DULLES DETAILS SECRET 1945 PEACE TALKS WITH NAZIS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70-00058R000300010065-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2000
• Sequence Number: 65
• Publication Date: June 25, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

f-% 1 1 _r
Approved For Release 20008/-~9A-RDP70-00058R000300010065-6
Dulles Det qR ret 1945 Peace Talks_ With Nazis
m Pr wou e able a'4vas also ? resent. Colonel Doll- Col. Gen. Heinrich von Vieting-
By M. S. HANDLER, -divide the_ Allies d, :finally P
Allen Dulles, former the power off t sonal oa,th!mann impressed Mr. Blum as a hoff., a stiff Balt who was not
.rector iof Central Intellig nc taken to serv bey Hitler ? slippery customer" who knew likely to join in the negotiations,
more than he was telling. At this point, Field Marshal'
who was United Stag: in ll' Some S liaised To test the Germizans, Mr. Dui-
Alexander's envoys, an Amen-
gene;e chief in Switzerland,, a The probes started coming lea rcgriested through his rep-
mng World War lI has pub .,from the SS by" the end of r esentative that they sur- can, Lyman L. Lemnitzer, then,
the first of two amticies' on February,
194h partisan leader and an a major general, and Maj. Gen.
Dulles encl.^.r a
i
,,tea S. Aire
twining het Ptofoi e tiPCreL de ail wrote. intelligence worker to the
Terence y, a Briton, ar-
~of his negotiations with . a American pr S,,Tl eeted to Americans. Your days later the rived.
generals' that led (o the surCr ,the Wehrmacbt proved fruitless two nicii were put across the On March 17 a message was
der of almost .a million Cer is he said, and, tb,k,?.eiiy feelerscryins border, followed shortly received that General Wolff
'fighting men_ in Italy on a from the SS m e , him suspi- a f t erwArrl by General Wolff, would arrive at the Swiss bor-
2, 194,17 ci?ous. Finally, 'so tithing hap Colonel Dollmann and Captain der on the morning of the 19th.
Mr. Dulles, as station c lie ,pened on Feb. 2$, 45, at a meet- Zbnmer. The meeting wag planned for
of the Office of Strategic S rv ing between Mr. Qaevernitz and General Wolff, who had been Ancona, on Lake Maggiore. The
ices, took the responsibility n Maj. Max Waibel of Swiss Midi- Himraller.'s liaison officer to Hit- general appeared without Col-
the initiative to respond to in. tary Intelligence. ler before coming ti, Italy, one] Doilnian, who remained
direct probes from Gen I a Major Waibel had been reached waas said to have been one of behind to intercept any mes-
Frederick Wulff, commando o ,by an Italian businessman, Hitler's favorites and was a sages from Himm.ier or Kalten-
SS (Elite Guard) forces in I 1 Baron Luigi Parilli, a name that loan of ,consiclci:ahle,_ influence brunner.
Secrecy had to_he nialnta meant lit#lie. to Mr. Dulles, and a'id power. General Wolff.. told Mr, Dul-
to permit the Allied Gov rn b,,y a Swiss; Prof. Max Husmann, The .Dulles-Wolff" meeting leg in a preliminary talk that
gents to disavow him if th Who rain a private school not took place in the American's 1i- it would be difficult to win over
negotiations backfired. bee, s far from Lucerne. One of haroo'brary, General Wolff. said that General von Vietinghoff.
the lazes were laying a tea t garilli's relati ves had attencleci While he commanded all the SS General Wolff dismissed Mus-
divde the Soviet T.inion an it forces in Italy, it would be nec- solini as a negligible factor in
allies, the school aaPd this provided the the situation,
,confnia to nders. tw.inHe over the promised army to . In the afternoon, Mr. Dulles
head Mr. Dullce the retired in 196 a -mink Mrbetweenrthe two men. essar
of the 'so;
'
e . Dupes as ked Mr. Gaev-,do his best - introduced Generals Lemnitzer
organization to the O.S.S. n ernitz to meet the Italian and Marshal Kessep to
lrin or his dep and Airey. It was the first en
!of his great wartime achi a tale Swiss Mr. Gaeverniti ut arrange erland. . have
counter of Allied officers with
Dulles es Switzerland.
h y Mr. come
s_ res ed the Italian hard and he
xas to negotiate
informed Washing- enemY officers on neutral soil
Germ ns obt of the 1,w r i na.lly asserted that the SS in to discuss a German surrender.
a 1 ton and Allied headquarters in
Italy. Details of the com.plic e 3 was somewhat different Caserta, Ital General Lemnitzer said the Al-
and what must have been a from what might be expected Field Marshall Earl Alexan- lies were interested only in un-
times heartbreaking moves n lnd that it was the SS and not der, Allied. commander, replied conditional surrender and sug-
couXitermoves have never b e 01P. regular army that might be that he' would dispatch senior gested a meeting of high offi-
rdivulged. capable of independent th, nglit cers of both sides. The German
staff officers to Switzerland.
