Gero Hilliger
Gero Hilliger (born December 30, 1943 in Straßberg as Gernot Hilliger ) is a German draftsman and caricaturist who worked from 1977 to the end of 1989 as an agent under the code name "IMB Brunnen" for the Ministry for State Security (MfS) of the GDR .
Life
After attending school, Gernot Hilliger trained as a chemical laboratory assistant from 1960 to 1962 . In 1963 he was drafted into the National People's Army for military service. On July 1, 1964, he deserted and was arrested. On August 11, 1964, he was the military court Magdeburg for desertion sentenced to two years in prison. On December 12, 1964, he managed an adventurous escape from prison in order to escape to the Federal Republic of Germany ; however, he was arrested again a few days later. This time he was sent to the MfS remand prison in Berlin. Here he was planning another escape attempt, where he was persuaded by a fellow prisoner to smuggle a receipt to the CIA in West Berlin . However, the fellow prisoner gave the receipt to the Stasi interrogator, which resulted in Hilliger being charged again. On July 21, 1965, Hilliger was sentenced to a further three years and six months in prison by the military court in Neubrandenburg for espionage in unity with attempted unauthorized leaving the GDR.
After his early release from prison in October 1968, Hilliger settled in East Berlin , where he worked as a freelance graphic artist from 1969. After he had already been recruited as an unofficial employee (IM) under the code name "Wiesel" for the first time on April 6, 1964 by Main Department I of the MfS and committed in writing, the MfS approached him again in 1969 to recruit him as an unofficial employee . On December 29, 1969, Hilliger pledged himself to Department XX of the Berlin-Köpenick district directorate of the MfS under the code name "Graf" in order to "clear up" "negative artistic circles" in East Berlin for the State Security Service. This activity ended after a few months because Hilliger did not receive the rehabilitation he demanded in the GDR for what he believed to be an unjustified prison sentence.
In May 1973 Hilliger applied to move to West Berlin , which the GDR authorities approved in the spring of 1974. Since then Hilliger has lived in West Berlin, where he works as a high-speed draftsman under the stage name Gero Hilliger. In the spring of 1977 he was recruited again by the Ministry for State Security, Fürstenwalde district office , and until the end of 1989 was an agent of the MfS in West Berlin for a fee . He always signed his receipts as "Dantes". Among other things, he reported on the Junge Union , the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) and organizations for escape workers. Hilliger betrayed his friend at the time, the former CDU young politician and later CDU general secretary in Brandenburg Dieter Dombrowski , to the MfS for years, reporting on sensitive internal matters of the Berlin CDU as well as private and intimate details.
In March 1981 he dismantled and stolen the memorial cross for Marienetta Jirkowsky that had been erected in the West Berlin district of Frohnau . The then 18-year-old woman was shot dead on November 22, 1980 while trying to escape at the Berlin Wall . Hilliger secretly brought the memorial cross to East Berlin, where he gave it to his MfS command officer.
From 1985 to 1990 Hilliger was the only paid co-designer of the magazine " DDR heute " published by freed prisoners and refugees under the auspices of ISHR .
The MfS rewarded Hilliger's work several times with the Medal of Merit of the National People's Army . For his work as an agent he received regular financial donations from the MfS; In the second half of 1989 alone the remuneration was DM 5,500.00.
In 1993, Gero Hilliger was first included in the Guinness Book of Records as a quick draftsman after drawing a portrait of a person he did not know in just 9.4 seconds. Other record performances of his were included in the Guinness Books of the 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002 editions. This was the multiple undercutting of the speed record in high-speed portrait drawing - to 6.8 seconds, to 6.2 seconds and finally to 5.19 seconds in 2000. This record has not been beaten by any artist anywhere in the world to this day. A record in the Guinness Book of 2002 concerns drawing a portrait of a stranger with his eyes blindfolded within 180 seconds (blind drawing). Gero Hilliger has improved this record several times, most recently in an episode of the television program " Tigerenten Club " in 2005 to 29.8 seconds for a recognizable portrait. Another record attempt in blind drawing was recorded in 2002 on the show "Ripley's TV" and broadcast several times in the US and worldwide. Some of these records have also been reported in the UK and entered the Book of Alternative Records. Gero Hilliger's biography found its way into the personal encyclopedia “Hübner's Who is Who”.
In the summer of 1994 it was first announced that Hilliger had worked for the MfS. Thereupon he was sentenced on December 9, 1996 by the Auxiliary Criminal Senate 1a of the Berlin Court of Appeal to a one-year suspended prison sentence for acting as an agent for the secret service. The full scope of his secret service activities on behalf of the MfS, which he disguised as an alleged anti-GDR activist in West Berlin, only became known in summer 2010.
Awards
- Bronze Medal of Merit of the National People's Army, February 8, 1980
- Silver Medal of Merit of the National People's Army, February 8, 1982
- Bronze Medal of Merit of the National People's Army, October 7, 1983
- Gold Medal of Merit of the National People's Army, February 8, 1985
- World record in high-speed portrait drawing (1993)
- World record in high-speed portrait drawing (1996)
- World record in high-speed portrait drawing (1998)
- World record in high-speed portrait drawing (2000)
- World record in portrait blind drawing (2002)
literature
- Lutz-Peter Naumann : Paper is patient: Berlin's world champion of cartoonists, top agent of the Stasi? In: Berliner Morgenpost. August 21, 1994.
- Jörg Abromeit: Rapid draftsman Gero: A willing Stasi. In: SUPERillu. No. 32, August 5, 2010, pp. 22-24.
- Sven Felix Kellerhoff : CDU politician Dombrowski spied on by a friend . In: Berliner Morgenpost . August 7, 2010 ( morgenpost.de [accessed April 27, 2019]).
- Stefan Appelius : The quick draftsman's double game . In: Spiegel Online . September 8, 2010 ( spiegel.de [accessed May 17, 2020]).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stefan Appelius : Gero Hilliger: Double game of the fast draftsman . First published by Spiegel-online on September 8, 2010, accessed on May 17, 2010.
- ^ A b Sven Felix Kellerhoff : How the Stasi was active in West Germany , Die Welt , August 7, 2010, accessed on December 11, 2010
- ↑ See progress report on enemy actions in connection with the border breakthrough to West Berlin by [names blacked out], April 3, 1981, in: BStU, MfS, Secretary Neiber No. 263, sheets 11-13
- ↑ The New Guinness Book of Records , 1993 Edition, page 344
- ↑ The New Guinness Book of Records, 1996 Edition, page 260
- ↑ Guinness Book of Records, 1998 edition, page 9
- ↑ Guinness Book of Records, 2000 edition, page 221
- ↑ Guinness Book of Records, 2002 Edition, page 271
- ↑ World records: Kurios, Bombus-Verlag 2005, page 162
- ^ The Book of Alternative Records, Metro Publishing Ltd. London 2004, p. 220
- ^ National editorial office Who is Who in the Federal Republic of Germany, publisher Ralph Hübner, 2008
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hilliger, Gero |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hilliger, Gernot (maiden name); IMB fountain |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German draftsman and agent of the MfS |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 30, 1943 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Strassberg |