Reinhard Gehlen
| Reinhard Gehlen | |
|---|---|
Colonel Reinhard Gehlen, c. 1943
|
|
| Born |
3 March 1902 Erfurt, German Empire |
| Died | 8 June 1979 (aged 77) Starnberg, West Germany |
| Allegiance |
 Weimar Republic (to 1933) Nazi Germany (1933–1945) United States West Germany
|
| Service/branch | Army |
| Rank | Lieutenant-General |
| Battles/wars |
World War II Cold War |
| Awards |
Deutsches Kreuz in silver during the Second World War Knight of Malta |
Deutsches Kreuz in silver during the Second World War
Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz am Schulterband
Reinhard Gehlen (3 April 1902 – 8 June 1979) was a Nazi German general who was chief of the Foreign Armies East (FHO) military-intelligence unit, during World War II (1939–45); spymaster of the anti–Communist Gehlen Organization for the U.S.(1946–56); and the first president (1956–68) of the Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND) of West Germany, during the Cold War (1945–91).
In 1942, Gehlen was chief of FHO, the German Army's military intelligence unit on the Eastern Front (1941–45). As a professional soldier, the Wehrmacht officer Gehlen achieved the rank of major general, before Hitler sacked him, because of the FHO’s pessimistically accurate intelligence reports about Red Army superiority. In late 1945, at the start of the Cold War, the U.S. military (G-2 Intelligence) recruited General Gehlen to establish an espionage network against the Soviet Union; the Gehlen Organization (1946), wherein he employed ex–military-officers of the Wehrmacht and Nazis from the Schutzstaffel (SS) and the Sicherheitsdienst (SD).
Gehlen was president of the Federal Intelligence Service of West Germany, until 1968. Although ostensibly a civil servant in the BND, he was a lieutenant-general in the Reserve forces of the Bundeswehr; thus, Reinhard Gehlen was the highest-ranking reserve-officer in the army of West Germany.
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