former criminals, but its overly centralized communications system
played directly into the hands of the British mail interception office.
During the war, “N” shifted its main intelligence-gathering to
neutral European ports, and Steinhauer established a branch of the
new Marine Interrogation Service in Esbjerg, Denmark. With the
assistance of an Australian journalist, Steinhauer’s memoirs, Der
Meisterspion des Kaisers (The Kaiser’s Master Spy), were pub-
lished in 1930. He later took issue with the title, contending that the
British had embellished his actual role. See also ERNST, KARL
GUSTAV.STELZER, THEODOR. An Abwehr agent stationed in Norway and
a key member of the anti-Nazi Kreisau Circle, Theodor Stelzer had
opposed the regime of Adolf Hitler from the outset. In 1933, charges
of high treason were lodged against him for having written and dis-
tributed seditious material. Nevertheless, Stelzer escaped a trial and
was recruited by Abwehr head Wilhelm Canaris at the beginning of
World War II. Overtly serving as the chief of army transport under
General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, he secretly established contact
with the Norwegian underground—at Canaris’s behest—and aided
their efforts to impede the German occupation army. When recalled
to Berlin following the failure of the conspiracy of 20 July 1944,
Stelzer did not attempt to escape to Sweden but confronted the
charges against him truthfully. According to his Christian beliefs,
any act of political murder including the coup was viewed as im-
moral. Confined to the state prison at Moabit in Berlin, Stelzer was
released on 25 April 1945, as the warden feared the advancing Red
Army and was persuaded to set the inmates free.
STIEBER, WILHELM (1818–1882). One of the most successful and
innovative spies in the service of 19th-century Prussia and Germany,
Wilhelm Stieber was born in Merseburg (Saxony-Anhalt) on 3 May
1818, the son of a minor civil servant. Contrary to the wishes of his
father, he abandoned theology during his studies at the University of
Berlin and graduated with a law degree in 1841. He became a civil
service trainee at the Berlin Criminal Court and later worked with the
criminal police. His unconventional methods, however, aroused the
mistrust of his colleagues, and a reputation for unscrupulous behavior
444 • STELZER, THEODOR