The Gehlen Files
Why did America hire Hitler's top spy?
4.7 (15)
54 mins
Explore how Nazi intelligence chief Reinhard Gehlen preserved extensive files on the Soviet Union to strike a secret postwar deal with the U.S. Army. Discover how American funding allowed former SS members and Nazi collaborators to form the Gehlen Organization and eventually lay the foundation for West Germany's modern BND intelligence agency.
Ep 1:
The Spy Who Sold Himself
As Berlin burns, Nazi spymaster Reinhard Gehlen buries his Soviet intelligence files and strikes a secret bargain with America — immunity and autonomy in exchange for espionage against Moscow.
Ep 2:
Nazis on the Payroll
From Operation Paperclip's whitewashed scientists to Gehlen's Pullach compound staffed by SS veterans and Holocaust perpetrators, America's postwar intelligence apparatus becomes a haven for war criminals.
Ep 3:
The Mole at the Heart of the BND
Gehlen's organization becomes West Germany's official spy agency, feeding NATO exaggerated Soviet threats — until a KGB mole buried inside its own counterintelligence unit exposes it as catastrophically compromised.
Ep 4:
Bloody October and the Reckoning
Scandals topple Gehlen's empire, mysterious deaths shake his successors, and decades later declassified files reveal the staggering scale of deception, cover-up, and unpunished crimes behind it all.
Discussions (5)
Ricardo
Level 10 · 1 week ago90% garbage intelligence that shaped Cold War policy for decades. The price of paranoia was hiring the people you just defeated.
Hannah
Level 2 · 1 week agocalling Gehlen a 'spy technician' with no ideology is insane. dude built his whole postwar value on selling the same anti-communist paranoia he used to serve Hitler. not apolitical, just opportunistic
Emmett
Level 4 · 1 week ago90% garbage Intel lmaooo
