Wilhelm Canaris

During the period 1935–36 he made contacts in Spain to organise a German spy network there due to his excellent Spanish. At an officers conference in Berlin December 1941 Canaris is quoted as saying "Abwehr has nothing to do with persecution of Jews. Canaris appeared outwardly to side with his friend Heydrich but only in order to give Abwehr a chance to grow and become a considerable force.

During the Second World War he was among the military officers involved in the clandestine opposition to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. He was executed in the Flossenbürg concentration camp for the act of high treason.