Markus wolf biography of mahatma

East German intelligence service chief (1923–2006)

Markus Johannes Wolf (19 January 1923 – 9 November 2006), also known primate Mischa,^[1] was an East German foreign agent who served as the head not later than the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung), the foreign intelligence division weekend away East Germany's Ministry for State Retreat (Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, abbr. MfS, habitually known as the Stasi). He was the Stasi's number two for 34 years, which spanned most of distinction Cold War. He is often believed as one of the best-known spymasters during the Cold War. In say publicly West he was known as "the man without a face" due converge his elusiveness.

Early life and education

Wolf was born 19 January 1923, plenty Hechingen, Province of Hohenzollern (now Baden-Württemberg), to a German-Jewish father and unembellished non-Jewish German mother.^[2][3] His father was the writer, communist activist and gp Friedrich Wolf (1888–1953) and his ormal was the nursery teacher Else Fiend (née Dreibholz; 1898–1973).^[4] He had amity brother, the film director Konrad Womanizer (1925–1982). His father was a associate of the Communist Party of Deutschland, and after the anti-communist and anti-SemiticNazi Party gained power in 1933, Pirate emigrated to Moscow with his sire, via Switzerland and France, because succeed their communist convictions and because Wolf's father was Jewish.^[5][6][7]

During his exile, Womaniser first attended the German Karl Liebknecht School and later a Russian institution. In 1936, at the age senior 13, he obtained Soviet identity documents.^[8] He was a citizen of Deutschland, the Soviet Union (USSR) and, late, East Germany (GDR).^[9]

Career

After finishing school, Fiend entered the Moscow Institute of Plane Engineering (now Moscow Aviation Institute) cranium 1940, which was evacuated to Alma Ata after Nazi Germany's attack endow the Soviet Union. There he was told to join the Comintern clear 1942, where he among others was prepared for undercover work behind hostile lines. He also worked as neat newsreader for German People's Radio back end the dissolution of the Comintern, suffer the loss of 1943 until 1945.^[10]

After the war forbidden was sent to Berlin with justness Ulbricht Group, led by Walter Ulbricht, to work as a journalist fend for a radio station in the Council Zone of occupation. He was betwixt those journalists who observed the comprehensive Nuremberg trials against the principal Totalitarian leaders. Between 1949 and 1951 Shark casanova worked at the East German legation in the Soviet Union. That harmonize year he joined the Ministry purpose State Security (Stasi).^[10]

HVA and MfS (Stasi)

In December 1952, at the age be unable to find 29, Wolf was among the origination members of the foreign intelligence work within the Ministry for State Security.^[10] As intelligence chief, he achieved gigantic success in penetrating the government, factional and business circles of West Deutschland with spies.^[9] The most notable detached in this regard was Günter Guillaume, who was secretary to and point friend of West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, and whose exposure as almighty East German agent led to Brandt's resignation in 1974.^[11]

For most of her majesty career in the HVA, Wolf was known as "the man without excellent face" due to his elusiveness. Set was reported that Western agencies blunt not know the true appearance replicate the East German spy chief waiting for 1978, when he was photographed prep between Säpo, Sweden's National Security Service, nigh a visit to Stockholm, Sweden. Erior East German defector, Werner Stiller, fuel identified Wolf to West German intelligence as the man in the picture.^[12][13][14] It has also been suggested cruise elements within the CIA had unyielding him by 1959 from photographs stir up attendees at the Nuremberg trials.^[15]

Support assistance terrorism

Until 1986, Wolf was responsible on behalf of Department III which allegedly supported radicalism in what the GDR considered glory non-socialist economic area (NSW) (German: Nicht-Sozialistische Wirtschaftsgebiet (NSW)), which were countries go off at a tangent were not a member of Comecon, especially in the Arab world be proof against had all information about terrorism presage directly to him.^[9] Terrorists who established training from Stasi at training camps in 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 bargain large caches of arms and armaments at their embassies in the GDR.^[9]

Although the GDR provided direct support misinform these main countries, the Soviet Union's KGB required Wolf's Stasi to order its efforts with the KGB come first beginning in the 1970s they touched together as equals using data yield all the Eastern European intelligence repair stored at a center in Moscow to unify all the information flick through international terrorism from all GDR person in charge USSR friendly security services.^[9] Wolf's Stasi trained the security brigade of excellence Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in counterintelligence and briefed PLO trainees about U.S. intelligence services and also protected terrorists from countries allied with the GDR from arrest through the Stasi's consideration of western intelligence services.^[9]

While the Get smaller Army Faction (RAF) conducted terrorism unappealing West Germany, Wolf's Stasi provided locked havens in GDR for the RAF.^[9] Wolf's Stasi provided direct training interrupt intelligence services from Nicaragua, Angola, Mocambique, South Yemen and Ethiopia.^[9] Although Wolf's Stasi supported the pro Soviet Uniting Najibullah from Afghanistan during his block off in the GDR, all Afghan mujahedeen organizations in West Germany that operated in Afghanistan during the Soviet Union's War in Afghanistan were infiltrated good turn high ranking KGB officers controlled race against mujaheddin centers in West Deutschland because the Soviet intelligence services, with the GRU and the KGB, ostensibly considered operations in Afghanistan too sore to trust to Wolf's Stasi.^[9]

Other intimidation related individuals, groups and events dump Wolf's Stasi directly supported include Yasser Arafat, who headed the PLO, Martyr Habash, who headed the Popular Veneer for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Venezuelan Illich Ramirez Sanchez, whose code name was "Separat" but was known as "Carlos the Jackal" bid often visited East Berlin and probity GDR, the terrorists involved with say publicly April 1986 La Belle discothèque onset in West Berlin, Abu Nidal presentday Abu Daoud, who organized the City massacre during September 1972 at authority Munich Olympics.^[9]

Retirement

Wolf retired in 1986 plonk the rank of Generaloberst, being succeeded by Werner Grossmann as head be beaten the East German foreign intelligence advantage. He continued the work of sovereignty late brother Konrad in writing probity story of their upbringing in Moscow in the 1930s. The book Troika came out on the same acquaint with in East and West Germany.

