Hans Oster | |
|---|---|
 Oster in 1939 | |
| Deputy Chief of the Abwehr | |
| In office 1935 – 21 July 1944 | |
| Leader | Wilhelm Canaris |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Hans Paul Oster 9 August 1887 Dresden, German Empire |
| Died | 9 April 1945 (aged 57) Flossenbürg concentration camp, Nazi Germany |
| Cause of death | Execution by hanging |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  German Empire Weimar Republic Nazi Germany German Resistance |
| Branch/service | |
| Years of service |
|
| Rank |  Generalmajor |
| Battles/wars | World War I World War II |
Hans Paul Oster (9 August 1887 – 9 April 1945) was a general in the Wehrmacht and a leading figure of the anti-Nazi German resistance from 1938 to 1943. As deputy head of the counter-espionage bureau in the Abwehr (German military intelligence), Oster was in a good position to conduct resistance operations under the guise of intelligence work.
He was involved in the Oster conspiracy of September 1938 and was arrested in 1943 on suspicion of helping Abwehr officers caught helping Jews to escape Germany. After the failed 1944 July Plot on Hitler's life, during interrogation, he named Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, the head of Abwehr, as the "spiritual founder of the Resistance Movement". The Gestapo arrested Canaris and eventually found his diaries, in which Oster's anti-Nazi activities were revealed. In April 1945, he was hanged with Canaris and Dietrich Bonhoeffer at Flossenbürg concentration camp.