carrying out the administrative details of the Final Solution, particu-
larly in the period following the assassination of Heydrich and his re-
placement by Ernst Kaltenbrunner. After the unsuccessful attempt
on Adolf Hitler’s life on 20 July 1944, Müller directed the roundup of
the conspirators and was awarded the rare military decoration of the
Knight’s Cross with Swords. His fierce belief in the possibility of a
German victory led him to employ his double agents to try to break
the Allied alliance.
Müller probably committed suicide in Berlin on 2 May 1945. Ac-
cording to their records, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and its
predecessors were unable to determine Müller’s whereabouts after
the German surrender. Walter Schellenberg, a bitter rival, specu-
lated that he might have shifted his allegiance to the Soviet Union,
but that claim was firmly denied by Kaltenbrunner.MÜLLER, JOSEF (1898–1979). An anti-Nazi lawyer dispatched by
the Abwehr to seek a peace agreement with Great Britain via the
Vatican, Josef Müller was born in Steinwiesen (Bavaria) on 27 March
1898, the son of a farmer. After military service in World War I, he
became a lawyer in Munich active in the Bayerische Volkspartei. A
devout Catholic who opposed Adolf Hitler from the outset, Müller
joined the Abwehr in September 1939 with the encouragement of
Wilhelm Canaris and Hans Oster. Their secret plan was to use his
connections with two close advisors of the newly elected Pope Pius
XII—Robert Lieber and Ludwig Kaas—to enlist the pontiff’s aid in
negotiating a peace agreement with Britain following the removal
of Hitler from office. As cover, Müller’s mission was ostensibly to
investigate developments related to the question of Italy’s entry into
the war. Despite several trips and a positive response at the outset, the
plan failed to achieve tangible results. An especially severe blow for
Müller was the irate reaction of Armed Forces Commander in Chief
Walther von Brauchitsch in April 1940 to the “X-report,” which sum-
marized the British conditions at that point (Müller was identified
simply as X for security reasons).
On 5 April 1943, Müller’s long-term surveillance by the Gestapo
culminated in his arrest and interrogation. Suspected of having
divulged the date of the German offensive in the West to the Bel-
gian legation at the Vatican, he conceded nothing after prolonged
MÜLLER, JOSEF • 309