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63-464: Around 1973, West German security organizations received information that one of Brandt's personal assistants, Günter Guillaume , was a spy for the East German state. Brandt was asked to continue work as usual, and he agreed, even taking a private vacation with Guillaume. Guillaume was arrested on April 24, 1974. Guillaume had indeed been a spy for East Germany, supervised by Markus Wolf , head of

126-560: A Bundestag committee investigating the activities of the Division of Commercial Coordination ( Bereich Kommerzielle Koordinierung or KoKo ) that at the end of his tenure (1986) the yearly financial resources of the HVA for operational purposes stood at 17 million East German mark and 13.5 million Deutsche Mark . It was not possible to conclusively refute or verify this statement. In individual HVA sections, there existed "black cash boxes" under

189-551: A character in Frederick Forsyth 's novel The Deceiver . In the section titled "Pride and Extreme Prejudice", a KGB officer liaises with East German intelligence while tracking down a British agent in East Germany. Forsyth also mentions Wolf in his earlier novel The Fourth Protocol , describing him, and the East German intelligence service as a whole, as masters of the false flag recruitment technique. Wolf

252-494: A high financial and personnel cost, with the goal of placing them in high positions in the state and the economy, through which they gained access to secret information. A famous example of such a recruitment operation was Gabriele Gast , who committed herself in 1968 as a student and rose to the rank of Regierungsdirektorin (Government Director) in the Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service),

315-434: A senior position in East Germany's Intelligence Service, Carré said he had no idea who Markus Wolf was at the time of the writing of the book. He added that he considered Wolf to be the moral equivalent of Albert Speer . He maintained that a character's code name Wolf in an early draft of the book was a coincidence and that the name came from the brand of his lawn mower . He renamed the character after being told that there

378-653: A son Franz Wolf (Manager)  [ de ] . Tanja Trögel continued her family passion supporting leftist activities. She is the director of the Friedrich Wolf Memorial in Lehnitz . Claudia Wall (b. 1969 or 1970), a step daughter of Markus Wolf, was married from autumn 1997 until late 2008 to Hans Wall , the founder of an outdoor and street furniture firm Wall AG . She had two daughters Elisabeth (b. 1996 or 1997) from her first marriage and Johanna (b. 1997 or 1998) from her second marriage which

441-567: A vocational training school. From 1968 on, it was called "Fachrichtung für Aufklärung der JHS" ("College of Reconnaissance of the JHS"), and was later renamed to "Sektion A" ("Section A"). The "Fremdsprachenschule des MfS" ("College of Foreign Languages of the Ministry for State Security"), also referred to as "Educational Department F", was attached to it. In 1988, the HVA College, including

504-529: Is all over. The revolution is irreversible." In September 1990, shortly before German reunification , Wolf fled the country, and sought political asylum in Russia and Austria . When denied, he returned to Germany, where he was arrested by German police. Wolf claimed to have refused an offer of a large amount of money, a new identity with plastic surgery to change his features, and a home in California from

567-491: Is told in the play Democracy , by Michael Frayn . The play follows Brandt's career, from his election to Guillaume's imprisonment. It examines Guillaume's dual identity as trusted personal assistant to the West German chancellor and Stasi spy and examines his conflict as his duty to West Germany's enemies clashes with his genuine love and admiration for the chancellor. In 2003, Willy Brandt's son, Matthias Brandt , took

630-726: The Central Intelligence Agency to defect to the United States. In 1993, he was convicted of treason by the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf and sentenced to six years' imprisonment. This was later quashed by the German supreme court , because West Germany was a separate country at the time. In 1997, he was convicted of unlawful detention, coercion, and bodily harm, and was given a suspended sentence of two years' imprisonment. He

693-773: The KGB or the Directorate of Operations within the CIA . The HVA had its own budget and its own enterprises, which not only provided cover employment for its operatives, but also contributed finances from their business activities to the upkeep of the service. The Main Directorate also handled its own counterintelligence . This was an exclusive prerogative of the Stasi within the German Democratic Republic, but while

