In his memoirs, the famous head of Department VI of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) recounts what drove him to become a member of the SS and the SD, and how that led to such an astonishing career. He describes in detail a series of operations—ones he not only planned but also took part in himself. He investigates in depth the “secular” espionage that turned out to be very fruitful. He reveals the secret of a special operation by German intelligence that provoked a major purge of the highest command in the USSR (the Tukhachevsky affair, etc.). Stalin paid for this service with three million gold rubles.
Schellenberg managed to weave an agent network throughout all of Europe and was a master of radio espionage (the Red Orchestra). He also describes the history of the struggle between the Abwehr and the SD, and then his unsuccessful attempts to convince the German leadership of the hopelessness of total confrontation between the USSR and the Allies. Needless to say, this is extremely curious and gripping reading.