September 1982, however, caused him deep concern for his own
future. On 2 October—only hours after a meeting with his control
officer—Pfotenhauer died by hanging from a stair railing at his home
in Berlin-Mahlsdorf. Even though he had told his control officer of
his optimistic belief that he would be reinstated by the VA the fol-
lowing week, his death was officially recorded as a suicide.PFUHLSTEIN, ALEXANDER VON (1899–?). The last commander
of the Brandenburger Regiment, Alexander von Pfuhlstein was
born in Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) on 17 December 1899. As-
signed to head the Abwehr office in Hanover in 1938, he achieved
distinction as an infantry commander on the eastern front and was
awarded the Knight’s Cross in August 1942. On the recommendation
of Hans Oster (who knew him to be a fellow critic of the Nazi re-
gime), Abwehr head Wilhelm Canaris appointed Pfuhlstein to head
the Brandenburger Regiment beginning 1 April 1943. His chief task
was to reorganize a group that had suffered heavy casualties in the
Soviet Union and convert it from a commando unit of the Abwehr to
a reserve force of the Armed Forces High Command.
At the same time, the Brandenburger Regiment under Pfuhlstein
was to play a role in the attempted assassinations of Adolf Hitler in
1943 and 1944 by keeping Nazi Party forces at bay in the Berlin area.
After the failure of the 20 July 1944 plot, Pfuhlstein was arrested
and, under Gestapo interrogation, provided testimony that heavily
implicated Canaris. Pfulhstein’s release from prison, and demotion
from the rank of colonel to the status of a common soldier, occurred
later that year.
PIEKENBROCK, HANS (1893–1959). A close associate of Abwehr
head Wilhelm Canaris, Hans Piekenbrock was born in Essen, the
son of a wealthy Catholic family. Abandoning his legal studies in
1914, he served in the cavalry and remained in the reduced armed
forces after World War I. His transfer to the Abwehr in 1936 placed
him in charge of intelligence collection (Division I), and a warm
relationship with Canaris developed. Yet despite his numerous at-
tempts to intensify penetrations into the Soviet Union—even through
the enlistment of the Austrian and Hungarian services—the results
proved superficial. During World War II, now a general, Piekenbrock
PIEKENBROCK, HANS • 349