Pius XII. In early March 1945, Wolf first met in the Swiss Ascona 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 at that time were allies, on March 12, the Americans decided to inform the Soviet government about the negotiations that had begun. Upon learning of this, Stalin demanded that their representatives participate in them, but he was refused. Later, the American ambassador to the Soviet Union Harriman explained this decision by saying that the United States was afraid of disrupting the talks because of unrealistic conditions that representatives from the USSR could nominate.

The final stage

Meanwhile, rumors that Carl Wolff is in dialogue with the Americans also 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 of the Americans there was no doubt about Wolf's powers, and also in the ability of the SS to organize such a large-scale event as the surrender of German troops stationed on the territory of fascist Italy. This distrust was due to the fact that German units at that time were commanded by Field Marshal A. Kesselring.

Surrender

In order to dispel the last doubts of the Americans, Wolf had to give his new allies maps of the location of Hitler's troops in Italy. In the future it was these documents that helped the US develop an optimal plan for the offensive on the Apennine peninsula.

At the end of April 1945, when the victorious allied offensive began in Italy, Wolff finally got all the necessary powers to conclude a long-awaited truce. On April 29, he, along with the Fitinghoff, signs all the conditions for the capitulation of the fascist troops in the Apennines.

Postwar biography

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

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

Second arrest

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

Why did not the Americans do this? And the fact is that in this situation Wolf could tell a completely different version, concerning both capitulation in Italy, and the negotiations themselves, which could significantly differ from the official one presented by Allen Dulles. Moreover, the possible recognition of the former general could have a negative impact on the reputation of the US Strategic Services Office, on the basis of which the CIA was created, and cause irreparable harm to the allied coalition.

This idea seems to be correct, since immediately after the resignation of Dulles, which occurred in 1961 as a result of the failed attempt by the Americans to invade Cuba, Carl Wolf was again arrested. This time, the German authorities have accused him of aiding and abetting more than 300,000 people. Here it was a question of the deportation of Polish Jews to concentration camps located near the village Treblinka. Wolf, as expected, of course, denied his involvement in the Holocaust, while referring to his forgetfulness.

For several years, the court sessions on this case lasted. In the end, in September 1964, a sentence was pronounced: 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).