Listen, look, keep silent: Were the reversed Three Monkeys the Abwehr’s code?
A hypothesis based on Canaris’s biography and the European motto Audi, vide, tace.
This text presents a hypothetical (but plausible) thesis: within the Abwehr, a “reversed” Three Monkeys motif may have operated—not as passivity (“see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”) but as an operational instruction: listen – look – keep silent. The starting point is a passage from Admiral Wilhelm Canaris’s biography and the European motto Audi, vide, tace, which predates the monkeys in the West. Below we provide context, quote the key passage, and indicate what still needs verification.
Canaris, the Abwehr, and the logic of discretion
Adm. Wilhelm Franz Canaris (1887–1945) is one of the most ambiguous figures in the leadership of the Third Reich. A naval officer from the First World War, from 1935 head of the Abwehr—the Wehrmacht’s intelligence and counterintelligence service—responsible for gathering information, reconnaissance, sabotage and protection against foreign intelligence services. In historiography he is regarded as an efficient, intelligent and cautious commander who kept his distance from party orthodoxy.
He was not seen as an ideological Nazi; he was linked to circles of military opposition and suspected of sympathy toward assassination plans. After 20 July 1944 his position collapsed: the Abwehr came under Himmler’s control and Canaris was removed. In early 1945 the Gestapo found his secret diaries, which were taken as evidence of disloyalty and contacts with enemy intelligence; on 9 April 1945 he was executed. At the same time there were reports of assistance to the persecuted, including facilitating escapes via Abwehr channels. This mix of facts and accusations makes Canaris an ambivalent figure: an opponent of party radicalism yet a senior officer of a criminal state apparatus.
Photo: Wilhelm Canaris, c. 1924–1931 — author unknown; source: Wikimedia Commons (public domain, Sweden).
A concept and the “desk evidence”: the figurine and the ship model
In collectors’ circles, a story has circulated for years that a figurine of the Three Monkeys stood on Canaris’s desk—a supposed “symbol of intelligence.” This suggestion seems counterintuitive if we think of the classical Japanese triad “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.” The situation is clarified, however, by the account of the biographer Karl Heinz Abshagen who—regardless of later debates about his idealizing tone—provided a concrete office scene. For the purposes of our inquiry, we quote in full the passage (in Polish translation) that we received and treat as a material citation from the book:
It turns out that Wilhelm Franz Canaris used a different figurine as a paperweight (according to the biographer Karl Heinz Abshagen):
…On the desk, as a reminder of the chief’s naval career, there was a miniature model of the cruiser Dresden, on which he took part in the naval battles off Coronel and the Falkland Islands. Next to it stood a paperweight with three bronze monkeys on the upper marble plate. One monkey was listening intently with a hand cupped to its ear, another was gazing attentively into the distance, and the third was covering its mouth with its hand; these monkeys symbolized the Abwehr’s motto: its employees must hear and see everything, but not chatter…
Karl Heinz Abshagen. Canaris. Chief of the Wehrmacht Military Intelligence. 1935–1945. Series: Behind the Front Line. Biographies. Publisher: Tsentrpoligraf, 2006. ISBN: 5-9524-2258-6. Chapter 6.
(First edition of the biography: Canaris. Patriot und Weltbürger, Stuttgart 1949).
Contemporary illustration (a hypothetical reconstruction) of the layout of the “reversed Three Monkeys” — how the figurine might have looked, in terms of gestures, on Canaris’s desk: the listen–look–keep silent variant (Audi, vide, tace); the left one listens, the middle one looks out (hands as binoculars), the right one keeps silent (finger to the lips).
Brass figurine “reversed Three Monkeys”, late 20th c., ThreeMonkeys.center collection — left one listens (listen), middle one looks out (look), right one keeps silent (do not speak).
The quotation includes both the model of the cruiser “Dresden” (a clear nod to Canaris’s naval biography) and a paperweight with three bronze monkeys on a marble base. The key is the arrangement of gestures: listening – looking – silence. This is not the classic “see no evil/hear no evil/speak no evil,” but an active, “reversed” variant.
Critical caveat:
Karl Heinz Abshagen (first edition of the biography in 1949, Canaris. Patriot und Weltbürger, Stuttgart) has been criticized for idealizing the subject. We have no photograph of the desk confirming the existence of such a paperweight. Even so, if the biographer’s account is treated as an intermediate source, the description corresponds well with the European tradition of the maxim “Audi, vide, tace” and with the operational logic of intelligence work.
Karl Heinz Abshagen, Canaris. Patriot und Weltbürger, Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart 1949 — cover of the original edition.
