Summary: The article outlines the main periods of the penetration and establishment of the German intelligence services in Bulgaria: the beginning in 1887; the expansion of their activities after the First World War; the official start of work from 1938 on; and the move to more organized activities in 1940, when the heads of the future intelligence services – the Abwehr and the Gestapo – arrived in Bulgaria. After Bulgaria’s accession to the Tripartite Pact and the entry of the German army into Bulgaria on 1 March 1941, the Abwehr-Schelle (military intelligence and counterintelligence), the SD (state security) and the Gestapo (secret police) began their activities in the country (under the cover of the German Legation).
The main lines of German domestic intelligence are presented: military, political, economic, cultural, and propaganda ones. The ways of work of the German intelligence services are traced: penetration into all central institutions of the Bulgarian state; close cooperation with the heads of the Ministry of the Interior and the War Ministry; rapprochement with the political and military elite of the country and with journalistic circles; and creation of agent networks. The close contacts with the heads of state allowed them not only to collect the information they were interested in, but also to control the activities of the institutions themselves. Moreover, they could insist on the implementation of the tasks set by Berlin.
Keywords: Abwehr-Schelle, SD, Gestapo, German intelligence services in Bulgaria
The fulltext of this article can be purchased on CEEOL: https://www.ceeol.com/search/journal-detail?id=2000.