NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Cicero affair

Elyesa Bazna (Albanian: Iljaz Bazna born 1904 in Kosovo - December 21, 1970 in Munich) was a spy who offered secret documents to Nazi Germany during the Second World War, in what widely became known as the Cicero affair. He hated the British whom he held responsible for the death of his father but, principally motivated by monetary gain (he had always wanted to be an opera singer), sold information to the Germans through their ambassador in Ankara, Turkey, Franz von Papen. 1904 (MCMIV) was a leap year starting on a Friday (see link for calendar). ... For uses of the name Kosova, see Kosova (disambiguation). ... December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Munich (German: , pronounced ; Austro-Bavarian: Minga [1]) is the capital of the German Federal State of Bavaria. ... Spy and secret agent redirect here; for alternate use, see Spy (disambiguation) and Secret agent (disambiguation). ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the countrys second largest city after Ä°stanbul. ... Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen (29 October 1879 â€“ 2 May 1969) was a German nobleman Catholic politician, General Staff officer, and diplomat, who served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932. ...

Naturalized Turk of Albanian origin (born to Moslem Albanian parents in Kosovo and moved to Turkey at a very young age), Bazna was a valet first to the Yugoslav ambassador to Turkey and then to a German counsellor who fired him for reading his mail. Motto: One nation, one king, one country Anthem: Medley of BoÅ¾e pravde, Lijepa naÅ¡a domovino, and Naprej zastava slave Capital Belgrade Language(s) Serbo-Croato-Slovenian (see: Serbo-Croat and Slovenian) [1] Government Value specified for government_type does not comply King - 1918-1921 Peter I - 1921-1934 Alexander...

From 1942 Bazna was the valet of the British ambassador Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen in Ankara. Bazna began photographing secret British documents on October 21, 1943. He approached Ludwig Moyzisch, an attaché at the German Embassy in Ankara, indicating that he wanted £20,000 for fifty-six documents he had photographed initially. He became a paid German agent in 1943 and was given the codename "Cicero". He leaked important information about many of the international conferences and bombing raids such as Ploieşti but only fuzzy information about "Operation Overlord", the codename for the Battle of Normandy. British intelligence believed that Bazna could not speak English and furthermore was "too stupid" to be a spy. Moyzisch, in his book published after the war, asserts that the information had been good enough to make preparations against the allied landing in Normandy, but because of personal antipathy between the German Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop and Ambassador Franz von Papen the German Foreign Office did not believe in the veracity of the documents. Furthermore, the Abwehr, when asked to evaluate the material, pronounced it unreliable, because until the fall of Wilhelm Canaris the Abwehr was secretly working against Hitler and collaborating with the English secret service to make the German government swallow any type of deception, like Operation Mincemeat and Operation Fortitude. 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... October 21 is the 294th day of the year (295th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 71 days remaining. ... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... An attachÃ© is a person who is assigned to the staff of a diplomatic mission and often has special responsibilities or expertise. ... ISO 4217 Code GBP User(s) United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies Inflation 2. ... Year 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... County Prahova County Status County seat Mayor Emil CalotÄƒ, Social Democratic Party, since 2000 Area 58. ... The Battle of Normandy was fought in 1944 between the German forces occupying Western Europe and the invading Allies. ... Combatants United States United Kingdom Canada Free France Poland Germany Commanders Dwight Eisenhower (Supreme Allied Commander) Bernard Montgomery (land) Bertram Ramsay (sea) Trafford Leigh-Mallory (air) Omar Bradley (US 1st Army) Miles Dempsey (UK 2nd Army) Harry Crerar (Canadian 1st Army) Gerd von Rundstedt (OB WEST) Erwin Rommel (Heeresgruppe B... Joachim von Ribbentrop with his son. ... Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen (29 October 1879 â€“ 2 May 1969) was a German nobleman Catholic politician, General Staff officer, and diplomat, who served as Chancellor of Germany in 1932. ... The Abwehr was a German intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. ... Wilhelm Franz Canaris (January 1, 1887 â€“ April 9, 1945) was a German admiral and head of the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, from 1935 to 1944. ... Operation Mincemeat was a highly successful British deception plan during World War II which convinced the German High Command (OKW) that the Allies would invade the Balkans and Sardinia instead of the island of Sicily, the actual objective. ... Operation Fortitude was the codename for the deception operations used by the Allied forces during World War II in connection with the Normandy landings (Operation Overlord). ...

Bazna resigned from his position at the service of the ambassador at the end of April 1944 when he feared betrayal by Moyzisch's secretary, who defected to the allies. He was paid £300,000 by the Abwehr with counterfeit British Pounds (see Operation Bernhard). After the war he sued the German government for outstanding pay, and obtained a modest recompense. The Abwehr was a German intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. ... For other uses, see Counterfeit (disambiguation). ... Operation Bernhard was the name of a secret German plan devised during the Second World War to destabilise the British economy by flooding the country with forged Bank of England Â£5, Â£10, Â£20, and Â£50 notes. ...

A film of these events, based on the book Operation Cicero by L.C. Moyzisch was made by 20th Century Fox in 1951. It was entitled 5 Fingers , directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and Bazna, renamed Ulysses Diello, was played by James Mason. Twentieth (20th) Century Fox Film Corporation (known from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation) is one of the major American film studios. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... 5 Fingers is a 1951 film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. ... Joseph Leo Mankiewicz (February 11, 1909â€“February 6, 1993) was an American Hollywood screenwriter, director and producer. ... James Neville Mason (May 15, 1909 â€“ July 27, 1984) was a three-time Academy Award nominated English actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. ...

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