Bruno winemaker

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International press conference on July 8, 1960 in East Berlin (from left to right): Bruno Winzer, Egbert von Frankenberg , Adolf Deter

Bruno Winzer (born October 15, 1912 in Berlin ) deserted in 1960 as a major in the German Armed Forces in the German Democratic Republic in order to uncover alleged West German aggression plans against the GDR, the ČSSR , Hungary and Poland. In 2009 it became known that the Ministry of State Security (MfS) had withdrawn its military spy Winzer because of the danger of discovery and then continued to use it for propaganda purposes.

Life

Bruno Winzer was the youngest son of a civil servant family in Berlin. After graduating from a secondary school , he joined the Reichswehr in 1931 . As an officer in the Wehrmacht , Winzer took part in World War II in France and the Soviet Union with the infantry and then the armored weapons . At the end of the war he was a British prisoner of war as a major . There he served until July 1946 as the commander of an armed military police unit. Employment as a driver and agent followed. His first marriage failed in 1955 because of his easy life and gambling debts.

On May 1, 1957, the German Armed Forces hired winegrowers with his last Wehrmacht rank. During the recruitment review by the Military Counter-Intelligence Service , Winzer was left with an open case, which meant that the Bundeswehr was not aware of his debt.

State security spy in the Bundeswehr

Because of his financial difficulties, Winzer offered himself to the MfS in East Berlin as a spy in the Bundeswehr as early as November 1957 . In return, he expected it to help “meet his financial obligations”. Winzer provided "a lot of valuable internal information" and "documents" under the self-chosen code names "vine" and "depot", whereby he showed "great courage" and "good commitment". The quality of Winzer's espionage activity had improved after he had become a press staff officer in 1959 in the Air Force Command South , which was set up in alignment with the NATO structure with the US Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force (ATAF). Among other things, Winzer reported to the MfS about the existence and use of the US Lockheed U-2 spy plane .

Transfer to the GDR

With the words "Vintner had to be withdrawn because his security was no longer guaranteed" the MfS internally described Vinzer’s transition to the GDR. In the spring of 1960, as a result of a traffic accident in the Federal Republic of Germany, the Winzers courier had been recognized as a member of the intelligence headquarters and was arrested. On May 1, 1960, the MfS smuggled winegrowers with their second wife and household items in a covert operation into the GDR. It seemed as if Winzer had gone into hiding with several thousand DM, leaving behind debts of 20,000 DM and shortly before taking out a further 4,000 DM credit for the purchase of a car. Thereupon the public prosecutor and the police began to look for the supposed bankrupt in the Federal Republic of Germany .

The press conference on June 8, 1960

Josef Kammhuber (l.) Accompanied by his adjutant Gliga (r.)

Meanwhile, the MfS Winzer in East Berlin was preparing for a major public appearance in the course of Operation Ostrich Egg : After the failure of the Khrushchev ultimatum , the MfS had begun under this name in 1959 to construct a "chain of evidence" around which the SED now provided -Guide to justify envisaged foreclosure of West Berlin from the world public as a defensive measure. The MfS honored its secret informator winegrower monthly as probably before with 1,400 DM-West .

Preparation and course

Vintners at the menu at the international press conference on July 8, 1960 in Berlin

At the end of June 1960, the agitation department of the MfS introduced Winzer to Adam von Gliga (* 1922). The Bundeswehr hired the former Wehrmacht officer Gliga in 1956. There he had served General Josef Kammhuber as adjutant from the beginning of 1957 with the rank of captain . Kammhuber had become inspector of the Air Force in June 1957 . When it emerged at the beginning of 1958 that Gliga had given false information about school leaving qualifications and Wehrmacht rank when applying and that the noble name was doubtful, he was transferred, dishonorably dismissed in February 1958 for employment fraud and arrested in June 1958 on suspicion of treason . While in custody, Gliga met an employee of the MfS. He described his arrest as the result of an intrigue by Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss . The MfS employee then advised him to continue his military career in the GDR. Against bail released in October 1958 Gliga fled on 16 January 1959 on West Berlin to East Berlin, where he reported to the Stasi. The MfS gave him a new identity so that he could only appear in public when the opportunity arises. This happened 17 months after his escape. Until then, Gliga had given information about people, structures and processes in the Bundeswehr and NATO to the best of his knowledge and in the belief that he would become a full-time employee of the Stasi or even a military attaché of the GDR . Then the MfS brought him in for the "Operation Ostrich Egg".

