German Generals, October-November 1939: Venlo Incident and Munich Bomb Explosion; Complicity of the Secret Intelligence Service

A file of memoranda and correspondence concerning the "Venlo incident", in which German intelligence agents kidnapped two British agents in the Netherlands and accused them of involvement in a recent attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler in Munich. The file contains correspondence between the British government and a group of German generals, including Gerd von Runstedt, who claimed to wish to overthrow the Nazi regime and make peace; reports of meetings with representatives of the generals; early reports of the Venlo Incident; arrangements to block press reports of the incident; a press clipping reporting the alleged connection to the assassination attempt on Hitler; an official statement by the British government denying any connection to the assassination attempt; high-level meetings with the French government to discuss the German generals’ proposal; and discussion about whether the incident was orchestrated by the Gestapo, or merely discovered by them at a later stage.