Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Adolf Hitler's chief of military intelligence, accomplished something that neither President Franklin D. Roosevelt nor Prime Minister Winston Churchill could ever achieve-he saved the lives of hundreds of Jewish refugees and other racial and political undesirables by rescuing them from Nazi Germany and other Nazi-occupied countries. No records exist that give the exact number of Jews and other refugees whom Admiral Canaris helped. The admiral was not able to smuggle to safety every victim of the Nazis, or even everyone he wanted to save, but he did his best to assist anyone who needed help. An American journalist who met Admiral Canaris several years before the war admitted that he could not see how such a a dull, uninteresting, and not-very-bright naval officer could have been appointed head of German military intelligence. But Admiral Canaris's unmilitary bearing was actually a cover that he had devised for himself, and it camouflaged a very sharp and devious mind. When the Nazis began their campaign of assassination and terror, including the systematic murder of thousands of Jews and other "undesirables," the admiral turned completely against the regime. He determined to do everything possible to fight Hitler and the Nazis.