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Wilhelm Franz Canaris (1 January 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a German admiral and chief of the ''Abwehr'', the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944. 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 Flossenbürg concentration camp for the act of high treason. == Early life and First World War == Canaris was born in Aplerbeck (now a part of Dortmund) in Westphalia, the son of Carl Canaris, a rich industrialist, and his wife Auguste Popp. Canaris himself believed that his family was related to the 19th-century Greek admiral, freedom fighter, and politician Constantine Kanaris, a belief that influenced his decision to join the Imperial German Navy. While on a visit to Corfu, he was given a portrait of the Greek hero that he always kept in his office. However, according to Richard Bassett, a genealogical investigation in 1938 revealed that his family was actually of Northern Italian descent, originally called Canarisi, and had lived in Germany since the 17th century.〔 〕 His grandfather had converted from Roman Catholicism to Lutheranism. In 1905, at the age of seventeen, Canaris joined the Imperial Navy and by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 was serving as an intelligence officer on board the cruiser SMS ''Dresden''. This was the only warship that managed to evade the British fleet for a prolonged period during the Battle of the Falkland Islands of December 1914, largely due to the excellent deception tactics of Canaris. After the Battle of Más a Tierra, the immobilized ''Dresden'' anchored in Cumberland Bay, Robinson Crusoe Island and contacted Chile with regard to internment. While in the bay, Royal Navy ships approached and shelled the ''Dresden''. The crew scuttled the ship. Most of the crew was interned in Chile in March 1915, but in August 1915 Canaris escaped by using his fluency in Spanish. With the help of some German merchants he was able to return to Germany in October 1915. On the way, he called at several ports, including one in Great Britain. Canaris was then given intelligence work and sent to Spain, where he survived a British assassination attempt. Returning to active service, he ended the war as a celebrated U-boat commander from late 1917 in the Mediterranean and was credited with eighteen sinkings. He spoke English fluently (as well as four other foreign languages), and as a naval officer of the old school had great respect for Great Britain's Royal Navy, despite the rivalry between the two nations. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wilhelm Canaris」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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