Horst Kopkow
Encyclopedia
Horst Kopkow was a Nazi Germany
SS major who worked for German Security police and, after the war, was concealed by British intelligence so that they could use his knowledge in the Cold War
.
During World War II
, Kopkow served in German national security police headquarters in Berlin. He was responsible for counter-sabotage and counterespionage. In May 1942 SS general Reinhard Heydrich
extended his responsibilities to include the capture of Soviet parachute agents in Czechoslovakia
and Poland
. After Heydrich's death in a British directed-Czech resistance attack, Kopkow's responsibilities were extended to include all allied parachute agents in the German Reich.
During the war, Kopkow's agents captured several hundred Soviet and British agents. Kopkow was informed and consulted over every capture, although he never left his headquarters in Berlin. One of his major efforts was the destruction of Red Orchestra and Rote Drei espionage networks. Security police also captured agents of MI6 and SOE
. Kopkow authorized several hundred orders to execute the agents. This continued to the end of the war in 1945. His superiors rewarded him with medals. Kopkow also investigated the July 20 plot
, an attempted assassination against Hitler.
At the end of the war, British military police arrested Kopkow in a Baltic village on May 29, 1945. By that time he would have been implicated in 300 deaths of Allied agents.
MI5
interrogated Kopkow heavily for the next four years to find out his methods against Soviet espionage. Kopkow cooperated and dictated notes to his former secretary Bertha Rose. British intelligence sheltered him from war crime
s investigation and made him available only for three times in war crimes trials. They announced his 'death' to War Crimes Group in London in January 1948.
According to partially declassified MI5 documents released 2004 in the British National Archives, MI6 hid Kopkow in order to utilize his knowledge further. They released him in West Germany
in 1949 or 1950 as a textile factory worker in the British occupation zone. Later he gave just two statements to the West German police when they were investigating the disappearance and death of Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller.
Horst Kopkow died from pneumonia in a hospital in Gelsenkirchen 1996.
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
SS major who worked for German Security police and, after the war, was concealed by British intelligence so that they could use his knowledge in the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Kopkow served in German national security police headquarters in Berlin. He was responsible for counter-sabotage and counterespionage. In May 1942 SS general Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich , also known as The Hangman, was a high-ranking German Nazi official.He was SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, chief of the Reich Main Security Office and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia...
extended his responsibilities to include the capture of Soviet parachute agents in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. After Heydrich's death in a British directed-Czech resistance attack, Kopkow's responsibilities were extended to include all allied parachute agents in the German Reich.
During the war, Kopkow's agents captured several hundred Soviet and British agents. Kopkow was informed and consulted over every capture, although he never left his headquarters in Berlin. One of his major efforts was the destruction of Red Orchestra and Rote Drei espionage networks. Security police also captured agents of MI6 and SOE
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
. Kopkow authorized several hundred orders to execute the agents. This continued to the end of the war in 1945. His superiors rewarded him with medals. Kopkow also investigated the July 20 plot
July 20 Plot
On 20 July 1944, an attempt was made to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of the Third Reich, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. The plot was the culmination of the efforts of several groups in the German Resistance to overthrow the Nazi-led German government...
, an attempted assassination against Hitler.
At the end of the war, British military police arrested Kopkow in a Baltic village on May 29, 1945. By that time he would have been implicated in 300 deaths of Allied agents.
MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
interrogated Kopkow heavily for the next four years to find out his methods against Soviet espionage. Kopkow cooperated and dictated notes to his former secretary Bertha Rose. British intelligence sheltered him from war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s investigation and made him available only for three times in war crimes trials. They announced his 'death' to War Crimes Group in London in January 1948.
According to partially declassified MI5 documents released 2004 in the British National Archives, MI6 hid Kopkow in order to utilize his knowledge further. They released him in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
in 1949 or 1950 as a textile factory worker in the British occupation zone. Later he gave just two statements to the West German police when they were investigating the disappearance and death of Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller.
Horst Kopkow died from pneumonia in a hospital in Gelsenkirchen 1996.