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756-549: The Ministry of State Security ( Stasi ), the main security agency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), from 1955 to 1990. The HVA was an integral part of the Stasi, responsible for operations outside of East Germany such as espionage , active measures , foreign intelligence gathering, and counterintelligence against NATO -aligned countries and their intelligence agencies. The Stasi

819-661: The Munich Olympics . Wolf retired in 1986 with the rank of Generaloberst , being succeeded by Werner Grossmann as head of the East German foreign intelligence service. He continued the work of his late brother Konrad in writing the story of their upbringing in Moscow in the 1930s. The book Troika came out on the same day in East and West Germany. During the Peaceful Revolution , Wolf distanced himself from

882-635: The Pergolenweg Ehrengrab section of Berlin's Friedrichsfelde Cemetery . In 2011, the State Social Court of Berlin-Brandenburg ruled that the widow Andrea Wolf was not entitled to a "compensation pension" that her husband had been stripped of as a "fighter against fascism". John le Carré 's fictional spymaster Karla , a Russian, who appears in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy , The Honourable Schoolboy , and Smiley's People

945-769: The United Kingdom , also contributed to the HVA's significance. In the United States , on the contrary, the HVA was never able to break any ground, as the KGB operated there almost exclusively (the significant inroads in the GDR's reconnaissance on, for example, the NSA originated from personnel stationed in West Berlin). In 1989 the HVA had 21 sections ( Abteilungen ) and five task forces ( Arbeitsgruppen ). In addition, there

1008-760: The "HVA College", disguised as the Zentralschule der Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik Edkar André ("Edkar André Main College of the Society for Sports and Vocational Training"), was headquartered in Belzig . Starting in 1965, it was incrementally absorbed into the Juristische Hochschule des MfS (JHS) ("Graduate Law School of the Ministry of State Security"), located in Golm (Potsdam) , initially as

1071-699: The APN ( Außenpolitischer Nachrichtendienst : Foreign Intelligence Service) resided in the early 1950s first in Pankow , then at the Rolandufer in Mitte , both in Berlin. The headquarters of the HVA was situated since the mid- to late 1950s in the building complex of the Stasi's headquarters in the Berlin borough of Lichtenberg . After completion of the new office buildings at the corner of Ruschestraße and Frankfurter Allee,

1134-655: The Brandts and the Guillaumes took a vacation to Norway together – it was Matthias, then twelve years old, who was the first to discover that Guillaume and his wife 'were typing mysterious things on typewriters the whole night through'. Markus Wolf Markus Johannes Wolf (19 January 1923 – 9 November 2006), also known as Mischa , was an East German spy who served as the head of the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance ( Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung ),

1197-612: The College of Foreign Languages, previously located in Dammsmühle bei Mühlenbeck , moved to Lake Seddin in Gosen near the Berlin city limits, approximately 4.5 kilometres (3 miles) south of the city of Erkner . The backup bunker for the headquarters of the HVA was also located there. In 1989 the college had approximately 300 employees and was headed by Lieutenant Bernd Kaufmann. It worked in close cooperation with "Dept. A XIX" , and

1260-619: The GDR from arrest through the Stasi's monitoring of western intelligence services. While the Red Army Faction (RAF) conducted terrorism in West Germany, Wolf's Stasi provided safe havens in GDR for the RAF. Wolf's Stasi provided direct training to intelligence services from Nicaragua, Angola, Mozambique, South Yemen and Ethiopia. Although Wolf's Stasi supported the pro Soviet Union Najibullah from Afghanistan during his stay in

1323-480: The GDR were from countries which were supportive of the GDR including Nicaragua , Angola , Mozambique , Iraq , Syria , Libya , Ethiopia , South Yemen and Palestinians and all of whom stored very large caches of arms and explosives at their embassies in the GDR. Although the GDR provided direct support to these main countries, the Soviet Union's KGB required Wolf's Stasi to coordinate its efforts with

