APPROVED FOBW HSVORIOU.
TITLE: Porthole To The West AUTHOR: Inquirer
VOLUME: YEAR:
STUDIES IN
INTELLIGENCE
A collection ol articles on lhe historical, operational, doctrinal, and theoretical aspects ol intolligonco.
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Same recent Communist tnteUl-gence operations run from East Berlin.
PORTHOLE TO THE WEST
One.of the reasons.the United Sta tesb to belllgerer^bout West*Berlin, the SovleU charge, ls*that ihe NATO eourTtries hare made the city their most activeof espionage and subversion against the Socialistr, taken out ofandlstlc language, their moat useful Intelligence window to the East Could be; but every shoe has lbs mate, end one of the reasons the Communists were for so long reluctant to cut their losses by sealing the border between sectors must hare been the crimp It would put Into East Berlin's most Influential bigactivity. In addition to the locally ubiquitous Eaat German services, four distinct Sovietservices and at least one from every other Bloc country are there. Some four score intelligence establishments have been located and Identified in midclty, Pankow, and around the suburbs, most notably in Karlshorst, where five or sueSoviet officersifty-acre compound to themselves. From these offices hasorrent of Intelligenceranging from garden-variety espionage to kidnapping and assassination. The reader is invited to sample them in the following case sketches drawn from the past few years.
Dearly Beloved
Eleanor was an American girl workingB. office in Bonn last year. She was ripe for romance, and Europe was the place to find it At the Embassy Club she met Paul, aAmerican who retained the old-world charm that al-waysnot of women. Nevertheless he had eyes only for her, and In the succeeding weeks time only for her. Soon it was moreay romance; it was the real once-In*-lifetime thing. They were going to be married. But not for several weeks; right now he had to go to West Berlin.
In West Berlin Paul livederman friend. He wrote or telephoned every day. But one day It was the friend that telephoned: Paul haderious automobile accident and
was ln an East Berlin Hospital Eleanor tried to reach him by phone; failed; tried again; failed; again; no good. Red tape.etter from him: broken bones, but he would quiteWould she visit him? Tender meeting of theIn the East Sector hospital. He would have to stay there some ten days more; could she come again next week? Certainly she could. During the sweet sorrow of farewell on her second visit, Paul "handedortt-roU of film andoiS friend ln West Berlin. As she stepped from the hospital door she was arrested by security police on charges of espionage. She was drivenafe house, stripped, and searched. The film was developed: pictures of East German military equlp-mentl She was taken to the Soviet headquarters In Karlshorst. where she found Paul also in custody. He was manly about lt. concentrating on making them understand that she knew nothing of the contents of the film. After some hours ofthey gaveew compassionate minutes alone with him. Abashed, he confessed that he was working for aintelligence service and was now ln bad trouble; he only hoped they would let her off lightly.
She was taken back to the safe house,oviet officer who bad been put in charge of the case talked earnestly to her, emphasizing the seriousness of her fiance's crime to which she was accessory. The only hope for him wasto expiate the damage done with an equivalent good deed. And she did happen to be In this respectortunatedidn't there pass through her office in Bonn codedconcerning. position on Berlin and policy toward the USSR? These were not of the same value as photographs of military equipment, of course, but given good faith on her part one could afford to be generous. The distraught girl eagerly grasped this chance to save her loved one. Shetatement of obligation to the Soviet Intelligence service and . was escorted to the West Berlin border.
Flying back to Bonn, however, Eleanor began to shrink from the prospect of stealing secret papers even to save Paul. How could she be sure that they would release him If she did? As soon as she got to the office she told her supervisor the whole story. It didn't take Investigators long to find that Paul was
-V. .
no American citizen and no Western lnlelUgence agent,oviet one, the lure In an elaborate play torail American with good access to communications, and that the Soviet officer who struck the bargain with her was Y. A. Zac-strovtsev, who two years earlier had been suspected of similar activities as second secretary of the Soviet embassy In Wash-Ington and asked to leave the country.
