Major General Walter Schellenberg (January 16, 1910 - March 31, 1953), Hitler's last head of intelligence, worked on his memoirs after the collapse of the Third Reich until shortly before his death. First published in 1956, these memoirs provided the world with an authentic testimony from the innermost circle of power of the Nazi regime. As a close associate of Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich, Schellenberg was involved in all significant political actions and war planning of the Nazi state. He personally met the most powerful men of the Third Reich and their political ambitions, and his intelligence resources allowed him an unobstructed view behind the scenes of the Nazi power apparatus. Walter Schellenberg joined the SS as a young lawyer in May 1933 and became a member of the NSDAP.