Alfred Naujocks Secret agent of the secret services of Nazi Germany Date of Birth: 20.09.1911 Country: Germany

Biography of Alfred Naujocks

Alfred Helmut Naujocks (1911-1960) was a secret agent of the Nazi German intelligence services. He gained a reputation as the "man who started World War II." Naujocks was described by historian William L. Shirer as a typical product of the Gestapo, "something like an intellectual bandit." He was involved in several dirty operations planned and carried out by Heinrich Himmler's agency.

Early Life and Involvement with the Nazis:
Little is known about Naujocks' early life. As a teenager in Kiel, Germany, he worked as a welder, mechanic, and was an amateur boxer. It was during this time that he joined the Nazi movement and became acquainted with Reinhard Heydrich, the future head of the SS. He briefly studied engineering at the University of Kiel but spent most of his time participating in street fights against anti-fascists. In 1931, Naujocks joined the SS and became one of the first secret agents of the SD (Sicherheitsdienst).

Involvement in Intelligence Operations:
By 1939, Naujocks was leading a subsection in the SD's Section VI "F," which was responsible for the creation of counterfeit documents, passports, and identity cards for SD agents operating abroad, including fake money. On August 10, 1939, Heydrich informed Naujocks, who by then held the rank of Sturmbannführer in the SS, about a planned operation to stage an attack on a small German radio station in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, near the Polish border. The purpose of this operation was to provide a justification for Hitler's planned invasion of Poland.

The Gleiwitz Incident:
Naujocks successfully carried out the Gleiwitz operation on August 31, 1939. He organized the attack and attributed it to Polish intelligence agencies. This false flag attack provided the German propaganda machine with the necessary material to justify the invasion of Poland.

Other Operations and Later Life:
In November 1939, Naujocks led a special SS unit tasked with kidnapping two British intelligence agents in the Netherlands, later blaming the attempted assassination of Hitler on British intelligence. During the occupation of the Netherlands and Belgium by German forces in May 1940, Naujocks played a role in dressing German agents as Dutch and Belgian border guards. He also came up with the idea for Operation Bernhard, which involved dropping counterfeit British banknotes over British territory.

In January 1941, Naujocks fell out of favor with Heydrich and was transferred to the SS combat units for challenging one of Heydrich's orders. He was later sent to the Eastern Front, where he was wounded in 1943. However, due to Himmler's directives prohibiting the sending of "holders of state secrets" to places where they risked falling into enemy hands, Naujocks was transferred to the economic occupation services in Belgium and later involved in tracking down members of the Resistance in Denmark.

In October 1944, Naujocks defected to the Americans. In 1946, while awaiting trial, he escaped from an internment camp and disappeared. There are reports that he settled in Hamburg, where he occasionally sold stories to the press about his tumultuous activities and numerous "exploits" as the "man who started World War II."