Karl Giering (17 August 1900, in Skwierzyna – 9 November 1945, in Halle)[a][1] was SS-Hauptsturmführer and Criminal Councillor in the Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt Berlin (Gestapo) and later Head of Department IV A 2 (Defence against Sabotage) in the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA).
He commanded the Gestapo to smash the apparatus of the Betriebsberichterstattung (BB) of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and conducted investigations against the Soviet espionage network known as the Red Orchestra[2] while part of the Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle.
Further, this was intended to gain the support of the bourgeois-national conservative parties in the Reichstag to ensure the necessary majority to pass the Enabling Act of 24 March 1933,[10] in order to then disempower the parliament.
As a result of the interrogation, the Berlin Gestapo discovered that Herbert Wehner was responsible for the organisation of the last cadres of the KPD in Germany.
[22] However, Giering achieved numerous arrests with a skilful use of undercover agents,[23] that were known in Germany as V-Mann, short for Vertrauens-mann.
In a letter dated 28 December 1937, he deceived the Reich Attorney at the People's Court, the Chief Public Prosecutor Wilhelm Huhnstock, when it came to the status about technical draughtsman Herbert Kleina, who had been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for treason[26] but had become an undercover agent for the Gestapo.
[38] Inside the house were courier Rita Arnould, writing specialist and radio operator Anton Danilov[39] as well as Soviet agent Sophia Poznańska.
[40] The Germans found a hidden room holding the material and equipment needed to produce forged documents, including blank passports and inks.
[39] On 30 July 1942, the Funkabwehr identified a further house at 12 Rue de Namur, Brussels and Abwehr officer Harry Piepe arrested GRU radio operator, Johann Wenzel.
[42] Coded messages discovered in the house contained details of such startling content, the plans for Case Blue, that Abwehr officer Harry Piepe immediately drove to Berlin from Brussels to report to German High Command.
[43] His actions resulted in the formation of the Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle[44] It was created by RSHA Amt (department) IV (Gestapo) section A2 (Sabotageabwehr), during September 1942, and was initially led by Friedrich Panzinger.
[45] In Berlin, the Gestapo was ordered to assist Harry Piepe and they selected Giering at the beginning of July 1942 to lead the investigation and the Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle.
[48] Giering turned to Rita Arnould as the new lead in the investigation and she identified the Abwehr informer and Polish Jewish forger Abraham Rajchmann.
Rajchmann in turn betrayed Soviet agent Konstantin Jeffremov who was arrested on 22 July 1942 in Brussels, while attempting to obtain forged identity documents for himself.
[54] However, Schneider contacted Leopold Trepper, the technical director of a Soviet Red Army Intelligence in western Europe.
[56][57] Rajchmann also decided to cooperate with the Abwehr resulting in his betrayal of his mistress, the Comintern member Malvina Gruber, who was arrested on 12 October 1942.
She admitted the existence of Soviet agent Anatoly Gurevich and his probable location, as well as exposing several members of the Trepper espionage network in France.
[59] As part of the routine investigation, Harry Piepe discovered that the firm Simexco in Brussels was being used as a cover for Soviet espionage operations by the Trepper network.
[60] Piepe was concerned about the large number of telegrams the company was sending to Berlin, Prague and Paris and decided to investigate it.
In the meeting Piepe showed the two photographs that had been discovered at the house at 101 Rue des Atrébates, to the commanding officer who immediately identified the aliases of Leopold Trepper and Anatoly Gurevich.
[62] Over the month of November, most of the people associated with the company were arrested and taken to St. Gilles Prison in Brussels or Fort Breendonk in Mechelen.
[64] The Abwehr in Brussels and the Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle had full control of the Red Orchestra in Belgium and the Netherlands well before the end of 1942 and the Funkspiel was in operation.
[65] When they arrived in Paris, Giering sent Rajchmann out to visit all the dead letterboxes that he knew, while leaving a message to Trepper to contact him.
[68] Giering then tried to establish a meeting with a contact, using information from the correspondence between Simexco and an employee of the Paris office of the Belgian Chamber of Commerce.
[68] Giering and Piepe decided to approach the offices of Organisation Todt to determine if they could provide a way to identify where Trepper was located.
Giering obtained a signed certificate of cooperation from Otto von Stülpnagel, the military commander of occupied France and visited the Todt offices.
[68] Giering, together with the organisation commander, created a simple ruse to trap Trepper, acting as buyers of industrial diamonds.
[71] Corbin was interrogated but failed to disclose the location of Monsieur Gilbert, the alias that Trepper was using in his dealings with Simex,[72] so Giering sent for a torture expert.
[81] Under instruction from Heinrich Himmler, Giering established a Funkspiel operation for Trepper and Gurevich in Paris[75] which started in late December[77] and continued until the end of the war.
Over the next eight months, Giering commanded the Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle in Paris, where the practical work of running the Funkspiel was managed by Gurevich.