On July 8, 1960, Winzer and Gliga in East Berlin presented themselves to the press at a press conference of the Committee for German Unity as German officers and patriots who were forced to act for reasons of conscience because of the "increasing fascization of the Bundeswehr and the entire Bonn state apparatus" have left the Federal Republic. The “meticulous preparations” for the press conference by the MfS included the specification of texts for winegrowers and Gliga about their legend , as well as questions from GDR journalists and the answers from the panel under Egbert von Frankenberg . As early as 1959, the GDR had announced “revealing revelations about the aggressive, fascist character of the Bonn Bundeswehr” by publishing an alleged “NATO planning study” called Deco II . Although the document, dated 1955, had clear signs of forgery, such as the unusual designation secret federal matter , unknown tactical signs and unbelievable, almost satirical passages, the State Security held it to be genuine. The supplier of the fantasy product, which fully met the expectations of the SED, was the news dealer Karl-Heinz Kaerner, alias “Coal” (1920–2001), who pretended to be a journalist and whom Werner Großmann had recruited in 1954 for spying in the GDR against the Blank Office . Even after the MfS had taken Kaerner into custody in Hohenschönhausen from May to July 1959 on suspicion of having provided false information and then broke off contact, it continued to believe in the authenticity of the alleged aggression plans and took care of the manipulated appearance Vintners and Gligas for their testimony to the public. Winzer presented the “small Germany plan” of the “Bonn General Staff for the Blitzkrieg against the GDR and other socialist states”. The “raid plan”, which he explained on a map, envisaged, like Deco II, simultaneous advances by the Bundeswehr into the GDR and Poland : one through Czechoslovakia (ČSR) and further parallel to the Oder-Neisse border and the other Austria to Hungary and from there via the ČSR directly to Warsaw . The attack is imminent, the supply lines are ready and a “ fifth column ” is already working in the GDR to start a “second June 17th ”.

Winzer's biographer Bernd Stöver thinks it is "rather unlikely" that Winzer believed what he said. While Winzer was enjoying his appearance, Gliga looked insecure. He just read the text intended for him by the Stasi. Two other Bundeswehr witnesses remained pale: a deserted NCO and a former civilian cartographer who had fled to the GDR from the public prosecutor's office.

Results and aftermath

The event went to the satisfaction of the SED and the press response was as large as desired, especially since the "Western journalists" handpicked by the MfS had not asked any disturbing questions. The GDR press, above all the SED central organ Neues Deutschland , kept the topic on the front page for several days. Under the motto “Bundeswehr officers say out”, the duo Winzer / von Gliga presented themselves at “ forums ”, where not only “residents”, but also “numerous visitors from West Berlin and West Germany” appeared, “to talk about the aggressive character of the Bonn people Informing the NATO army from the first source ”.

An intensification of the campaign was a press conference of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the SED, Walter Ulbricht , on July 19, 1960 in Berlin. With reference to Winzer and Gliga, Ulbricht gave the world public “further revealing facts about the terrifying extent of the war preparations on West German soil”, accompanied by “maps, plans and drawings about the course of a planned aggression against the GDR”. The appearances of alleged Bundeswehr deserters in the GDR prompted politicians in the Federal Republic of Germany to publicly reflect on the recruitment practices of the Bundeswehr.

In 1961, Ulbricht justified the construction of the Berlin Wall on August 13 in a televised address on August 18. Among other things, he referred to Winzer's remarks from the previous year. One of the successes of the SED press campaign was that western newspapers such as Die Welt von Winzer took seriously the “West German war and civil war preparations” as arguments for building the wall. On the anniversary of the Wall in 1962, Karl Gass and Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler presented in the propaganda film Look at this city, according to Winzer, the planned attack by the Bundeswehr on an animated map .

The end and climax of the ostrich egg operation was the DEFA film For Eyes Only . When depicting the West German attack plans, the script took over the summary of Winzer's statements by Ulbricht at the press conference on July 19, 1960 almost word for word. After 1963, propaganda and journalism in the GDR had less recourse to the Winzer as a person. In contrast, Ulbricht's summary served as a central text until the 1980s. Without mentioning his name, the Marxist-Leninist historians of the GDR used Winzer's “revelations” and the map of the Blitzkrieg plan to justify the erection of the Berlin Wall, as Gerhard Keiderling did . Also the book Befehdet published in 1981 by Eberhard Heinrich and Klaus Ullrich since the first day. Over three decades of assassinations against the GDR, which was published simultaneously in the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany by Marxist sheets , reproduced the text.

