Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Franz Canaris Wilhelm Franz Canaris Born 1 January 1887 (1887-01) Aplerbeck , Westphalia, German Empire Died 9 April 1945 (1945-04-10) (aged 58) Flossenbürg concentration camp, Nazi Germany 49°44′06″N 12°21′21″E / 49.734958°N 12.35577°E / 49.734958; 12.35577 (Execution Site of 20 July 1944 Plot (Nazi Germany Resistance)) Allegiance  German Empire  Weimar Republic  Nazi Germany Service/branch  Kaiserliche Marine  Reichsmarine Abwehr Years of service 1905–44 Rank Admiral Battles/wars World War I Battle of Coronel Battle of the Falkland Islands Battle of Más a Tierra World War II Awards Iron Cross First and Second Class German Cross in Silver The Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 Wehrmacht's Twelve and Twenty-Five Year Long-Service Ribbons. Wilhelm Franz Canaris (1 January 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a German admiral, and chief of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944. During the Second World War, he was among the military officers involved in the clandestine opposition to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. He was executed in the Flossenbürg concentration camp for the act of high treason.