The more likely explanations for Himmler repeatedly protecting the Admiral are either that Canaris had been Himmler’s and Heydrich’s man inside the Abwehr from the beginning, and Himmler trusted him to keep a close eye on the activities of Oster and the others, or, as Canaris’ biographer Heinz Höhne suggests, both Himmler and Canaris had reached the same conclusions about the hopelessness of winning the war against both east and west and were working on the same lines for Hitler’s removal and negotiations with the west. This is certainly true of Canaris; it seems to be true for at least one
...more