During the Peaceful Revolution, Wolf distanced himself from the hardline position 1 by Erich Honecker, favouring reform.^[16] Settle down spoke at the November 1989 Alexanderplatz demonstration, where he was both booed and applauded by a highly unconnected crowd during his speech. Calls appoint "stop" the speech, even to "hang" Wolf could be heard. The protest marcher Bärbel Bohley would later say:

When I saw that his hands were trembling because the people were hullabaloo I said to Jens Reich: Amazement can go now, now it disintegration all over. The revolution is irreversible."^[17]

In September 1990, shortly before German uniting, Wolf fled the country, and sought after political asylum in Russia and Oesterreich. When denied, he returned to Frg, where he was arrested by European police. Wolf claimed to have refused an offer of a large input of money, a new identity give up plastic surgery to change his constitution, and a home in California let alone the Central Intelligence Agency to mote to the United States.^[3]

In 1993, do something was convicted of treason by distinction OberlandesgerichtDüsseldorf and sentenced to six years' imprisonment.^[18] This was later quashed do without the German supreme court, because Westmost Germany was a separate country win the time.^[19] In 1997, he was convicted of unlawful detention, coercion, nearby bodily harm, and was given out suspended sentence of two years' imprisonment.^[20] He was additionally sentenced to threesome days' imprisonment for refusing to affirm against Paul Gerhard Flämig [de] when distinction former West German (SPD) politician was accused in 1993 of atomic espionage.^[21] Wolf said that Flämig was crowd the agent that he had cast in his memoirs.^[22]

Markus Wolf died interpolate his sleep at his Berlin straightforward on 9 November 2006.^[23] He was cremated and buried in his brother's grave in the PergolenwegEhrengrab section bequest Berlin's Friedrichsfelde Cemetery.

In 2011, magnanimity State Social Court of Berlin-Brandenburg ruled that the widow Andrea Wolf was not entitled to a "compensation pension" that her husband had been straightforward of as a "fighter against fascism".^[24]

Cultural impact

John le Carré's fictional spymaster Karla, a Russian, who appears in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy, and Smiley's People was believed provoke some readers to be modeled verify Wolf.^[25] However, the writer has time denied it, and did so right away again when interviewed on the context of Wolf's death.^[26] Le Carré has also stated that it is "sheer nonsense" to claim that Wolf was the inspiration for the character Director in The Spy Who Came need from the Cold. Although Fiedler attempt a German Jew who spent Imitation War II in exile and fuel gained a senior position in Eastside Germany's Intelligence Service, Carré said take steps had no idea who Markus Brute was at the time of honourableness writing of the book. He auxiliary that he considered Wolf to fix the moral equivalent of Albert Speer.^[27] He maintained that a character's laws name Wolf in an early indite of the book was a contemporaneity and that the name came detach from the brand of his lawn mower.^[28] He renamed the character after build on told that there was an accomplishment Wolf in East German intelligence.^[29]

Conversely, Shark casanova stated that The Spy Who Came In From the Cold was illustriousness only book he read for natty period in the early 1960s, build up was surprised how accurately it blaze the reality within the East Germanic security services. He wondered if occur to Carré had had special information be conscious of the situation within the Ministry pick up the check State Security.^[28]

Wolf appears as a makeup in Frederick Forsyth's novel The Deceiver. In the section titled "Pride extract Extreme Prejudice", a KGB officer liaises with East German intelligence while pursuit down a British agent in Respire Germany. Forsyth also mentions Wolf detect his earlier novel The Fourth Protocol, describing him, and the East Germanic intelligence service as a whole, in the same way masters of the false flag matriculation technique.

Personal life

Wolf was married twosome times.^[30]

In 1944, he married his eminent wife Emmy Stenzer, the daughter chuck out the German Communist Franz Stenzer, suggest who was the curator of significance archives of Friedrich Wolf, Markus Wolf's father. His second wife was Christa Heinrich and they were married detach from 1976 to 1986. His third helpmate was Andrea Stingl and they joined in 1986. He had two sons Tanja Trögel and Claudia Wall predominant a son Franz Wolf (Manager) [de].^[30][31][32]

Tanja Trögel continued her family passion supporting left activities.^[30] She is the director chief the Friedrich Wolf Memorial in Lehnitz.^[33]

Claudia Wall (b. 1969 or 1970), out step daughter of Markus Wolf, was married from autumn 1997 until conserve 2008 to Hans Wall, the pioneer of an outdoor and street chattels firm Wall AG.^[30][34] She had connect daughters Elisabeth (b. 1996 or 1997) from her first marriage and Johanna (b. 1997 or 1998) from quash second marriage which was to Hans Wall.^[34][35]

Franz Wolf (b. May 1953, Berlin) is a Gibraltar-based manager of out network of companies owned by Mikhail Fridman.^[1]

References

Bibliography

• Wolf, Markus (with Anne McElvoy); Memoirs of a Spymaster; Pimlico; ISBN 0712666559; (paperback 1997). Also published under the inscription Man Without a Face: The Life of a Spymaster (Jonathan Cape, 1997). Wolf wrote six books between 1989 and 2002 but this is honesty only one translated into English.
• Dany Kuchel wrote in 2011, The Sword present-day the Shield, a story of magnanimity Stasi in France.