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1386-764: The GDR, all Afghan mujahidin organizations in West Germany that operated in Afghanistan during the Soviet Union's War in Afghanistan were infiltrated and high ranking KGB officers controlled operations against mujaheddin centers in West Germany because the Soviet intellegence services, including the GRU and the KGB, allegedly considered operations in Afghanistan too sensitive to trust to Wolf's Stasi. Other terrorism related individuals, groups and events that Wolf's Stasi directly supported include Yasser Arafat , who headed

1449-511: The HVA (since 1983), Generalmajor (since 1984) Heinrich Tauchert – Deputy Chief of the HVA (since 1987), Generalmajor (since 1989) Ralf-Peter Devaux – Deputy Chief of the HVA (since 1987), Oberst (since 1987) Horst Felber – First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party organs in the Stasi (since 1979), Generalmajor (since 1979) Sections VII, IX, X and task force S were directly subordinated to

1512-604: The HVA established its base of operations there. (After 1990 an employment agency moved into a building on the site. The building on the Frankfurter Allee is used by Deutsche Bahn . A Deutsche Bahn company logo has been affixed and is easily noticeable.) The Operativ-Technische Sektor (OTS) was located in the Roedernstraße in Hohenschönhausen. Former HVA director Markus Wolf asserted in front of

1575-831: The HVA, in light of the rising tensions between the two Cold War superpowers. Optimal conditions allowed the HVA to provide its eastern "sister services", especially the KGB , the greatest amount of intelligence flowing out of the Federal Republic of Germany. The KGB was headquartered in Berlin-Karlshorst , the Soviet Union's secret service was located in Potsdam-Babelsberg , and in addition, liaisons were present to each district administration. Successful operations against NATO headquarters in Brussels , as well as some other Western European states, such as

1638-656: The KGB and beginning in the 1970s they worked together as equals using data from all the Eastern European intelligence services stored at a center in Moscow to unify all the information about international terrorism from all GDR and USSR friendly security services. Wolf's Stasi trained the security brigade of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in counterintelligence and briefed PLO trainees about U.S. intelligence services and also protected terrorists from countries allied with

1701-905: The Main Division I handled this mission within the National People's Army and the Border Troops , the Main Division VII handled the Ministry of the Interior and the People's Police , the Main Division XX handled espionage penetration attempts within the GDR's state apparatus and the Main Division II handled counterintelligence among the East German public in general, counterespionage within the HVA

1764-726: The Main Intelligence Administration of the East German Ministry for State Security (Stasi). Brandt resigned as Chancellor on May 6, 1974 (although he remained the Chairman of the Social Democrats and led the party until 1987). According to Vasili Mitrokhin , when the KGB found out about Guillaume, they ordered Wolf to pull him out because Brandt had been a good friend to the Soviet Union and they wanted him to stay in power. Brandt

1827-904: The PLO, George Habash , who headed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) , the Venezuelan Illich Ramirez Sanchez , whose code name was "Separat" but was known as "Carlos the Jackal" and often visited East Berlin and the GDR, the terrorists involved with the April 1986 La Belle discothèque bombing in West Berlin , Abu Nidal and Abu Daoud , who organized the Munich massacre during September 1972 at

1890-473: The SED was expected of them. Qualified employees of other Stasi departments, such as those with secondary educational degrees, knowledge of foreign languages, etc., could, as a reward for "remarkable achievements", be transferred to the HVA as needed, which was akin to a decoration. On the other hand, HVA personnel could, due to inadequate performance or following an investigation, be transferred to other departments of

1953-586: The Stasi, practically constituting a demotion. The full-time staff of the HVA were complemented by more than 10,000 "unofficial collaborators" or "unofficial employees", the so-called IMs ( Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter ). These were primarily GDR citizens with permission to travel to the West (the Reisekader ; conversely, only a fraction of those with travel permission were IMs), residents of East Germany who were related to "functionally interesting" target persons in

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2016-407: The West, couriers and instructors, but also thousands of residents of West Germany and West Berlin, partly in exposed positions in society. The HVA was particularly interested in recruiting Western students who were visiting the GDR. These were young academics who were suitable for leadership roles and therefore particularly predestined for confidential information; they were developed over decades at