~ '"he first of a two-part se ie And action. Thus the intrigue ISecurity prepgra.tions were, suggested that his side send
entitled This Secret Sur:ren r' netually began, made for the meeting, but some-'two officers, one representing
was published in the July is u Baron P,ixilli mentioned a.1thing went icrewg. the SS and the other the Wehr-
of Harper's magazine. These ie close relationship uritlm a yap ngI niacht.
iconsists of excerpts from rr. ^ ~S captain, Guido Zimmer, Who! A Meet3i}g at Ancona, Ten days later Captain Zim-
Duiles's book, also entitled " li had been chief of SS c~'unter-, On his r eturn to Italy General mer came over the border and
Secret Surrender,`' to be lp b- Psprari,a.re in Genoa. Valff reocivedsa.. message fromlreported that General Wolff had
dished by Harper & Row in Captain Zimmer, a dc.vrnmti cri, Ernst' K.altenbrunncr tolseen Marshal Kesselring and
October. Roman Catholic, wa ritec] the meet iz l }n Innsbrurli, A ostria.1 that the field 'marshal had
Tracing the Origins war endficl, according to Aaron! l~altcnbrunner, Himmler's as-,agreed I.o support the Wolff
Farilli, calla told the Americaps sistant,e had learned of General plan. Marshal Kesselring 'told
Mr. Dulles acknowledged in that time ca?ptaiti ,had broached Wolff's visit to :Switzerland. General Wolff to inform Gen-
the first article, which be ms the subject Colonel Eugen,Generai ,Wolff resorted to a' oral von Vietinghoff. General
the subtitle "Opening Intri ue Dollmann, a high SS officer.Iruse to avoid the trip, ^ Wolff reported that if all went
with Hitler's Generals," the c d- He in turn, brought into play Meanwhile, Marshal Icessel-1 went he hoped to bring the new
laboration of Gero v. S. Gael r- is chief,, -General Wolff, the; ring was transferred to the1 comnmander or one of his staff
nitz,in the writing. Mr. Gae r- all-powerful SS commander. Western Front and replaced byloffivers over on Anril 2.
nitz, amaturahzed American of. ness lntert5ts1 ,in. ~5,w zlerl ba d, cnt'a ark with Go onalBDoll-
i
where he became Mr. Dull s's iann or General Wolff, or pre
personal collaborator and frie d. crably with Field Marshal Al-
Tracing the beginnings of he crt Kesselring, the Wehrmacht
from the nd of February, 1 5, 'ommmnrler in Italy, might be,
emissaries' and messages w re nr'th while,
passinug secretly between he ? To the surprise of Mr. Dulles,
mission in Switzerland and r? . call from Mayor Waibel a,few
man generals in Italy, but, at aye later informed him that
early hopes of knocking he ,a ion Parilli had returned to
Nazis out of the war in It ly a'itzcrland with Colonel D"l1-
did not materialize because of loan and Captain Zimmer. The'
the stuborn and insane policy of meriean decided to remain an
one `rgaan,,'Adolf Hitler." he sidelines and designated
the `Wehmacht goner l: aul Blum, of his Bern staff,
Mr. Dulles related, ? were r u? meet the Geiialans? MMr..Rhim
tant to pull their armies out of 'aS an excellent judge of meri,~
the conflict for..the follow , Ir. Dulles wrote, and it was inm-
Tea ns, the Allied policy oil ort.ant'. to find out whether the
tl1m 'Ligm1.,V trrende , tin d. ermans were serious or were
ity after the failure of the J hl Ping a trap.
20, 1944, plot to assassin b Mr- Blum met the Germans
Hitler, ., Hitler's .promise o, nd Baron Parilli in Logs no onj
miracle weapons that, wo l( arch 3. Professor Husmann
save Germany, lie myth t at