Reinhard Gehlen. The Spy of the Century?

A man who operated in the shadows, Reinhard Gehlen (1902–1979) navigated the most tragic hours of the twentieth century with unparalleled dexterity, moving from the Nazi secret services to those of the Federal Republic of Germany via the CIA. But who was the man long presented as the "spy of the century"?

A career soldier, this committed nationalist steadily climbed the ranks of the Wehrmacht during the 1930s, at the heart of the general staffs. In 1942, he was appointed head of the "Foreign Armies East" department, the military intelligence branch of the army high command.

There he forged a unique expertise on the Red Army and the USSR, feeding German operational decisions on that front. Nevertheless, critical of Hitler's strategic decisions from the early years of the war, he drew closer to the July 1944 conspirators, while managing to avoid the purge that followed the failure of Operation Valkyrie.

But here lies his masterstroke: Gehlen succeeded in concealing his past after the fall of the Third Reich and passed into the service of the United States. From the outskirts of Munich, he directed for ten years, with CIA funding, an intelligence outfit — the Gehlen Organisation — not hesitating to recruit former Nazis into his service.

His network, his methods and his visceral anti-communism soon made him indispensable, leading Chancellor Adenauer to appoint him as the very first head of West Germany's foreign intelligence service