Walter Kopp
Walter Kopp (1913 in Alsenz – 1974 in Gauting[1]) was a lieutenant colonel in the Wehrmacht in Nazi Germany. After the Nazi defeat in 1945, he became the chief of one stay-behind network in West Germany, code-named KIBITZ-15.[2] The British and US intelligence services had set up clandestine anti-communist organisations supposed to "stay-behind" in case of a Soviet invasion. Walter Kopp was described by his own North-American handlers as an "unreconstructed Nazi,"[3] and the KIBITZ-15 network as "a group with Nazi tendencies"[4] in CIA documents released in June 2006.
In May 1945 Kopp wrote a letter to High Commissioner McCloy stating that he and a group of his friends were concerned over what might happen in case of a Russian invasion of Germany and wished to place themselves at the disposal of the Americans. Walter Kopp was later made chief agent of the KIBITZ stay-behind network.[5]
In May 1953 Kopp's contract with the CIA was terminated "on the friendliest terms".[6]
In 1968 he was Liaison officer of the Military District Command in Munich to the political parties.[7]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ http://www.das-ritterkreuz.de/index_search_db.php4?modul=search_result_det&wert1=3278. Accessed: 2015-10-27. (Archived by WebCite® at https://www.webcitation.org/6cbEoVjqR?url=http://www.das-ritterkreuz.de/index_search_db.php4?modul=search_result_det&wert1=3278 Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine)
- ^ Research Aid: Cryptonyms and Terms in Declassified CIA Files Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Disclosure Acts IWG 2007
- ^ Why Israel's capture of Eichmann caused panic at the CIA, The Guardian, June 8, 2006
- ^ Naftali, Timothy - New Information on Cold War Stay-Behind Operations in Germany and on the Adolf Eichmann Case. University of Virginia
- ^ Declassified CIA file "Walter Kopp (KIBITZ-15)" (Undated)
- ^ Declassified CIA memo (EGFA-1220) "Termination of Kibitz-15 net" 16 April 1953
- ^ "Braune Feldgraue". Der Spiegel. 7 January 1968.
External links
[edit]- CIA Ties With Ex-Nazis Shown, The Washington Post, June 7, 2006
- Declassified CIA files relating to Walter Kopp (179 documents as of June 2013)