Reinhard Gehlen
1902 – 1979 German intelligence officer, spymaster
Hitler's intelligence chief on the Eastern Front who ran a US-funded spy network after the war and founded West Germany's intelligence service.
- Religion
- Catholic.
- Affiliations
- Nazi army intelligence (Foreign Armies East); the US-backed Gehlen Organization; West Germany's BND.
Reinhard Gehlen headed Nazi military intelligence against the Soviet Union, then surrendered to the Americans with his files and agent networks intact. The US put him in charge of a spy organization against the Soviets that became the West German BND, rebuilding Western Cold War espionage on a Nazi foundation.
In the timeline
- 1946 Hitler's spymaster goes to work for the CIA mentioned