Gehlen Organization

The Gehlen Organization, often called "The Org," was a post-World War II intelligence agency established in June 1946 by U.S. occupation authorities in the U.S. zone of occupied Germany. Named after its founder, Reinhard Gehlen, a former Wehrmacht Major General and head of Nazi military intelligence on the Eastern Front (Fremde Heere Ost, or FHO), the organization served as a critical U.S. intelligence asset during the early Cold War. Comprising former members of the German Army General Staff’s 12th Department, it focused on espionage against the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, eventually becoming the precursor to West Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, or BND) in 1956. Its history is marked by its reliance on ex-Nazis, CIA collaboration, and controversial operations, raising ethical questions about its methods and legacy.

Origins and Formation

(1945–1946) Reinhard Gehlen, born in 1902 in Erfurt, Germany, joined the Reichswehr in 1920 and rose through the ranks, becoming chief of FHO in 1942. Anticipating Germany’s defeat, he microfilmed FHO’s Soviet intelligence archives in early 1945, burying them in the Austrian Alps. On May 22, 1945, Gehlen surrendered to the U.S. Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) in Bavaria, offering his archives and expertise in exchange for freedom for himself and his staff. U.S. Army G-2 (intelligence), recognizing America’s lack of Soviet intelligence, accepted. Gehlen and seven senior FHO officers were removed from POW lists and transferred to Camp King, Oberursel, where they unearthed the archives. In September 1945, Gehlen and three aides were flown to the U.S. to brief the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), revealing details about Soviet military structures and OSS communist infiltrators.

In July 1946, Gehlen returned to Germany, establishing the Gehlen Organization under the cover of the “South German Industrial Development Organization” at Oberursel, later moving to a 25-acre compound in Pullach, near Munich, in December 1947, formerly a Nazi residential quarter. Starting with 350 former German intelligence officers, the Org grew to 4,000 specialists and 4,000 undercover agents (“V-men”) by the early 1950s, many ex-Wehrmacht, SS, and Sicherheitsdienst (SD) members, per *The Gehlen Organization and the Nazis* by Badis Ben Redjeb.

CIA Partnership and Operations

(1947–1956)In 1947, the newly formed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) assumed oversight of the Org, providing funding, vehicles, and aircraft while Gehlen supplied manpower. The CIA’s liaison, James H. Critchfield (1949–1956), worked closely with Gehlen, though tensions arose over security flaws, as noted by CIA officer Peter Sichel. The Org’s primary mission was espionage against the Eastern Bloc, interviewing every German POW returning from Soviet captivity (1947–1955) to gather data on Soviet industries, rail systems, airfields, and ports. It infiltrated agents into the Baltic States using ex-Kriegsmarine E-boats skippered by Hans-Helmut Klose and ran Operation Rusty, a counter-espionage effort against dissident German groups.

Notable successes included Operation Bohemia, which exposed a Yugoslav spy ring in Western Europe, and uncovering a Soviet assassination unit under SMERSH, delivering a Czech-designed detonator to the CIA, per *The Service: The Memoirs of General Reinhard Gehlen* (1977). The Org also supported **Operation Sunrise**, training 5,000 anti-communist Eastern European and Russian personnel at Oberammergau in 1946 for insurgencies, some lasting until 1956 in Ukraine. However, Soviet penetration was a persistent issue; a CIA report later called it a “catastrophic” compromise, with moles like ex-SS lieutenant **Heinz Felfe** (arrested 1961) undermining operations. The 1948–1952 WIN operation in Poland, initially thought to be an anti-communist resistance, was revealed as Soviet disinformation, costing lives and resources.

The Org’s reliance on ex-Nazis drew criticism. It employed figures like Alois Brunner, Adolf Eichmann’s deputy, and facilitated “ratlines” for Nazis to escape to South America and the Middle East, including Walter Rauff to Syria, as documented in *Journal of Intelligence History* (2019). These actions, supported by U.S. funding, prioritized anti-communism over moral accountability, per *The Real Odessa* by Uki Goñi.

Transition to BND and Decline

(1956–1968) On April 1, 1956, the Gehlen Organization was transferred to the West German government under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, forming the core of the BND, with Gehlen as its first president (1956–1968). Employing up to 7,000, the BND continued espionage against the Eastern Bloc, but Gehlen’s leadership faltered. His inattention, estrangement from Adenauer, and Felfe’s betrayal exposed vulnerabilities. In 1968, Gehlen was forced to retire, ending his 23-year intelligence career. He died on June 8, 1979, in Berg, Germany.

Gehlen’s memoirs and over 100,000 pages of leaked BND documents, reported by *Süddeutsche Zeitung* (2017), reveal the Org’s systematic recruitment of ex-Nazis, protected by Adenauer to counter East German subversion. The Org’s hatred of communism targeted not just Soviet regimes but also Western leftists, like socialist academic Wolfgang Abendroth, surveilled for his anti-Nazi past.

Connections to Cold War Operations

The Gehlen Organization’s anti-communist, ratlines to Argentina, where Condor later operated, suggest an indirect influence, as ex-Nazis like Rauff advised regimes, per *Hitler’s Shadow* by Richard Breitman.

Conclusion

The Gehlen Organization, born from Cold War necessity, leveraged ex-Nazi expertise to spy on the Soviet Union, transitioning from a U.S.-backed entity to West Germany’s BND. Its successes in counter-espionage and infiltration were marred by Soviet penetration and moral compromises, including Nazi ratlines to regions like Latin America.