rdfs:comment
| - George Hansen was born in Sonnefeld, the son of Theodor Hansen, a Oberforstmeister (Senior Ranger) for the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In Coburg, he attended since 1914 the Gymnasium (high school) Casimirianum, where he graduated in 1923. He then studied law for two semesters at the University of Erlangen. In 1924 he joined the Panzergruppe (Tank Corps) of the Reichswehr (Imperial Defense Forces, later the Wehrmacht). He was promoted to Leutnant (Second Lieutenant) in 1927, and then Oberleutnant (First Lieutenant) in 1931 at the Bavarian Motor Vehicles Department in Fürth. In the same year he married Irene Stölzel from Michelau; with her he had five children.
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abstract
| - George Hansen was born in Sonnefeld, the son of Theodor Hansen, a Oberforstmeister (Senior Ranger) for the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In Coburg, he attended since 1914 the Gymnasium (high school) Casimirianum, where he graduated in 1923. He then studied law for two semesters at the University of Erlangen. In 1924 he joined the Panzergruppe (Tank Corps) of the Reichswehr (Imperial Defense Forces, later the Wehrmacht). He was promoted to Leutnant (Second Lieutenant) in 1927, and then Oberleutnant (First Lieutenant) in 1931 at the Bavarian Motor Vehicles Department in Fürth. In the same year he married Irene Stölzel from Michelau; with her he had five children. In 1935 Hansen became the commander of the general staff training at the Military Academy (Kriegsakademie) in Berlin-Moabit, where he met the Chief of General Staff Ludwig Beck and Graf (Count) Claus von Stauffenberg. In 1937, he was transferred from the training academy to the Department of Foreign Intelligence and Counterintelligence (Department of Foreign Armies of the East) in the War Ministry of the Reich under the command of Konteradmiral (Rear Admiral) Wilhelm Canaris. Beginning in 1939, this department was renamed as Amt Ausland / Abwehr (Office of the Foreign Military Intelligence). There Hansen, as a group leader in Division I, was promoted to Major in May 1941 and Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) in July 1942. In 1943 he succeeded Hans Piekenbrock as the Chief of the Division I, Secret Intelligence Service. His tasks included military reconnaissance in the foreign countries. Finally, Canaris, before his resignation in February 1944, appointed Georg Hansen to succeed him as Head of Military Intelligence. In March 1944 Hansen attended a meeting with the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) (Security Service) to set up a unified intelligence service. Two months later, in May 1944, he and most of his staff were transferred to the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA) (Security Headquarters of the Reich), where he served as the deputy under his immediate superior, Walther Schellenberg.
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