2079-550: The age of 13, he obtained Soviet identity documents. He was a citizen of Germany, the Soviet Union (USSR) and, later, East Germany (GDR). After finishing school, Wolf entered the Moscow Institute of Airplane Engineering (now Moscow Aviation Institute ) in 1940, which was evacuated to Alma Ata after Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union . There he was told to join the Comintern in 1942, where he among others

2142-554: The autumn of 1989, seven supervisors had a ranking of "general": highest-ranking associate was manager of the HVA, Werner Großmann, as lieutenant general. Four of his deputies, as well as Harry Schütt (chief of counter-espionage) and Otto Ledermann (manager of the SED foundation of the HVA) were Major Generals. The HVA associates regarded themselves to be the elite of the Ministry of State Security. A high degree of personal engagement, flexibility, performance, and primarily absolute loyalty to

2205-472: The end of the year, Ackermann petitioned the ruling party's Politburo to replace him, and Walter Ulbricht assumed direct control of the APN. The primary mandate of the HVA was foreign reconnaissance ( espionage ), which included political, military, economic and technological intelligence-gathering. Among its other duties were activities against western intelligence agencies (by means of infiltrating their operations), preparing acts of sabotage , as well as

2268-419: The foreign intelligence division of East Germany 's Ministry for State Security ( Ministerium für Staatssicherheit , abbr. MfS, commonly known as the Stasi ). He was the Stasi's number two for 34 years, which spanned most of the Cold War . He is often regarded as one of the best-known spymasters during the Cold War. In the West he was known as the man without a face due to his elusiveness. Wolf

2331-442: The foreign intelligence agency of West Germany. As a high-level source, she was led by Markus Wolf personally. The actual sources of espionage operations in the West were not necessarily registered as IMs with the HVA (or the Ministry of State Security). In many cases, they were noted as Kontaktpersonen (KP) (contact persons), which reveals little about the degree of cooperation with the intelligence service. The HVA's predecessor,

2394-571: The founding on 1 September 1951 in Bohnsdorf in the borough of Treptow-Köpenick. The APN was subordinated to the GDR Foreign Ministry. The first leader was Ackermann, his deputy was Richard Stahlmann . The head of the "advisers" was the KGB officer Andrei Grauer, who, according to Wolf, had been personally assigned by Stalin to this "reconstruction aid." In 1952, the APN College (the later HVA College) came into being, where agents known as "scouts for peace" (Kundschafter des Friedens) in Stasi jargon were prepared for operations in Western countries. Toward

2457-445: The hardline position taken by Erich Honecker , favouring reform. He spoke at the November 1989 Alexanderplatz demonstration , where he was both booed and applauded by a highly divided crowd during his speech. Calls to "stop" the speech, even to "hang" Wolf could be heard. The dissident Bärbel Bohley would later say: When I saw that his hands were trembling because the people were booing I said to Jens Reich : We can go now, now it

2520-453: The head of the HVA, Colonel General Werner Großmann . His predecessor was Colonel General Markus Wolf , who led the HVA over 34 years until 1986 and was held in high professional regard in the intelligence community. The head of the HVA had five deputies. In the last case, these were Major Generals Horst Vogel (1. Deputy), Heinz Geyer (Chief of Staff), Heinrich Tauchert and Werner Prosetzky as well as Colonel Ralf-Peter Devaux. Initially,

2583-425: The part of Guillaume in the film Im Schatten der Macht  [ de ] ("In the Shadow of Power") by German filmmaker Oliver Storz  [ de ] . The film deals with the Guillaume affair and Brandt's resignation. Matthias Brandt caused a minor controversy in Germany when it was publicized that he would take the part of the man who betrayed his father and made him resign in 1974. Earlier in 1974 – when

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2646-518: The principal Nazi leaders. Between 1949 and 1951 Wolf worked at the East German embassy in the Soviet Union. That same year he joined the Ministry for State Security (Stasi). In December 1952, at the age of 29, Wolf was among the founding members of the foreign intelligence service within the Ministry for State Security. As intelligence chief, he achieved great success in penetrating the government, political and business circles of West Germany with spies. The most notable individual in this regard

