Military reconnaissance by the National People's Army

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Military reconnaissance by the National People's Army

State level GDR
Supervisory authority Emblem of the Ground Forces of NVA (East Germany) .svg NVA Ministry of National Defense
founding 1952
Headquarters East Berlin
Authority management Alfred Krause (until liquidation in 1990)
Servants about 1000

The military reconnaissance of the National People's Army was an instrument of the military leadership of the German Democratic Republic for the procurement, processing, analysis and evaluation of information on the military-political and military situation at a high military and political level of possible opponents in order to assess the current situation by quickly evaluating the news and enemy judgment to come.

The name of this military intelligence service (Mil. ND or MIL-ND) has been changed several times during its existence.

General

Aliases

The service's aliases were:

  • 1952–1953 Administration for General Questions
  • 1953–1956 Administration 19 (synonyms: office 1000, administration 1000)
  • 1956–1959 administration for coordination
  • 1959–1964 12. Administration
  • 1964–1984 Enlightenment administration
  • 1984–1990 field of education
  • 1990 Information Center of the Ministry of Disarmament and Defense

ladder

Heads were:

In covered communications, the intelligence department as part of the Ministry of National Defense was called “Vostok 21”. Its last location was in Berlin-Köpenick until it was dissolved in 1990 .

Background and line-up

The "Military Enlightenment of the NVA" arose from the reconnaissance department of the Barracked People's Police (KVP) founded in 1950 . This early military intelligence service was incorporated into the unified military leadership after the uprising of June 17, 1953.

On June 23, 1953, the Council of Ministers of the GDR decided to transfer command of the then KVP, the People's Police See (VP-See) and the People's Police-Luft (VP-Luft) to Lieutenant General Heinz Hoffmann . With this, the responsibility for the military reconnaissance was transferred to the later Defense Minister of the GDR .

According to the Soviet military tradition, with the founding of the NVA in 1956, a military intelligence service (military reconnaissance service) was set up, which was sponsored by the GRU . Suspiciously viewed by the young Ministry for State Security as an unwelcome competitor, the Soviet military prevailed and formally ensured a relative independence of the military intelligence, which reported directly to the main staff of the NVA.

assignment

The main task of the GDR's military intelligence service was to “prevent the enemy from being surprised”. The mission of military reconnaissance that resulted was primarily to investigate the situation in relation to potential opponents and to investigate their state, possibilities and intentions. A distinction was made between:

  • Main countries
  • Secondary countries
  • Third countries

In 1988 there were 17 “rooms with special attention” in these countries, in which the main objects and objects of observation of the Enlightenment were located. On the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, there were around 1700 objects in the 1980s. For the state and party leadership of the GDR and for the military leadership, the military intelligence service was of strategic importance. The objectives and tasks of the Enlightenment Administration were set by the Ministry of National Defense. The main efforts of the reconnaissance administration were essentially aimed at the reconnaissance of the NATO forces in the command areas of Central Europe and Baltic Sea Accesses. They had to be concentrated in particular on the strategic directions Berlin, Osnabrück and Brussels as well as Leipzig, Frankfurt / Main and Nancy. A limit of 400 to 600 kilometers, including the operation zone of the People's Navy (VM), was set for the reconnaissance depth. A strip between the state border of the GDR and CSSR to the Federal Republic of Germany and the line Hamburg-Soltau-Hanover-Paderborn-Marburg-Nuremberg, plus the territory of West Berlin, were defined as permanent spaces of particular attention.

