mentally ill by medical authorities. In early October 1940, Oster
took an even bolder step and informed his friend, Gijsbertus Sas, the
Dutch military attaché in Berlin, of the impending invasion of the
Low Countries, but to little effect. A similar warning to the Norwe-
gian ambassador to Germany likewise went unheeded. In addition, he
helped individual Jews to escape Nazi persecution through various
Abwehr front organizations.
Although Oster’s myriad activities remained protected by Canaris,
he became the object of a Gestapo investigation and was forced from
his office in mid-1943; further contact with Abwehr members was
expressly forbidden, and permanent surveillance instituted. His arrest
occurred immediately after the failure of the conspiracy of 20 July- The case against Oster was cinched when papers detailing the
prewar coup attempt were accidentally found in Zossen by members
of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt. After gaining possession of the
bulk of Canaris’s diaries, Ernst Kaltenbrunner ordered summary
court proceedings at the Flossenbürg concentration camp. Both men
were condemned to death on 8 April 1945 and hanged the following
day.
– -P –
PALME REAL. A joint signals intelligence project between Cuba
and the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), Operation palme
real (Royal Palm) originated in 1982 with the intention of eaves-
dropping on the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo. Supervised by
Horst Männchen, the endeavor was planned for a duration of only
two months, but its success—what officials called the acquisition
of “indispensable strategic and operational-tactical information”—
resulted in its extension to August 1985. As a token of gratitude
from Cuban officials, the MfS received the blueprints for a 10-meter
parabolic satellite dish.
PANZERFAUST. See SKORZENY, OTTO.
PANZINGER, FRIEDRICH (1903–1959). A senior Gestapo officer
recruited by the KGB after World War II, Friedrich Panzinger was
338 • PALME REAL