2709-480: The resignation of Brandt had never been intended, and that the affair had been one of the biggest mistakes of the East German secret service. The affair is widely considered to have been a trigger for Brandt's resignation, not a fundamental cause. Instead, Brandt, dogged by scandal relating to serial adultery, and struggling with alcohol and depression, as well as the economic fallout of the 1973 oil crisis , seemed prepared to step down. As Brandt himself later said, "I

2772-516: The second largest after Soviet Union's intelligence forces. It provided up to 80 percent of all information about NATO countries before the Warsaw Pact, according to the CIA. In 1951, the Außenpolitischer Nachrichtendienst (Foreign Intelligence Service) (APN) was founded, under the leadership of Anton Ackermann , disguised as the Institut für wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Forschung (IPW) (Institute for Economic Research). According to Markus Wolf , eight Germans and four Soviet "advisers" were present at

2835-449: The so-called "Active Measures" (distributing false intelligence) in the "Operational Sector Federal Republic of Germany ", including West Berlin . In the early 1980s, military espionage began to gain significance. The Soviet Union , the SED-led administration of the German Democratic Republic, and secretary of national security Erich Mielke expected paramount information in regard to the early discovery of Western war preparations from

2898-410: Was Günter Guillaume , who was secretary to and close friend of West German Chancellor Willy Brandt , and whose exposure as an East German agent led to Brandt's resignation in 1974. For most of his career in the HVA, Wolf was known as "the man without a face" due to his elusiveness. It was reported that Western agencies did not know the true appearance of the East German spy chief until 1978, when he

2961-408: Was a member of the Communist Party of Germany , and after the anti-socialist and anti-Semitic Nazi Party gained power in 1933, Wolf emigrated to Moscow with his father, via Switzerland and France , because of their communist convictions and because Wolf's father was Jewish. During his exile, Wolf first attended the German Karl Liebknecht School and later a Russian school. In 1936, at

3024-421: Was additionally sentenced to three days' imprisonment for refusing to testify against Paul Gerhard Flämig  [ de ] when the former West German (SPD) politician was accused in 1993 of atomic espionage. Wolf said that Flämig was not the agent that he had mentioned in his memoirs. Markus Wolf died in his sleep at his Berlin home on 9 November 2006. He was cremated and buried in his brother's grave in

3087-600: Was also pointed at the East German leadership. Some speculated that the East German regime under Erich Honecker had intentionally used Guillaume to engineer Brandt's downfall. Brandt's policy of Ostpolitik had made him a hero and symbol of hope for national and family reunification in the East. Therefore, from Honecker's view, Brandt's popularity in East Germany represented a threat to the regime. In his memoirs, Brandt noted Honecker's denial of complicity in his downfall, adding "whatever one may think of that." However Stasi-head Markus Wolf stated after German reunification that

3150-406: Was an actual Wolf in East German intelligence. Conversely, Wolf stated that The Spy Who Came In From the Cold was the only book he read for a period in the early 1960s, and was surprised how accurately it presented the reality within the East German security services. He wondered if le Carré had had special information about the situation within the Ministry of State Security. Wolf appears as

3213-416: Was believed by some readers to be modeled on Wolf. However, the writer has repeatedly denied it, and did so once again when interviewed on the occasion of Wolf's death. Le Carré has also stated that it is "sheer nonsense" to claim that Wolf was the inspiration for the character Fiedler in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold . Although Fiedler is a German Jew who spent World War II in exile and then gained

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3276-402: Was born 19 January 1923, in Hechingen , Province of Hohenzollern (now Baden-Württemberg ), to a German-Jewish father and a non-Jewish German mother. His father was the writer, communist activist and physician Friedrich Wolf (1888–1953) and his mother was the nursery teacher Else Wolf ( née Dreibholz; 1898–1973). He had one brother, the film director Konrad Wolf (1925–1982). His father