Citizens in the GDR

The MfS observed and looked after vintners and Gliga by specially assigned clerks. Although both enjoyed privileges vis-à-vis other emigrants from the Federal Republic of Germany, their integration into socialist society failed.

Winzer's partner Gliga was disappointed in his new life. Contrary to the promises, the MfS did not employ him as a professional officer, but as a freelancer in the agitation department. Although Gliga, as his agent at the MfS was amazed, had found access to social circles in East Berlin with eloquence and charm, he wanted to flee the GDR. In the summer of 1961, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), which had become aware of Gliga's intention, contacted him. In return for the assurance of an unmolested return, Gliga provided information from the MfS. The construction of the wall on August 13, 1961 initially prevented the planned escape. In May 1962, the MfS arrested Gliga and his BND courier. After Gliga had turned down the offer to act as a double agent for the MfS against the BND against his release , the military college of the GDR Supreme Court sentenced him to ten years in prison after 19 months of pre-trial detention for espionage. Gliga then served seven years in the MfS's special detention center in Bautzen until he was ransomed by the federal government at the end of 1970 . After interrogations by the Federal Criminal Police Office in April 1971, the Federal Prosecutor closed the criminal proceedings against Gliga in 1959.

Winzer obtained a place of residence in East Berlin for the MfS, which emigrants normally did not get, and a position as a freelance editor and commentator for the German TV Broadcasting Corporation (DFF) .

Winzer's “stubborn, politically unsustainable way of life” soon led to conflicts in professional and everyday life. At the end of 1962 he lost the job at the DFF. After his release, Winzer did not have a regular job, the MfS registered "bad slander and agitation against the GDR". In order to discipline winegrowers, the MfS made him an honorary lieutenant colonel in 1965 "in recognition of his services as a scout " . In the future, Winzer received an honorary pension and was subject to military jurisdiction . In the same year his wife went back to the Federal Republic of Germany with their two sons and got a divorce. Formally employed again at the DFF, Winzer wrote his memoirs in which he once again spread the legend of converting for reasons of conscience. The book, published in 1968, was a success with ten editions. His MfS supervisor observed that winemakers "slowly get into the role of an important writer" and again became a problem. Despite honors and awards, the promotion to honorary colonel in 1975, combined with a considerable increase in his pension, Winzer remained critical of the SED's policies. In 1978, Winzer and his third wife protested against war toys in front of the Centrum department store on Alexanderplatz during the run-up to Christmas . In an open letter to Erich Honecker , published by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) on March 2, 1983, he denounced the arrest of GDR peace activists . Winzer maintained contacts with Western journalists and diplomats and with members of the opposition in the GDR, who let his MfS officer establish that he "has developed into an enemy." The result of the FAZ publication was a publication ban. From then on, like other uncomfortable GDR citizens, vintners were not given the opportunity to appear in public. Because winegrowers knew "too many comrades from the MfS and the state apparatus", thanks to the top MfS officials Erich Mielke and Markus Wolf , criminal proceedings and disruptive measures against winegrowers were not considered .

Escape from the GDR

Winzer's applications to visit the West have always been rejected. In November 1987, the MfS raised no objection to the couple's application for a visit to the Federal Republic of Germany, although they knew that Winzer and his wife did not want to return to the GDR from there. As expected, both used the trip to flee the GDR . According to a report in the Bild newspaper, Winzer reported to his former superior Gerd Schmückle "back from the scouting party". In several press interviews, he cited "harassment, arrests and silence" in the GDR as reasons for fleeing. Regarding the Blitzkrieg plans he revealed, Winzer stated that they “only existed in the minds of a few generals”, but he “just had to dramatize things a bit, after all I was dependent on my hosts”.

A preliminary investigation initiated against him in the GDR was discontinued after a short time without giving any reason. In East Berlin, the MfS prevented Winzer's inventory from becoming the property of the Samaritan community around Pastor Rainer Eppelmann , as he wished .