The counterintelligence was not one of the tasks of the military intelligence, but fell within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of State Security ( " Management 2000 " or " line II ").

organization

Insinuation

This intelligence service was subordinate to the Deputy Minister and Chief of Staff of the Ministry of National Defense (MfNV). Troop reconnaissance in the MfNV was separated from the NVA's military intelligence service up to 1964 in terms of personnel and organization under the name “Administration of Enlightenment”. Until then, there was a chief reconnaissance in the main staff of the MfNV and a chief of the 12th administration. The 12th administration and the reconnaissance administration were merged on September 1, 1964. The head of the new Enlightenment Administration was from now on also Chief Enlightenment of the Ministry of National Defense.

structure

In 1988, the military reconnaissance of the National People's Army was divided into the four organizational elements “Staff”, “Agency reconnaissance”, “Strategic reconnaissance” and “Operational-tactical reconnaissance”.

Rod

The following were directly subordinate to the head of the investigation department as staff bodies:

  • Department for fundamental issues
    Here, almost ten employees prepared fundamental and management decisions as well as planning and international tasks for the chief clarification and processed his incoming and outgoing mail.
  • Operational security and control
    department The department (approx. 30 employees) consisted of the working groups operational travel, security situation, documents and security. The staff departments were involved in all security-related matters and were therefore of great operational importance, as both agency knowledge and military secrets were most concentrated here.
Employees (selection)
  • Alfons Hexamer, sea captain
  • Günter Weiß, Colonel
  • Werner Brettschneider, Colonel
  • Jochen Kelling, Colonel

Agency clarification

(Renamed to 1st administration in 1984 )

The tasks of the administration, which had around 160 employees at the end of the 1980s, consisted of procuring intelligence tasks through agency agencies (military and military-political documents about the plans and intentions of the enemy), the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany and the NATO armed forces stationed there Means and methods. Agency employees and object observers kept military movements at the objects and in certain rooms under control. There was a corresponding task for the armaments industry. Information on the intelligence service situation was also compiled.

The 1st administration included branch offices in 10 districts of the German Democratic Republic.

Were leaders
  • 1955–1960 Erich Ripperger, Colonel
  • 1960–1975 Eberhard Lehmann, Colonel
  • 1975–1980 Heinz Hofmann , Colonel
  • 1980–1982 Eberhard Siewert , Colonel
  • 1982–1983 Roland Wunder, Colonel
  • 1983–1988 Heinz Hofmann , major general
  • 1988–1990 Harry Schreyer, Colonel
Employees (selection)
  • Helmut Hannusch, Colonel
  • Siegfried Hoppe, sea captain
  • Heinz Köhler, Colonel
  • Fritz Küchler, Colonel
  • Ernst Lauschke, Colonel
  • Klaus Meinicke, Colonel
  • Kurt Merkwirth, Colonel
  • Rolf Pechstein, Colonel
  • Dieter Wieckhusen, Colonel
  • Helmut Zerbock, Colonel

Strategic reconnaissance

(Renamed to 2nd administration in 1984 )

In the mid-1980s, the. 2. Administration of almost 250 employees with whom the reconnaissance against NATO outside the FRG was carried out, carried out by the military attachés and residences under official cover, especially in crisis areas worldwide, as well as maintaining relations with the armies of the host countries. The administration had employees in 49 states. This included 34 military attaché apparatus, 6 secondary accreditations and 9 residencies occupied by legalists .

Were leaders
  • 1967–1972 Eberhard Bauer, Colonel
  • 1972–1980 Eberhard Siewert , Colonel
  • 1980–1981 Roland Wunder, Colonel
  • 1981–1983 Heinz Hofmann , major general
  • 1983–1988 Harry Rathmann, Major General
  • 1988–1990 Günter Oldenburg , major general
  • 1990–1990 Lawyer Hoffmann, Colonel
Employees (selection, except military attaché service)
  • Werner Denn, Colonel
  • Klaus Ebert, Lieutenant Colonel
  • Hans-Jürgen Gericke, sea captain
  • Peter Mühle, Colonel
  • Hans-Dieter Nowak, Colonel
  • Frank Wimmer, Lieutenant Colonel
  • Werner Zelt, Lieutenant Colonel
Military attachés

Operational-tactical reconnaissance

(Renamed to 3rd administration in 1984 )