3339-400: Was disbanded in January 1990 and the HVA's mode of operation was revealed to the public, including its internal structure, methods, and employees. The HVA became the subject of broad interest and intensive research under the responsibilities of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records . The HVA is regarded by some as the most effective foreign intelligence service during the Cold War and

3402-443: Was exhausted, for reasons which had nothing to do with the process going on at the time." Guillaume was eventually released and sent to East Germany in 1981 in exchange for Western intelligence agents caught by the Eastern Bloc . Back in East Germany, Guillaume was celebrated as a hero, and given a job in the training of spies. He published his autobiography, Die Aussage ( The Statement ) in 1988. The story of Brandt and Guillaume

3465-481: Was handled exclusively by its organic Division A IX . Werner Großmann – Deputy Minister and Chief of the HVA (since 1986), Generaloberst (since 1989) Horst Vogel – First Deputy Chief of the HVA (since 1989) and Chief of the Science and Technology Sector (since 1975), Generalmajor (since 1987) Heinz Geyer – Deputy Chief of the HVA (since 1977) and Chief of Staff (since 1982), Generalmajor (since 1985) Werner Prosetzky – Deputy Chief of

3528-404: Was married three times. In 1944, he married his first wife Emmy Stenzer, the daughter of the German Communist Franz Stenzer , and who was the curator of the archives of Friedrich Wolf, Markus Wolf's father. His second wife was Christa Heinrich and they were married from 1976 to 1986. His third wife was Andrea Stingl and they married in 1986. He had two daughters Tanja Trögel and Claudia Wall and

3591-399: Was photographed by Säpo , Sweden's National Security Service, during a visit to Stockholm , Sweden . An East German defector, Werner Stiller , then identified Wolf to West German counter-intelligence as the man in the picture. It has also been suggested that elements within the CIA had identified him by 1959 from photographs of attendees at the Nuremberg trials. Until 1986, Wolf

3654-427: Was prepared for undercover work behind enemy lines. He also worked as a newsreader for German People's Radio after the dissolution of the Comintern, from 1943 until 1945. After the war he was sent to Berlin with the Ulbricht Group , led by Walter Ulbricht , to work as a journalist for a radio station in the Soviet Zone of occupation . He was among those journalists who observed the entire Nuremberg trials against

3717-416: Was responsible for Department III which allegedly supported terrorism in what the GDR considered the non-socialist economic area (NSW) ( German : Nicht-Sozialistische Wirtschaftsgebiet (NSW) ), which were countries that were not a member of Comecon , especially in the Arab world and had all information about terrorism sent directly to him. Terrorists who received training from Stasi at training camps in

3780-417: Was structured into three Educational Departments : The HVA had more than 3,800 full-time employees in 1989. Among them were, according to the agency's directory, approximately 2,400 professional agents and 700 deputies, 700 unofficial employees, and 670 special agents ( Offiziere im besonderen Einsatz ) . In the course of the HVA's self-disestablishment, the number of employees rose at times above 4,200. In

3843-427: Was succeeded as Chancellor by fellow Social Democrat Helmut Schmidt , who, unlike Brandt, belonged to the right wing of his party. For the rest of his life, Brandt remained suspicious that his fellow Social Democrat and longtime rival Herbert Wehner had been scheming for his downfall, but evidence for this seems scant. Aside from internecine intrigue within the Social Democrats, the finger of blame for Brandt's fall

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3906-403: Was the Headquarters of the HVA ( Stab der HVA ) and the Sector for Science and Technology ( Sektor Wissenschaft und Technik ) (SWT), responsible for technological espionage, whose responsibilities were spread across sections. In a sense the Main Directorate was a secret service within the secret service with an autonomy within the Stasi similar to that enjoyed by the First Chief Directorate within

3969-404: Was to Hans Wall. Franz Wolf (b. May 1953, Berlin) is a Gibraltar -based manager of a network of companies owned by Mikhail Fridman . Main Directorate for Reconnaissance The Main Directorate for Reconnaissance ( German : Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung ; German : HVA , German pronunciation: [haːfaʊ̯ˈaː] ) was the foreign intelligence service of

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