against him were dropped, while Gröning, who only learned of his
double role much later, remained on friendly terms and attended the
wedding of Chapman’s daughter in 1979. Chapman died outside
London on 11 December 1997.CHERVONETS AFFAIR. A counterfeiting scheme based in Ger-
many to undermine the Soviet economy, the Chervonets Affair
came to light in August 1927 when authorities in Frankfurt am Main
discovered large quantities of false bank notes ready for shipment
to the Caucasus. Among those charged were Georg Bell and two
Georgian exiles—Sadathierashvili and Karumidze—although the
latter claimed that oil magnate Henri Deterding had largely financed
the operation. Also under suspicion was General Max Hoffmann in
the Reichswehr Ministry, but he died prior to the completion of the
investigation. In 1930, the court concluded that since the counterfeit
money had not gone into actual circulation, no crime had occurred,
and the defendants, acting from “selfless political motives,” were
therefore not guilty.
CHIFFRIERABTEILUNG. The cryptanalytical unit of the Armed
Forces High Command, the Chiffrierabteilung (Cipher Division),
commonly known as “Chi,” was formed immediately prior to the
outbreak of World War II. It was based on a small radio intelligence
unit assembled by Erich Buschenhagen in 1919. From its main office
at Tirpitzufer 80 in Berlin, Chi maintained major listening posts at
Treuenbrietzen outside the city and Lauf an der Pegnitz near Nurem-
berg, along with a host of secondary stations. During the war, the
number of employees reached 3,000 under the general supervision
of Erich Fellgiebel. Its primary task was to solve military-related
cryptograms and disseminate the results, although much of its work
duplicated the efforts of Pers Z and the Forschungsamt. Further
compartmentalization was found in the area of cryptography, as each
service branch developed its own codes with little regard for Chi’s
coordinating committee. Chi scored a notable success in 1941—
breaking the code used by the American military attaché in Cairo
and thereby giving General Erwin Rommel a clear picture of enemy
forces in North Africa. But new Allied security measures soon made
such high-level strategic information virtually inaccessible.
68 • CHERVONETS AFFAIR