Heinrich Muller Chief of the German Secret Police (Gestapo) Date of Birth: 28.04.1900 Country: Germany

Biography of Heinrich Müller

Heinrich Müller was the head of the German secret police (Gestapo) and a high-ranking SS officer. Despite popular portrayals of him as a jovial and not very perceptive Bavarian peasant, Müller's fate continues to capture attention. Did he perish during the collapse of the Third Reich, or did he manage to survive? If he did survive, who helped him escape and avoid prosecution? And who did he end up working for?

One individual who attempted to answer these questions was former chief of foreign intelligence for the SD, SS-Brigadeführer Walter Schellenberg. In his memoirs written shortly before his death in 1952, Schellenberg claimed, based on unclear information, that Müller had allegedly established contact with the Soviet secret service in late 1943, joined the communists in 1945, and was even seen in Moscow in 1948. According to Schellenberg, this meant that the NKVD had recruited the mastermind of the Gestapo. If true, it would stain the reputation of the Soviet state and its intelligence services. However, the question remains - why would they take on such a heavy burden?

In the Western press during the 1950s and 1960s, the theory was proposed that Müller was recruited by the NKVD because they needed his expertise in Western German intelligence and counterintelligence. In 1956, Western Germany established the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), which was initially headed by former Wehrmacht Major General Reinhard Gehlen from OKW headquarters. The agency was even named "Gehlen Organization" at the time. "Dr. Schneider" (the codename for the head of the BND) recruited former members of the Abwehr (the army's intelligence and counterintelligence) for his staff. Müller, known for his exceptional memory and diligent study of documents, particularly personal files, could provide detailed information about almost any intelligence officer. It is believed that Müller's colleagues from the Abwehr were investigated, not only because of his pathological "love for the arts" but also because they were viewed as potential suspects. After the suppression of the July 20, 1944, conspiracy, which nearly resulted in Hitler's death, Müller personally conducted the investigation, revealing connections between the conspirators and Admiral Canaris, the head of the Abwehr, and his chief of staff, Colonel Hans Oster.

The Abwehr, as ordered by Hitler, was disbanded in February 1944, and Müller organized the vetting of its employees who were transferred to the SD. Therefore, the SS-Gruppenführer knew almost everything or everything about the new recruits in Gehlen's organization, who settled in Pullach near Munich and immediately began operations against the USSR. Consequently, from an operational perspective, if moral considerations are set aside, the recruitment of Müller by Soviet intelligence appears to be a logical step. Furthermore, there are precedents for such recruitment. For example, it is known that an SS-Standartenführer Friedrich Panzinger, Müller's deputy in counterintelligence and head of the Gestapo Sonderkommando "Rote Kapelle" ("Red Orchestra") established in 1941 specifically to hunt down Soviet agents, was recruited while in Soviet captivity. Unfortunately, the recruitment of Panzinger did not lead to success, as he immediately reported to Gehlen's organization upon his return to Germany. It is known that Friedrich Pannwitz, an SS-Hauptsturmführer who gained infamy for the destruction of the Czechoslovak village of Lidice in 1942 on his orders as revenge for an assassination attempt on Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) chief Reinhard Heydrich, was recruited with the help of Soviet intelligence in 1945. Finally, there is also the case of SS-Obersturmführer Heinz Felfe, who worked in Schellenberg's organization during the war and dealt with Switzerland. In 1961, he was exposed by the BND as a Soviet agent who had been working for them for ten years and had managed to provide Moscow with a significant amount of valuable intelligence.

Perhaps not all spy stories related to the recruitment by Soviet intelligence of former SS members, RSHA employees, and other Nazi agencies declared outlawed by the Nuremberg Tribunal have become public knowledge. Despite the respect for national security, it can be boldly stated that the defense against accusations of recruiting and sheltering the former SS-Gruppenführer, periodically demonstrated by the Soviet side over the past half-century, has traditionally been quite clumsy. Instead of providing substantial evidence, they resorted to empty statements such as "this cannot be because it cannot be." They insisted that Müller died at the end of April 1945 while attempting to break out of Berlin, citing the "fact" of his burial by his daughter at the Stadtfriedhof in Stahnsdorf, West Germany (however, the exhumation of the grave in 1961 revealed the remains of three unknown individuals, none of which remotely resembled the Gruppenführer). They also circulated dubious rumors that he had been spotted among former Nazis hiding in Latin America. It is difficult to understand why, but until now, the most compelling argument against the existence of Müller has been withheld: Soviet intelligence itself had been actively searching for him for a long time. There is documentary evidence to support this claim!

Perhaps the mystery of Heinrich Müller's post-war fate would have remained unsolved if not for a series of sensational discoveries made overseas in recent years. According to documents found and published by Gregory Douglas, Jetta Sereni, and other American journalists (although the authenticity of these documents is questioned by representatives of the CIA, military intelligence, and other US intelligence agencies), Müller did manage to escape from besieged Berlin. On April 29, 1945, at around 11 pm, just as the fighting had begun on the streets, he took off in a light courier plane called "Storch" from a street in Tiergarten and landed five kilometers from the Swiss border. In the Alpine republic, Müller assumed a new identity, slightly modified his appearance, and settled in a quiet corner on a villa he purchased (using funds from a secret account held by the Nazi Party in a Swiss bank).

In the summer of 1948, he received a visit from a representative with special powers from the recently established Central Intelligence Agency of the United States. This American scholar, fluent in German and well-versed in the political history of Germany, reportedly engaged in hours-long face-to-face dialogues with the Gruppenführer for three weeks. According to Gregory Douglas, these conversations were recorded and later came into his possession, leading him to publish three volumes of these materials as "recruitment conversations" between 1995 and 1998 in the United States.

The Americans allegedly located Müller (according to Douglas) through his former deputy, SS-Oberführer Willy Krichbaum, who had served in Gehlen's organization as the chief recruiter and occasionally secretly visited his old patron. Krichbaum supposedly informed the Americans that the former head of the Gestapo (whose location was known only to Oberführer) found the comfortable and tranquil life on his "well-deserved retirement" in the midst of the alpine peaks burdensome, and he was willing to rejoin the fight against the communist threat. After confirming this information, American intelligence recruited Müller as a secret consultant and advisor.

After relocating to the United States, the Gruppenführer (according to his diaries, the authenticity of which Gregory Douglas insists upon) quickly integrated himself into the political elite of the "most democratic" country in the world. He developed close relationships with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Senator Joseph McCarthy, and even President Harry Truman, sharing similar views. Müller married an American woman from the upper echelons of Washington society and lived happily with her for many years in a large estate in Virginia. His home was filled with first-class works of art, and lavish receptions were held for distinguished guests. Heinrich Müller passed away in 1983 at the age of 83.

Of course, it is possible that the "diaries" published by Douglas and the "recruitment conversations" with Müller are merely literary hoaxes skillfully crafted. However, documents from the US Army and American intelligence agencies, copies of which are provided by Douglas and other authors, seem to confirm that the highest military and government leadership of the overseas superpower was at the very least aware of where the former head of the Gestapo had found refuge and practically kept all information about his search efforts - which some intelligence officers had been conducting - secret.

Will the global community ever hear a clear and convincing answer from the administration of the President of the United States regarding the extent to which the information coming from American citizens about the "100% American" former chief executioner of the Third Reich and his use in the secret war against the Soviet Union is true? It is worth noting that all previous administrations have maintained a tomb-like silence on this matter...