“The Reversed” Three Monkeys and the European “Audi, vide, tace”
In Japan there is the term 変わり三猿 (kawari sanzaru) — “modified three monkeys.” Instead of negation (I do not see/hear/speak), an active stance appears: “Look – Listen – Keep silent.” This is the exact counterpart of the Latin motto “Audi, vide, tace (si vis vivere in pace)” — “listen, look, keep silent (if you wish to live in peace).” In Europe this maxim circulated long before the West encountered the Japanese monkeys; it appears, among others, in Dutch culture (cf. “Horen, zien en zwijgen”) and in Masonic tradition, and later also in the symbolism of security institutions. This transfer of ideas explains why the “active” variant is logical and attractive to intelligence communities. Instead of passivity we have a set of three operational rules: listen to everything — observe carefully — keep silent.
Top: 変わり三猿 (kawari sanzaru) — Modified three monkeys.
Bottom: 見よ・聞け・言うな (miyo, kike, iuna) — Look • Listen • Do not speak.
Japanese illustration of the “reversed Three Monkeys” variant — 変わり三猿 (kawari sanzaru): 見よ・聞け・言うな (“Look • Listen • Do not speak”).
Original vs. “active” variant
Original (Japan):
Kikazaru / 聞かざる – “I do not hear” — covers the ears
Mizaru / 見ざる – “I do not see” — covers the eyes
Iwazaru / 言わざる – “I do not speak” — covers the mouth
“Active” variant (Europe / Audi, vide, tace):
Kiku-zaru (聞くザル) — “I listen” (listening)
Miru-zaru (見るザル) — “I see” (hands like binoculars)
Damaru-zaru (黙るザル) — “I keep silent” (finger on the lips)
Imperative version (often found in European descriptions):
Kike-zaru (聞けザル) — “Listen!” / “Keep alert!” — gesture: hand at the ear
Miyo-zaru (見よザル) — “Look!” / “Keep watch!” — gesture: hands like binoculars
Iuna-zaru (言うなザル) — “Do not speak!” / “Be silent!” — gesture: finger on the lips
The suffix –zaru (ザル) is a pun on saru (猿) “monkey”; this wordplay already underlies the classic mizaru/kikazaru/iwazaru.
This is another example of the reversed interpretation.
.
Dutch inscription: “Horen, zien en… zwijgen” = “Hear, see and… keep silent.”
Gestures shown:
left monkey listens (horn to the ear),
middle monkey looks/scans (hands as a visor/binoculars),
right monkey keeps silent (hand at the mouth; humorously hanging upside down).
This is exactly the listen–look–keep silent variant — the European counterpart of the Latin Audi, vide, tace and the Japanese 見よ・聞け・言うな.
Working hypothesis (honestly: still without hard evidence)
We put forward a thesis, which we immediately label as hypothetical:
Canaris may have used—privately or within a narrow Abwehr circle—the “reversed” Three Monkeys motif as a shorthand for the work ethos: listen to everything, see everything, but keep silent.
Why does this sound plausible?
Functional fit — the sense of Audi, vide, tace ideally describes the duties of intelligence/counterintelligence.
Abshagen’s account — even if the author embellishes, the gesture order (listening, observing, silence) matches the Abwehr’s logic.
Earlier European motto — Europe knew this triad long before the Japanese monkeys became popular; no surprise the motifs merged.
Practicality of the object — a discreet paperweight could serve as an “operational reminder” for office visitors and staff.
Important caveat: we do not currently have a desk photograph or a museum artifact confirming exactly such a figurine; this is a coherent hypothesis, not a proven fact.
Why this thread matters
It’s a prime example of how symbols migrate and change meaning. The Japanese triad is, in Europe, rewritten into the language of professional prudence. The “reversed monkeys” cease to satirize passivity and become a manual of vigilance. If the Canaris anecdote contains even a grain of truth, we have a fascinating case of cultural adaptation of iconography.
OPEN INQUIRY — PLEASE HELP
This topic remains open and we are keen to verify details. We are looking for:
A copy of the first edition: Karl Heinz Abshagen, Canaris. Patriot und Weltbürger, Stuttgart 1949 (or a scan of the chapter describing the office).
Photographs of Canaris’s desk with the “Dresden” model and the paperweight visible.
Physical examples of “reversed monkeys” (plaques, figurines, calendars) from the interwar/war period.
Documented uses of related mottoes (Audi, vide, tace; Horen, zien en zwijgen) in documents or memorabilia of the Abwehr / security institutions.
If you have even a fragmentary lead — please write to us. We verify every piece of information and credit the author (if requested).
Methodological note:
In this text we deliberately used the full quotation from the edition Karl Heinz Abshagen, Canaris. Chief of the Wehrmacht Military Intelligence. 1935–1945, Tsentrpoligraf 2006, ch. 6 — as an evidentiary description from the biography (with the remark that the first edition dates to 1949). This article is research-iconographic in nature. It is not a glorification of the services of the Third Reich; we analyse symbolism and the transfer of motifs. All conclusions regarding the “reversed monkeys” have the status of a hypothesis — consistent with European tradition and the operational logic of intelligence work, yet without hard material evidence from Canaris’s desk.
