|First World War||Second World War||The Cold War| Hans Gisevius
was born in Germany in 1904. After studying law he was employed
by the Prussian Ministry of the Interior. When Adolf Hitler came
to power in 1933 he became increasingly concerned about the
illegal activities of the police. After the Night of the Long
Knives he left the ministry and went to work in the private
sector. Gisevius had compiled dossiers on Nazi officials which
he eventually took to Wilhelm Canaris and Hans Oster of Abwehr.
In 1939 Canaris employed Gisevius as chief of special projects.
The following year he was sent as military intelligence officer
in the German consulate in Zurich where he made contact with
John Foster Dulles of the Office of Strategic Services. Hans
Gisevius, who provided important evidence against the Nazi
leaders during the Nuremberg War Trials, died in 1974.