Germany's Agent Training Schools during the Second World War

Before the Second World War, the Abwehr, Germany's Military Intelligence Agency, recruited men and women who spoke foreign languages and were willing to be trained as secret agents. Once infiltrated into countries across Europe their missions included espionage, sabotage and wireless telegraphy. Later in the war, the Schutzstaffel, the German Security Police, took over the agent training . Specialist training schools were established with experienced instructors, not just in Germany but, following Germany's occupation of Western Europe, in Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece and Poland. Bernard O'Connor's 'Germany's Agent Training Schools' is a documentary history of these schools based predominantly on the details provided by captured or surrendered agents but also on the interrogation reports of captured German personnel involved in their training. Additional information has been obtained from history books, articles in academic journals, newspapers and specialist history websites.