Bruno Winzer's last known sign of life were statements to the Spiegel from January 1988. The new version of his life report announced by him under the title Prost New Year - Comrade Colonel has not appeared.

Awards

literature

  • Michael Schäbitz: Adam von Gliga, Bruno Winzer. In: Eva Fuchslocher, Michael Schäbitz (Ed.): Alternating. Immigration and return to the GDR 1949 to 1989. Exhibeo eV, Berlin undated [2017], pp. 44–47.
  • Bernd Stöver : Refuge GDR. Spies and other emigrants. Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-59100-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Helmut R. Hammerich : "Always on the enemy!" - The Military Counter-Intelligence Service (MAD) 1956–1990 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , Göttingen 2019, ISBN 978-3-525-36392-8 , pp. 249, 351 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ^ All quotations from an internal information provided by the Stöver in Bernd Stöver : Refuge DDR. Spies and other emigrants. Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-59100-6 , p. 187.
  3. Quotation in Stöver, Refuge DDR (lit.), p. 187
  4. Vintner, Bruno. In: Helmut Roewer , Stefan Schäfer, Matthias Uhl: Lexicon of secret services in the 20th century. Herbig, Munich 2003, ISBN 978-3-7766-2317-8
  5. On "Operation Ostrich Egg" see Bernd Stöver : "That is the truth, the whole truth." Liberation policy in the GDR feature film of the 1950s and 1960s. In: Thomas Lindenberger (ed.): Mass media in the Cold War. Actors, images, resonances. Böhlau, Cologne, Weima, Vienna 2006, ISBN 978-3-412-23105-7 , p. 63
  6. Stöver, Refuge DDR (Lit.), p. 187.
  7. See ADN report on the illustration opposite winegrowers on the map at the international press conference on July 8, 1960 in Berlin.
  8. Stöver, Refuge DDR (lit.), p. 193, with references.
  9. For Kaerner's work, see Helmut Müller-Enbergs : An impostor called "Coal" . In: ZfG , 68th year 2020, issue 2, pp. 145–158.
  10. Stöver, Refuge DDR (Lit.), p. 194
  11. Such as B. on August 5, 1960 in VEB Elektrokohle Lichtenberg , forum with former Bundeswehr officers, report in Neues Deutschland from August 6, 1960.
  12. ^ Walter Ulbricht submitted new facts about Bonn's preparations for war. Photo and report by ADN on the press conference on July 19, 1960 in Berlin, Federal Archives (under the signature , enter “Bild 183-74905-0014”).
  13. Deserters. Conscience or believer . Report of the Spiegel from August 3, 1960 on the international press conference and its consequences (with further information).
  14. On winegrowers as a keyword, see Stöver, Refuge DDR (lit.), p. 197, there also the world quote.
  15. As with Albrecht Charisius , Julius Mader : No longer secret. Development, system and mode of operation of the imperialist German secret service. Deutscher Militärverlag, Berlin 1969, in a footnote, p. 437.
  16. Bernd Stöver, "That is the truth, the whole truth." Liberation policy in the GDR feature film of the 1950s and 1960s. In: Thomas Lindenberger (ed.): Mass media in the Cold War. Actors, images, resonances. Böhlau, Cologne, Weima, Vienna 2006, ISBN 978-3-412-23105-7 , p. 66 f.
  17. In: Ders. u. Percy Stulz : Berlin 1945–1968. On the history of the capital of the GDR and the independent political unit West Berlin. Dietz, Berlin 1970, p. 452.
  18. Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 978-3-88012-645-9 , p. 230 [with deviation from the original].
  19. On Gliga see Stöver, refuge DDR (lit.), pp. 201–204.
  20. ^ Stöver, refuge DDR (lit.), p. 206; There also the following quotations on winemakers: way of life, defamation p. 206, scouts p. 207, writer's role p. 208.
  21. Bruno Winzer: Soldier in three armies. Autobiographical report. Verlag der Nation , Berlin 1968; 10th edition 1978.
  22. Schäbitz (lit.), “too many comrades”, p. 44, “Feind”, p. 45 f., Cit. P. 45.
  23. picture from January 5, 1988, quoted in in Stöver, refuge DDR (lit.), p. 211, there also the reasons for fleeing (below).
  24. Defector. One more thing. (PDF) Report by Spiegel , issue 1/1988, from January 4, 1988 (with images and further information).