Schwarze Kapelle

The Schwarze Kapelle (German for Black Orchestra) was a term used by the Gestapo to refer to a group of conspirators within the German military who plotted to overthrow Adolf Hitler. It included many senior officers within the Wehrmacht. Unlike the Rote Kapelle (Red Orchestra), the name given by the Gestapo to the Soviet spy network within the Third Reich, the members of the Black Orchestra were of aristocratic background, felt contempt for the ideological fervor of the Nazi Party and were politically closer to the Western Allies.

Schwarze Kapelle claimed members throughout all the strategic operations of the German military and government. Those believed to have been active with the organisation included:

The main axis of operations were centred in a line between Paris-Berlin-Smolensk.

The members of Schwarze Kapelle were patriotic Germans, including many in the higher echelons of the Wehrmacht and Abwehr, who feared Hitler's policies would ruin the country. By overthrowing the Nazi Party they hoped to preserve German sovereignty. Through Admiral Canaris' Abwehr they were in touch with their counterparts in Britain, in other Allied nations, and in various neutral nations. Elements of the Schwarze Kapelle began making overtures to Britain before war broke out and while Hitler could have been easily ousted or killed. British officials said they would not interfere with German internal affairs at that time. Many hard feelings remained from the First World War, exacerbated by Hitler's treacherous invasion of "Rump" Czechoslovakia six months after the Munich Agreement, which made the British feel they'd been taken for fools. Moreover, Britain had been burned in the Venlo Incident, losing two SIS officers—including Sigismund Payne Best, who had extensive knowledge of British espionage on the continent—to supposed "discontented conservatives" who were actully Sicherheitsdienst counterintelligence operatives.

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