AVM|wW>>
On New Year's Daymall civilian sports plane In trouble crash-landed In the Kiel Canal. Tbe pilot was seen to reach the bank uninjured, but then dive back into the Icy water andriefcase from the wreck. He gave his-name as Richard Brueggert, of nearby Neumuenster. The German authorities,onnection between thehe attached to his briefcase and the fact that during the previous autumn this same plane had been identifiedrepeated Sights over maneuvers being conducted In the area by the West German army, did some investigating and questioning of Herr Brueggert. They gottory.
Richardative Neumuenster lad. When he turned nineteen, at about the time Von Paulus was reaching the Volga north of Stalingrad and Rommel stood before El Alarneln. he was Inducted into the Luftwaffe. In time he got himself Into the coveted pilot training course, but his ambition to fly real missions was thwarted by the end of the war. RaggedGermany saw him without pilot experience, mostlyand engagedirl from Saxony, Erna Hlllmann.n spite of poor financial prospects, he married Erna,hilearm there In the east, then took her back to Neumuenster and ekediving for the next ten years with temporary Jobs as Joiner and chauffeur. He wanted above all else to fly.
In the summerhen he had been workingear as Joiner for German Servicen Hamburg, Brueggert cameopy of Flugrport, an amateur pilots' magazine published by the East German Sport andSociety. He wrote to the Society and arranged to have future Issues mailed to him. At about this time he lost his OSO Job.
Earlyhrough the good offices ol the Sport and Technology Society, heetterellow aviationnamed Paul Soltau In East Berlin, and they struck unorrespondence. In March Soltau Invited him,now for nine months, to come to East Berlin and talkob In sports flying. His luck had changed, at last andoliday mood he took off with his wife Erna Soltau
family the two men had their talk.
After satisfying himself that Brueggert was fed up with the freedom of economic and aeronautic opportunity In theRepublic, Soltau revealed that heilitaryofficer (but not his real name. Major Ernst Beyer) and asked detailed questions about the strength, arms, andof the German Service Organization, and whether it was likely to be integrated into the regular armed forces. He was pleased with the extent of Richard's knowledge. Could heopy of the Air Force manual? There would indeedsports flying" Job for him, but first he should have training in photographic techniques and could do some practicing with useful ground photography. Here wasor the GSO report; his pay would be doubled when he got to flying Brueggertledge to carry out assignments as agent for the Democratic Republic. His cover name would be "Ruth."
In the following twenty-one months before his crash, "Ruth" furnished ground and aerial photographs of port andinstallations In Kiel and Hamburg, of barracks, rifle ranges, ammunition depots, railroad stations, and airfields In Neurnuenster,endsburg, Schleswlg, Flensburg Leek, and Schweslng, and of highways, bridges, and town and city layouts in the area. He reconnoltered the NATO training grounds at Todendorf to observe remote-controlled flyingbeing tested there. On the side, he spotted members of the armed forces who might be recruited as agents. Although he usually chartered planes for his air missions, he boughta second-hand Auster ln England, the one he later crashed. He setdetective agency" which conveniently shared
office spacehoto studio and shop run by his best friend. Peler Wingert. who haduftwaffe photographer.
Although Brueggert had been given two letter-dropby which he could communicate with Major Beyer, his photographic reports of course had to be conveyed Inand as his activity Increased thisangerous amount of travel for him. So he let Erna In on the secret and took her to East Berlin to be signed up.s an Intelligence courier. She'had'no particular political convictions and was happy to be able to Increase the family income. Between them they made about sixteen trips tobefore the crash, carrying the reportsollow urn-brella handle or In eviscerated oranges, rolls, or cookie
Richard and Erna and their friend Peter Wlngert were tried for espionage. Wlngert. because the only witness against him. Brueggert. refused to confirm what be had said under Interrogation, that Wlngert not only knew all about the business but had met with Major Beyer in East Berlin, had prepared reports for him. and had been paid for them, was released for lack of evidence. Erna Brueggert wasto nine months in prison. Richard was convicted, told the Investigating Judge. "When the Federal Republicersonally will pull the rope that hangs you" and was given twoalf years.
Secretary to the Chief
0 It became apparent that the East Oermanservices mustigh-level source in the Federal Republic's Defense Ministry. Investigatorsrail that led to the office of the deputy naval chief, Admiral Wagner, and to hisyear-old secretary, in October Rosalie Kunxe was arrested and confessed.