Until 1964, troop reconnaissance in the Ministry of National Defense under the name “Administration of Enlightenment” was separated from the NVA's military intelligence service in terms of personnel and organization. Until then, there was a chief reconnaissance in the main staff of the MfNV and a chief of the 12th administration. In 1964, the troop reconnaissance was integrated into the 12th administration as the “Deputy Area Operative-Tactical Reconnaissance” (OTA), which was then designated from 1966 as the reconnaissance administration. [20]. In 1984 the deputy area became the third administration (operational-tactical reconnaissance) with around 50 employees. The 3rd administration was responsible for the operational-tactical reconnaissance, the troop reconnaissance. It comprised observation, long-range, artillery, pioneer, chemical reconnaissance, aerial reconnaissance, sea reconnaissance, border reconnaissance as well as radio electronic and radio measurement reconnaissance. In addition, there was the instruction and control of the reconnaissance forces of the NVA branches and the coordination of the operations of the armed forces-related reconnaissance forces with the reconnaissance forces of the radio reconnaissance regiment 2. This regiment, in cooperation with the information service of the reconnaissance area, also had the armed forces and the teaching facilities of the NVA with knowledge about the To supply opponents. The radio and radio reconnaissance of the enemy was the task of the radio reconnaissance regiment 2.

Another task was the decryption of enemy codes and keys. Ultimately, this administration had to develop devices for reconnaissance. At the beginning of 1990 this administration was again outsourced from the field of reconnaissance and as an independent "administration for troop reconnaissance" (VTA) subordinated to the chief of the main staff.

Were leaders
  • 1951–1957 Herbert Scheibe , Lieutenant General
  • 1957–1975 Wolfgang Seidel, Colonel
  • 1975–1982 Helmut Prescher, Colonel
  • 1982–1990 Gerhard Rother, major general
Employees (selection)
  • Wolfgang Enderlein, Colonel
  • Hans Fiehberg, Lieutenant Colonel
  • Günter Haupt, Colonel
  • Holger Leuschner, Colonel
  • Wolfgang Ludwig, Colonel
  • Rainer Matthes, Colonel
  • Werner Thomas, Colonel
  • Horst Rittermann, Colonel

Operational security

(from 1984 administration of operational security )

Ensuring operational work was an integral part of the military reconnaissance of the National People's Army from the start. In the course of the restructuring of the clearing-up administration into the clearing-up area, the operational security administration was established in 1984 with around 340 employees. In addition to the secretariat and the VS office, the two departments Operational Technology and News as well as the four subdivisions Procurement, Supply, Motor Vehicles and Operations were part of it. At the beginning of 1990 this administration was again outsourced from the field of reconnaissance and as an independent "administration for troop reconnaissance" (VTA) subordinated to the chief of the main staff.

Were leaders
  • 1952–1953 Robertschicht, lieutenant colonel
  • 1953–1955?
  • 1955–1958 Siegfried Dombrowski , Lieutenant Colonel
  • 1958–1960 Willi Rösler, Lieutenant Colonel
  • 1960–1963 Erich Ripperger, Colonel
  • 1964–1975 Wolfgang Seidel, Colonel
  • 1975–1989 Willhelm Schönke, Colonel
  • 1989–1990 Alfred Bujak, Colonel
Employees (selection)
  • Dieter Buhlik, Colonel
  • Werner Gericke, Colonel
  • Dieter Hass, Lieutenant Colonel
  • Hermann Jäger, Lieutenant Colonel
  • Kurt Lewinski, Lieutenant Colonel
  • Rolf Medefind, Colonel
  • Hermann Nagorski, Lieutenant Colonel
  • Paul Petrolat, Colonel
  • Georg Salzwedel, ensign

The Operative Technology Department had to assist the 1st and 2nd administration in the field of container construction, secret writing, operational photography and document production. The news department was responsible for the provision of all telecommunications connections (wire and radio) and for the military intelligence service.

