Walter Kopp

{{Short description|Lieutenant colonel in the Wehrmacht in Nazi Germany (1913–1974)}}

Walter Kopp (1913 in Alsenz – 1974 in Gautinghttp://www.das-ritterkreuz.de/index_search_db.php4?modul=search_result_det&wert1=3278. Accessed: 2015-10-27. (Archived by WebCite® at https://www.webcitation.org/6cbEoVjqR?url=http://www.das-ritterkreuz.de/index_search_db.php4?modul=search_result_det&wert1=3278 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305013828/http://www.das-ritterkreuz.de/index_search_db.php4?modul=search_result_det&wert1=3278 |date=2016-03-05 }})) was a lieutenant colonel in the Wehrmacht in Nazi Germany. After the Nazi defeat in 1945, he became the chief of one stay-behind network in West Germany, code-named KIBITZ-15.[https://www.archives.gov/iwg/declassified-records/rg-263-cia-records/second-release-lexicon.pdf Research Aid: Cryptonyms and Terms in Declassified CIA Files Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Disclosure Acts ] IWG 2007 The British and US intelligence services had set up clandestine anti-communist organisations supposed to "stay-behind" in case of a Soviet invasion. Walter Kopp was described by his own North-American handlers as an "unreconstructed Nazi,"[https://www.theguardian.com/international/story/0,,1792559,00.html Why Israel's capture of Eichmann caused panic at the CIA], The Guardian, June 8, 2006 and the KIBITZ-15 network as "a group with Nazi tendencies"[http://www.fas.org/sgp/eprint/naftali.pdf Naftali, Timothy - New Information on Cold War Stay-Behind Operations in Germany and on the Adolf Eichmann Case.] University of Virginia in CIA documents released in June 2006.

In May 1945 Kopp wrote a letter to High Commissioner McCloy stating that he and a group of his friends were concerned over what might happen in case of a Russian invasion of Germany and wished to place themselves at the disposal of the Americans. Walter Kopp was later made chief agent of the KIBITZ stay-behind network.[http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/1705143/KOPP%2C%20WALTER%20%20%20VOL.%202_0017.pdf Declassified CIA file "Walter Kopp (KIBITZ-15)" ] (Undated)

In May 1953 Kopp's contract with the CIA was terminated "on the friendliest terms".[http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/1705143/KOPP%2C%20WALTER%20%20%20VOL.%202_0078.pdf Declassified CIA memo (EGFA-1220) "Termination of Kibitz-15 net" ] 16 April 1953

In 1968 he was Liaison officer of the Military District Command in Munich to the political parties.{{Cite news|url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-45465458.html|title=Braune Feldgraue|newspaper=Der Spiegel|date=7 January 1968}}