A Pomeranian girl, Rosalie had been recruited by the East Oerman service In Dresdenhreat to expose the Illegal abortion she had Just undergone. She was taken to East Berlin and given extensive safe-house training in secret writing, radio communications, photography, and other clandestine techniques.quippedictitious background legend and falsified documents, she was sent to
the Federal Republic.0 ahe had succeeded, asrue led. inob In the Defense Ministry. Here ahe had access to Secret and NATO Secret material, and afterhen she had worked her way uposition ln the top command, she handled Top Secret documents as well
Through East Berlin cover addresses, dead drops ln West Germany, and couriers she kept ln contact and arranged reg-
submit expense accounts, and take additional training Sometimes she went in person to East Berlin, sometimes met with another agent iu the West, one Horrt Ftiedrlch Schoe-UU, alias Martin Klessler. who'would then report to East
Berlin.
Shortly before her arrest Rosalie had served as secretary to high staff ofBcera participating in the NATO "Flashback-maneuvers at Baumholder. She still had with her the notes she had made on atomic weapons used in the exercises; she had planned to pass them to SchoetsJdeeting they hadew days later. Arriving for this meeting Schoe-tskl was also arrested,earch of bis quarters turned up microdot equipment, undeveloped minor film, concealment devices, and other paraphernalia of espionage. He tooand the Information furnished by the pair enabled the authorities to run to earth six other agents of the Eastservice.
-4rf Director
Onuly Iflfll the Brazilian policealented young German immigrant named Joseph Werner Leben whoell-paid jobio Paulo firm dominated by antl-Comraunists and North Americana. In his apartment they found photographic equipment, stationery treated chemically for secret writing, codes and ciphers,arge amount of correspondence to and from an East Berlin intelligenceflee. He confessed to have been collecting and transmitting Information on anti-Communist activities In Sio Paulo, the political situation In Brazil and attitudes toward Cuba' and other Latin American countries, and North Americanof Brazilian Industry, as well as to have been making contacts in the North American colony and In tbe customs
office*iew to future requirements. One of nil roost recent messages had alerted his superiorsecret meeting of prominent anncluding the president of the firm he worked for as art director. Vladimir Landzxensxy. to be helduly at the Hotel Hampshire In New York
Leben's career as an agent had got offerky start. He first fell in with officers of tbe East Oerman service at6 Leipzig fair, but he^jeft for jMfcjB-ruSvpwn^jhorthj thereafter without having been approached for recruitment They kept In touch by mall, however, and soon he was Invited back for an expense-free visit, during which he signed up. was advancednd acquired the cover nameHe went again to Brazil in6 to begin bis intelligence activities, but hi6 was recalled for further training at, so that bis real work did not begin untiln the end, at least, he was considered an agent ot considerable Importance, getting some of his instructions direct from Ounter Lange, one of the top men at headquarters, and having received for bis services more. He was to transfer to the United States when he turned thirty and would no longer be liable to the draft.
Normally his communications were by ostensible krve letter first to one Rita Ooether and then, with an abrupt switch of affections, to an Ursula Perkel. who was so callous as toan named Weasel while the amorous correspondence was going on. The secret messages were carried In Invisibleoricrodot under the stamp. He hadfor two false Identities In case he had toet-away. If he should go to Berlin, he was to telephone his lady love and say "Amador. Armador.nd hang up. He was to tease her thus twice more, but on the third time listen for Instructionsendezvous.
While the police were arresting him before breakfast on that Julypeclaldellvery letter came. Nono secret writing; but two words of gibberish were burled In the text, "Placard-Placard" meant to burn all his documents, "Stafet" to disappear. But In East Berlin poor Ursula waited long hours at the telephone In vain.
Gangster Agent Hers Ltonu began his long and eminent criminal* ca
KiXvoc.