Information service

This service with its 130 employees (as of 1984) was responsible for the preparation and evaluation of the collected data and the determination of complex findings. With ever shorter reaction times to possible missile attacks by NATO , the time pressure for the information service to deliver secure data increased steadily. (see also RJaN )

Were leaders
  • 1952–1956 Helmut Appelt, major
  • 1956–1988 Alexander Karin , major general
  • 1988–1990 Kurt Gottwald, Lieutenant General
  • 1990–1990 Manfred Zeise, Colonel
Employees (selection)
  • Wolfgang Wolf, Colonel (total NATO forces)
  • Herbert Klein, Colonel (Military Policy)
  • Hans-Dieter Michaelis, Sea Captain (NATO Naval Forces)
  • Dietrich Trapp, frigate captain (NATO naval forces)
  • Peter Heinzel, Lieutenant Colonel (NATO Air Force and Air Defense)
  • Rudolf Berghaus, Lieutenant Colonel (NATO Air Force)
  • Emil Schreier, Colonel (NATO Land Forces)
  • Gerhard Göricke, Lieutenant Colonel (Bundeswehr)
  • Siegfried Mühle , Colonel (military technology, operational expansion of the theater of war, electronic warfare)
  • Manfred Kneschke, Lieutenant Colonel (military budget, arms industry)

Military Science Institute

The School of Enlightenment Administration in Klietz , founded in 1952, became the Military Science Institute (MWI) of the National People's Army in 1979, corresponded to a faculty of the Friedrich Engels Military Academy and had the right to award the academic degree of a military scientist. The MWI had the task of training the next generation of staff for the 1st and 2nd administration as well as for the information service and was divided into chairs, sub-departments and working groups. The research work concentrated on scientifically documenting and analyzing the experience and normatives of agency and strategic intelligence gained from practice, developing optimization theses and, from this, proposals for the qualification of these areas.

Were leaders
  • 1980–1982 Manfred Zeise, lieutenant colonel
  • 1982–1990 Eberhard Siewert , major general
Teacher (selection)
  • Frank Bethge, Lieutenant Colonel
  • Karl Fötsch, sea captain
  • Fuehrich, Colonel
  • Kolbe, Colonel
  • Köppke, Colonel
  • Eberhard Wienmeister, Colonel

Facilities

Control and security by the MfS

The intelligence administration, like the border troops and the rest of the NVA, was controlled and secured by Main Department I (MfS Military Defense or Administration 2000 ).

Headquarters

The military reconnaissance had its first headquarters until 1952 at Neue Schönholzer Strasse 16 in the East Berlin district of Pankow . All administrations were housed there except for the 3rd administration (troop reconnaissance). This was located in what was then Buchhornstrasse in Berlin-Wendenschloß .

From April 1953, the service was in the Behrenstrasse in Berlin-Mitte , as security could no longer be guaranteed in the previous domicile and the premises were no longer sufficient. However, since this property was too close to the sector boundary, it was given up again after a resolution by the Central Committee of the SED in February 1956.

Until 1957, some departments were located in the "Wendenschloß property" in Buchhornstrasse 42-44 and in Walter-Rathenau-Strasse 21 in Grünheide . After Karl Linke's housekeeper (General) , who had CIA connections, escaped , these objects were given up.

Under strict secrecy, the entire Enlightenment Administration moved into its new domicile at Regattastrasse 12–28 in Berlin-Grünau at the end of 1957 . On the instructions of Defense Minister Stoph, the property was not allowed to have any visible masts for transmission systems and should look like an institute or a technical school. The name "Administration for Coordination" was used here.

