Institute for Economic Research

Institute for Economic Research (IWF) was the name of the first foreign intelligence service of the German Democratic Republic founded on August 16, 1951 . Due to the transfer of the IMF department head Gotthold Krauss to the West on April 4, 1953 and the resulting Vulkan campaign , it was exposed and incorporated into the State Secretariat for State Security (SfS) as Head Office XV (internally from now on also as the Foreign Policy Intelligence Service (APN ) designated). In 1956, the main intelligence administration (HVA) was formed from this.

history

The Institute for Economic Research was founded on August 16, 1951. Its main tasks were espionage against the Federal Republic of Germany and the surveillance of the occupying forces stationed there by the Allies France , the United Kingdom and the USA . Due to the transfer of the IMF department head Gotthold Krauss to the West on April 4, 1953 and the resulting criminal prosecution measures of " Aktion Vulkan " in the Federal Republic of Germany, the institute was exposed in 1953 and as a result it was transferred to the State Secretariat for State Security as Main Department XV ( SfS) incorporated. In 1956, this resulted in the Enlightenment Headquarters (HV A, sometimes just called GDR Enlightenment). The agent network of the SED Western apparatus formed one of the basic staff of the IMF. In this way professional spies of the communist underground work came into the intelligence service, e.g. B. Richard Stahlmann and later Paul Laufer .

Head of the IMF

Anton Ackermann 1951 to 1952
Richard Stahlmann 1952 (acting)
Markus Wolf 1952 to 1953

literature

Helmut Roewer , Stefan Schäfer, Matthias Uhl : Lexicon of the secret services in the 20th century . Herbig, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7766-2317-9 .
Dieter Krüger , Armin Wagner (ed.): Conspiracy as a profession. German intelligence chiefs in the Cold War. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-86153-287-5 .
Gerhard Werle , Petra Schäfter, Ivo Thiemrodt: Criminal justice and GDR injustice. Volume 4, Part 1: Espionage. de Gruyter Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-89949-080-0 .
Helmut Müller-Enbergs : The intelligence school. The first course of the school of the Institute for Economic Research (IWF) (= booklets for the history of the German Democratic Republic 107). Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Berlin 2006.
Helmut Müller-Enbergs: The Institute for Economic Research and the Beginnings of GDR Espionage. Structural and personal decisions from 1951 to 1956 (= booklets on DDR history 122). Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Berlin 2010.
The Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former GDR (publisher): Head Office A (HV A). Tasks - structures - sources (= anatomy of the state security - MfS manual ). Berlin 2013 ( Online ; PDF; 3.2 MB; therein individual chapter 2: Institute for Economic and Scientific Research (1951–1953) , pp. 23–32).

Web links

documentArchiv.de List of abbreviations for institutions in the Soviet Zone and GDR
Helmut Müller-Enbergs: Institute for Economic Research (IWF). In: Roger Engelmann, Bernd Florath, Walter Süß u. a. (Ed.): The MfS-Lexikon - terms, persons and structures of the state security of the GDR. 3rd updated edition. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86153-900-1 ( online version at bstu.de ).

Individual evidence

^ Helmut Müller-Enbergs: The intelligence school. The first course of the school of the Institute for Economic Research (IWF) (= booklets for the history of the German Democratic Republic 107). Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Berlin 2006, p. 5 fn. 1. In another publication (The Institute for Economic Research and the Beginnings of GDR Espionage. Structural and Personnel Setting 1951 to 1956) , Müller-Enbergs points out that As a foreign policy intelligence service (APN), the IMF was not subordinate to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the GDR , as is often assumed. The term Foreign Policy Intelligence Service can only be proven from autumn 1953 to September 1956 (p. 7).
^ The Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former GDR (ed.): Head Office A (HV A). Tasks - structures - sources (= anatomy of the state security - MfS manual ). Berlin 2013 ( Online ; PDF; 3.2 MB; in it individual chapter 2: Institute for Economic Research (1951–1953) , pp. 23–32, here p. 24. There also differently: September 1, 1951).
↑ Jens Gieseke : The full-time employees of the State Security: Personnel structure and lifeworld 1950–1989 / 90 (= analyzes and documents. Scientific series of the Federal Commissioner for the Documents of the State Security Service of the Former German Democratic Republic, Volume 20. Published by the Education and Research Department). Ch. Links Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86284-026-7 , p. 71 (Google eBook, accessed February 12, 2014).

[1] Helmut Müller-Enbergs: The intelligence school. The first course of the school of the Institute for Economic Research (IWF) (= booklets for the history of the German Democratic Republic 107). Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Berlin 2006, p. 5 fn. 1. In another publication (The Institute for Economic Research and the Beginnings of GDR Espionage. Structural and Personnel Setting 1951 to 1956) , Müller-Enbergs points out that As a foreign policy intelligence service (APN), the IMF was not subordinate to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the GDR , as is often assumed. The term Foreign Policy Intelligence Service can only be proven from autumn 1953 to September 1956 (p. 7).

[2] The Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former GDR (ed.): Head Office A (HV A). Tasks - structures - sources (= anatomy of the state security - MfS manual ). Berlin 2013 ( Online ; PDF; 3.2 MB; in it individual chapter 2: Institute for Economic Research (1951–1953) , pp. 23–32, here p. 24. There also differently: September 1, 1951).

[3] Jens Gieseke : The full-time employees of the State Security: Personnel structure and lifeworld 1950–1989 / 90 (= analyzes and documents. Scientific series of the Federal Commissioner for the Documents of the State Security Service of the Former German Democratic Republic, Volume 20. Published by the Education and Research Department). Ch. Links Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86284-026-7 , p. 71 (Google eBook, accessed February 12, 2014).