The Sonderfahndungsliste G.B. ("Special Search List Great Britain") was a secret list of prominent British residents to be arrested, produced in 1940 by the SS as part of the preparation for the proposed invasion of Britain. After the war, the list became known as The Black Book.[1]
The information was prepared by the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) under Reinhard Heydrich. Later, SS-Oberführer Walter Schellenberg stated in his memoirs that he had compiled the list,[2] starting at the end of June 1940.[3] It contained 2,820 names of people, including British nationals and European exiles, who were to be immediately arrested by SS Einsatzgruppen upon the invasion, occupation, and annexation of Great Britain to Nazi Germany. Abbreviations after each name indicated whether the individual was to be detained by RSHA Amt IV (the Gestapo) or Amt VI (Ausland-SD, Foreign Intelligence).[1]
The list was printed as a supplement or appendix to the secret Informationsheft G.B. handbook, which Schellenberg also stated he had written. This handbook noted opportunities for looting, and named potentially dangerous anti-Nazi institutions including Masonic lodges, the Church of England and the Boy Scouts. On 17 September 1940, SS-Brigadeführer Dr Franz Six was designated to a position in London where he would implement the post-invasion arrests and actions against institutions, but on the same day, Hitler postponed the invasion indefinitely.[4] In September 1945, at the end of the war, the list was discovered in Berlin. Reporting included the reactions of some of the people listed.[5]
- ^ a b Philip Gooden; Peter Lewis (25 September 2014). The Word at War: World War Two in 100 Phrases. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-1-4729-0490-4.
- ^ Shirer 1964, pp. 937–938.
- ^ Reinhard R. Doerries (18 October 2013). Hitler's Intelligence Chief: Walter Schellenberg. Enigma Books. pp. 32–34. ISBN 978-1-936274-13-0.
- ^ Shirer 1964, pp. 937, 939.
- ^ Guardian 1945, para 1, 13–15.