After the escape of Lieutenant Colonel Siegfried Dombrowski in August 1958 to West Berlin this object had a short time given for safety reasons and for an interim solution in the Schnellerstraße 139 in niederschöneweide be replaced. Due to the unfavorable working conditions there and corresponding requests from the head of the military reconnaissance, Arthur Franke, Defense Minister Heinz Hoffmann approved a new building on February 5, 1968. This property in Oberspreestrasse 61–63 in Berlin-Köpenick was moved into in 1972 and until 1990 was used externally as the "Mathematical-Physical Institute of the NVA" by the military reconnaissance of the National People's Army.

Central radio service

The Central Radio Service (ZFD) was located on the site of the former Junkers aircraft and engine works in Dessau . It was the stationary reconnaissance organ of the Enlightenment Administration and emerged from the Radio Reconnaissance Regiment 2 (FuAR-2) "Hans Jahn". It consisted of that

  • Radio reconnaissance center shortwave (Fuaz KW),
  • Signals intelligence center satellite (satellite Fuaz)
  • Radio reconnaissance center north (FuAZ Nord) stationed in Rüggow ,
  • Radio reconnaissance center West (FuAZ West) stationed in Rohrberg (Altmark)
  • Radio reconnaissance center south (FuAZ Süd) stationed in Zella-Mehlis and the
  • Air Reconnaissance Center (LuAZ) stationed in Dresden .

In 1990 the central radio service also took over the two central reconnaissance objects of the HA III of the MfS / AfNS after their dissolution had been decided at the round table . That was it

  • Satellite reconnaissance center in Biesenthal north of Berlin and that
  • Radio link and VHF reconnaissance center on the Brocken , Harz .

completion

In 1989 and 1990, as part of the dissolution of the Enlightenment Department and the National People's Army, on the instructions of Rainer Eppelmann , the then Minister for Disarmament and Defense of the German Democratic Republic, around a third of the files were destroyed. This particularly concerned documents that agency employees abroad could have exposed.

Parts of the material still available were evaluated by the Bundeswehr Intelligence Center in 1999 and also destroyed. The remaining holdings are stored in the Federal Archives-Military Archives in Freiburg . On October 3, 1990, the staff of the former area of ​​reconnaissance was reduced by almost 50% after it was renamed “Information Center at the Ministry of Disarmament and Defense” in March of the same year. The information center ceased its work at the same time, was taken over by the Bundeswehr and completely dissolved on December 31, 1990.

Agents exposed

The military reconnaissance shut down its agent network in 1990 and destroyed the bulk of the personal documents. Few of their agents were known by name:

  • Walter Gant, active in the MAD from 1966 to 1967
  • Gerd Löffer , active from 1974 to 1990, code name "trader"
  • the married couple Hans-Günter and Gisela Wolf , active in Switzerland from 1967 to 1973, code name "Kälin"
  • Dieter Görsdorf, active against institutions of the German Navy from 1967 to 1974
  • Heinz H. Werner, active in the German Navy , German Armed Forces and in the Foreign Office from 1968 to 1990
  • Ulrich Steinmann, active from 1967 to 1990, among others in the armaments department in the Federal Ministry of Defense
  • Dieter Popp , active from 1966 to 1990, among others in the environment of the planning staff of the BMVg, code name "Asriel"
  • Egon Streffer, active from 1969 to 1989, among others in the environment of the BMVg planning staff, code name "Auricle"

Radio

literature

  • Klaus Behling : The NVA's intelligence service. History, actions and people . edition ost, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-360-01061-2
  • Andreas Kabus: The GDR's military secret service, order WINDROSE . New life publishing house, Berlin 1993. ISBN 3-355-01406-0
  • Dieter Krüger, Armin Wagner (ed.): Conspiracy as a profession. German intelligence chiefs in the Cold War. Christoph Links Verlag Berlin 2003. ISBN 3-86153-287-5 .
  • Walter Richter: The Military Intelligence Service of the National People's Army of the GDR and its control by the Ministry for State Security. The story of a German secret service. European University Writings Volume 439, 2nd revised. Ed., Frankfurt am Main 2004. ISBN 3-631-52020-4
  • Helmut Roewer , Stefan Schäfer, Matthias Uhl : Lexicon of the secret services in the 20th century . Herbig, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7766-2317-9 .
  • Bodo Wegmann: The NVA's military intelligence. The central organization of the military reconnaissance of the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic . 2nd Edition. Köster, Berlin 2006. ISBN 3-89574-580-4

