Intelligence clashes during the early Cold War: the Gehlen Organization in Italy, 1946-1956
Keywords:
espionage, Intelligence History, Cold War, German-Italian relations, anticommunismSynopsis
Publisher: FedOA - Federico II University Press
Series: Clio. Essays in History, Archaeology and Art History
Pages: 212
Language: Italian
NBN: http://nbn.depositolegale.it/resolver.pl?nbn=urn:nbn:it:unina-29678
Abstract: The end of World War II determined a rapid change of international equilibriums and, as a consequence, of the world of secret services. In this context, Western Germany and its intelligence networks tied to the defunct Third Reich quickly became important allies for the United States in regard to their broader anticommunist strategy in Europe. Within the latter, Italy played a crucial role. In 1946 the Organisation Gehlen, a Western-German intelligence service under U.S. control and founded in collaboration with former Wehrmacht officer Reinhard Gehlen, instituted the ODEUM Rome, its external base in the Italian capital, which was led by Johannes Gehlen, Reinhard’s older brother. In this book, the relationship between the brothers and the complex dynamics of communication and control between the external base and its “mother organization”, constitute the conceptual and interpretative framework for an analysis of the Organisation Gehlen’s evolution and activity in Italy between 1946 and 1956 in the context of the Italian “war of spies” at the beginning of the Cold War.
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