Karl Gebauer

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Karl Gebauer (born November 14, 1931 in Wiesbaden ; † August 17, 2002 in Dresden ) was an agent of the Central Enlightenment Administration (HVA) of the GDR State Security (MfS). From 1975 to 1985 he spied as a security officer for the IBM special systems company in Wilhelmshaven .

Life

As the son of a Social Democrat, Gebauer grew up in Wiesbaden. There he also learned bookbinding and printing and became a member of the SPD .

During his activity as a security officer in the security department at IBM-Sondersysteme, he had an insight into the development of electronic systems, especially for the German Navy. In 1975 he contacted a representative of the MfS counterintelligence (Department IX) in East Berlin . According to his own account, he wanted to maintain a military strategic parity between NATO and the Warsaw Pact .

The unofficial employee with the code name "Klaus Reuter" was listed as a special event at the HV A, since Gebauer, as security officer at IBM, had access to all classified information, all security levels, and had numerous good contacts with the intelligence services of the Federal Republic. This also gave him knowledge of a project called "Tenne", which included the planning of operations by the naval forces of the NATO allies in the Baltic Sea region.

In the following years he provided the GDR State Security with around 35,000 sheets of information. In 1985 Gebauer terminated his work for the MfS at his own request and agreed in advance; the case file was closed there.

Sentencing and imprisonment

According to the statements of the former HV A - Colonel Karl-Christoph Großmann , he was arrested in May 1992 and sentenced to twelve years imprisonment in 1994 in a closed case by the Berlin Court of Appeal for secret service activities and treason . According to the court's assessment, Gebauer's information to the Stasi led to NATO having lost a naval war in the Baltic Sea, which it was planning itself.

On May 15, 1998, he was pardoned by Federal President Roman Herzog because of his poor health and public intervention and then tried to portray this activity as a double agent activity in his memoirs , after which he also worked for the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), the Military Counter-Intelligence Service (MAD) and the I worked for the Protection of the Constitution . After his release from prison and until his death he lived in Dresden.

literature

  • Horst Vogel, Horst Müller, Manfred Suss: The industrial espionage of the GDR: The scientific-technical clearing up of the HVA. 1st edition. Verlag Das Neue Berlin, 2008, ISBN 978-3-360-01099-5 .
  • Georg Herbstritt, Helmut Müller-Enbergs : The face to the West ...: GDR espionage against the Federal Republic of Germany. Edition Temmen, 2003, ISBN 3-86108-388-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karl Gebauer. In: Der Spiegel . 38/2002.
  2. ^ Karl Gebauer: Double agent. Autobiography. Edition Ost , Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-932180-46-1 .
personal data
SURNAME Gebauer, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German agent of the GDR State Security
DATE OF BIRTH November 14, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Wiesbaden
DATE OF DEATH 17th August 2002
Place of death Dresden