^ Vocational akill he had acquired served him wtJ while all the rest of his family perUhed In the Nazi ga^hant bers he managed to escape from Dachau BetweenIMv^i
WeDlB"UD-
IXihC,M'L"rT^^J^ to West Berlin. uSSt
^professional aervlcea like kidnap.actionnOTdetTOr ed tnv
n the fraternityatorMtloriil* the concentration camps.had Ue.arger oneam Main and others in Munich andto dominate
specializing at first In luxury goods amall enough to be%J
" Through iUituTera^t
Slenrlngs-and
Astern co"'every
t whkh controlled the move-
-SBOOd* Wlthindealt directly
with the official East Oerman trading organization had thi
handling coffee, faked American cigarettes stockinax faked
Uchtenberg mainly forarehouse Inake care of small shipments of strategic minerals and an export-import firm on rrledrtchstrasae dealing In optical equipment and office machines. From latehowever' tS empire began to dlstntegrat. under the effectsolice
r
!
j
i
to Iht
roundup of confederates In West Berlin and Westaning demand for Its faked or shoddy goods,ew squeamlshness on the part of East German Intelligence about using the violent type of covert service it offered. Most of Its members stayed in illegal East-West trade, but they shifted from black-market luxuries to embargoed strategic goods.
The following arc some of pie services which Ubernuui.fe -fcPihave rendered iUs^^iinSJT^yiel^'h^llihwo successful Jail breaks from West Berlin; three successful and one attempted kidnapping; two attemptedthree efforts to penetrate the West Berlinest Berlin garage to provide cars forcries of successful burglaries of the card files of organizations processing Soviet refugees; the recruitment of individuals well placed to procure Identity documents, foreign passports, military maps, and VS. MP uniforms for use in kidnappings; the recruitment of skills In car-stealing, counter-felting, and smuggling weapons into East Berlin.
A Way with Children
Sybllle Wambach was that great rarity, the perfectIndustrious, intelligent yet modest, friendly but discreet, and wonderful with children. Her family lived In the East Zone, but she had preferred to stay in the West with herrofessor of philosophy at Tueblngen. Not wishing toarasite, however, she had gone toIn7 toob. She never lacked for work. When. Air Force family was transferred back home, another would be waiting for her eagerly.epartment of the Army civilian, who would marvel at how quiet she kept the kids while be caught up on his office work at home.Jobs she mighthort visit to her family In the East.
Inuch to the regret ofn Munich, she moved to Bonn, where she worked in the homes. embassy officials, one after another as their tours expired. AD were tempted by her offer to come with them back to the States, although they knew they couldn't afford her there.
Porthole lo frW Wt.il
In1 her employer took for hertelephonedthat her mother wasnd she should come home Irrumediately. She left right away, her usual calma bit disturbed. Next day she telephoned to uy her mother hadeart attack but she would be backew days. Three days later she called again; she would hare toittle longer.hird postponement most apol-
S twites
Sybllle be told she Is urgently expected. Expected where? Who's calling, please? Click.
The mall she left might hare been forwarded to her at tbe offices of the East German Intelligence service. Hauptverwal-tung IIhe same defection therefrom that brought the confusion of SyblUe's hasty exit gaveinformation that the had been picked up from an East Zone kindergarten inrained as an agent, sent to live with her uncle to get West Oerman clocumenta-tlon. and then loosed against the Americans. The defector didnl know what success the had had In Bonn, but fromshe had reported on the morale of the US forces, thexercises, and the combat readiness of the 7th Army At the time of8 Iraqi coup the had flashed the prised Information that US. paratroops had been alerted and the 7th Army told to stand by.
The Hustlers
The Hans Kesslers, father and son. of Kesko Limited are West German businessmen with excellent contacts in theand chemical industriesenchant for supplying strategic materials to the East Bloc. They have beentwice, but the evidence has not been firm enough to convict them.hile drumming up trade In Eastthe elder Kesslerealember of theradea UB(Polish state Security)provide Intelligence Information In exchange forwith the Polea Thereafter, at meetings In East Berlin and Warsaw, theyumber of profitable business deals, and Kessler was also paid In0 West German marks and anotheroo for expenses.
