Max Heim

Max Heim (* 1925 ) is a former secret service officer in the Ministry for State Security of the GDR and later a prominent defector .

Home fell during the Second World War as a young soldier of the Wehrmacht in Soviet captivity . He joined the SED and in 1952 became an editor at what was then Germany's broadcaster. In 1953 he began working for the MfS and was promoted to officer there in 1954 . Most recently, he held the rank of captain and, as head of department, was responsible for espionage against Christian parties (mainly CDU and CSU ) in the Federal Republic of Germany.

On May 16, 1959, Heim succeeded in escaping to the Federal Republic, where he made his intelligence knowledge available to the western intelligence services and, in particular, conveyed important structural information about the main administration . Among other things, he stated a number of 2,000 to 3,000 agents who were active in the Federal Republic and unmasked some active GDR agents, including Wolfram von Hanstein .