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich-Wilhelm Schlomann : The Moles , page 17.
  2. ↑ Military Intelligence. In: ddr-wissen.de. May 17, 2006, accessed July 5, 2019 .
  3. ^ Walter Richter: The Military Intelligence Service of the National People's Army of the GDR… 2nd edition, Frankfurt am Main 2004, pp. 26–182.
  4. ↑ Operations of those on duty. In: SASundChiffrierdienst. Archived from the original on February 7, 2009 ; Retrieved April 14, 2015 .
  5. ^ A b c Bodo Wegman: The contribution of the military reconnaissance of the GDR - surprise and trauma. (PDF; 251 kB) In: NVA-Forum.de. 2004, accessed December 26, 2013 .
  6. ↑ a b Heinz Marzluff, Roland Kleinander, Norbert Grotelüschen (editor): Ministry for National Defense / sub-inventory Administration Enlightenment DVW 1 1951–1991. Federal Archives, Koblenz, October 2005, archived from the original on November 5, 2011 ; accessed on July 5, 2019 .
  7. ^ A b c d Bodo Wegmann: The military reconnaissance of the NVA. The central organization of the military reconnaissance of the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic. 2nd Edition. Köster, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-89574-580-4 , pp. 110, 112
  8. ^ A b c d Walter Richter: The Military Intelligence Service of the National People's Army of the GDR… 2nd edition, Frankfurt am Main 2004.
  9. ^ Walter Richter: The Military Intelligence Service of the National People's Army of the GDR ... 2nd edition, Frankfurt am Main 2004, p. 260.
  10. ^ Enlightenment area: Plan of Enlightenment for the perspective period 1986 to 1990 , August 21, 1985, p. 8
  11. ^ Manfred-Bischoff: The military reconnaissance of the National People's Army of the GDR. In: Manfred-Bischoff.de. October 24, 2018, accessed July 5, 2019 .
  12. ^ Manfred-Bischoff: The Central Radio Service (ZFD) (as of September 1990). In: Manfred-Bischoff.de. October 24, 2018 .;
  13. ^ Military intelligence service of the NVA and intelligence agency. In: Vogl-dessau.de. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013 ; Retrieved on July 5, 2019 (there, letter from R. Eppelmann to the Minister of Justice).
  14. ↑ a b Peter Veleff: Switzerland as a target of the GDR military intelligence? (pdf, 1.4 MB) In: Military Power Review of the Swiss Army No. 1, supplement to ASMZ 4/2007. March 20, 2007, p. 38 , accessed July 5, 2019 .
  15. ^ Peter-Ferdinand Koch: The hostile brothers: GDR contra FRG; a balance sheet after 50 years of fratricidal war. Verlag Scherz, Bern et al., 1994, ISBN 978-3-502-16389-3 , p. 308.
  16. ↑ a b c d Scouts in the West: Why people in the FRG worked for the GDR. The authors. In: Kundschafter-Frieden.de. October 13, 2003, accessed July 5, 2019 .
  17. ↑ BGE 101 IV 177 Extract from the judgment of the Federal Criminal Court ... in the sense of the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office against Hans and Gisela Wolf Regeste: Forbidden intelligence service. In: Collection of the decisions of the Swiss Federal Court. June 21, 1975. Retrieved July 5, 2019 .
  18. ↑ a b BVerfGE 92, 277 - GDR spies. In: unibe.ch. May 15, 1995, accessed June 2, 2009 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 26 ′ 57 ″  N , 13 ° 33 ′ 11 ″  E