Porthole to tho Waif
7 Kessler told his UB friend that he had an American source from whom he could get plans and sample parts of the American bombere would0 andHe could ship the parts through contacts in Teheran. This was tooeal for the Poles to handle by themselves, and they called In the Soviet KOB. The Soviets werebut they agreed to the conditions and took over the case. The furthereourseof this transaction is ihxo udom*n an enigma; but it was presumably consummated. The "American source" would have been Johnerman-bom Canadian citizen who wu arrested8 for shipping from the United States other embargoed equipment to Kesko Limited In Frankfurt.9 there were seen in Kexsler's briefcase the complete blueprints of an American warp lane, along with data on West Oerman mine detectors. And subsequently the old hustler was bold by Oen-era! Romanov of the Soviet embassy in Vienna, not asas they thought,0 had been deposited for htm In the Paris Banque du Kord,
The Million Dollar Split
Henryk KowalsU had been an officer of the UBdepartmentne of his early missions had been to organise an escape route from Poland through East Germany to the West, leadroup of refugees, and offer the facility to Western Intelligence, whose subsequent operations along It could then be monitored by the UB. The UB, however, had neglected to coordinate this stratagem with Its East Oerman counterpartrequent oversight) and Ko-walsld's entire group was arrested by the East Oerman police. Itussian officer and word from Warsaw to get them out of Jail and deported back to Poland.
37 Kcwalsld's assignment was that of fence In smuggling operations and other Illegal transactionsto provide funds for UB activities and incidentally to line the pockets of his superior. Lt. Col. Henryk Zmijewskt and otber senior officers. He would, for example, maketours" of Western Europe, where he would dispose of works of art acquired by black market deals in Poland.7 Zmi-Jewskl asked him to settore ln Gdynia which might be usedlace for meeting foreign seamen of Interest to the
turn
UB and from which the profits might be spUt between them and the UB man ln Gdynia.
8 KowalsM was given the job of striking upan In Berlin whom the UB suspectedwith the French Intelligence service. Heone but two who might have such connections, buts Intelligence Interest In them was deflected by awhich
Uon'dollars
mortars, and ammunition for shipment through an unnamed buyer in Luxembourg to "an AfricanmljewsW and his superiors, discussing this proposal with DeputyJaroszewlcz and Foreign Trade Minister Trampczynskl found that Poland did not have the materiel wanted But Bulgaria would be able to fill the order, and General Koderko of the Ministry of Foreign Trade suggested that Poland act as middleman, retaining enough control of the transaction to make sureealthy commission.
Kowalstd remained ln Berlin In contact with the buyer's agents, reporting to Warsaw through the UB office. He and Zmijewskl agreed that the size of his own commission on the deal should be concealed from theirmall amount being deposited ln Warsaw but the bulk of it secreted in the West, where it would be available to the two of5 plethora of hungry middlemen in the deal, however, and the unwillingness of any of them to undercut his own position by identifying the buyer rapidly created enormousin the negotiations, and the buyer eventually gave up this channel for procurement. The People's Choice
Alfred Frenzel. Socialist deputy in the Westhairman of its Restitution Committee, her of its Defense Committee, had been bom at the turn of the century in what is now Czechoslovakia, and he had once upon an Immature and happily forgotten time been aof the Communist party. In8 officers of the Czech Intelligence service got to him They reminded him where his true national loyalties lay. they talked darkly of how his constituency would react to hearing about his
murdst past, they made him dazzling financial offers. He
succumbed.
For more than four years Frenzelost Important source of Information for the Czechs, who shared theirwith the Poles and Soviets. Meeting with Czech officers In Berlin andcontacts went as high as Bc-hurnU Molnar, first deputy of the foreign Intelligence;jeederal Republic's armedna*acUvTuesTrevesued the^ellberations and'ppllcy decisions of the Socialist Party leadership, and suppliedto facilitate the recruitment of other Mgh-ranldng Germans, especially those who had families or close friends In the East. He wu also useful In an active sense, forto campaign among Socialists and before the public for the demilitarized zone in central Europe proposed by the Polish government. Occasionally he could even help in other operations, as when his Restitution Committee awarded0 marks to one Kurt Sltte, who was laterIn Israel for those same espionage activities for which this was compensation.
Frenzers work for the adversary, one of the most serious breaches ever made in the security of the Federal Republic, was halted by his arrest in October uii'.i. and six months later he was sentenced to fifteen years at hard labor.
Original document.
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