Paul Maddrell
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199267507
- eISBN:
- 9780191708404
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199267507.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter discusses that traditional espionage using human spies peaked in Germany in the years 1945-1961. It explains two goals in conducting espionage in East Germany: to provide warning of any ...
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This chapter discusses that traditional espionage using human spies peaked in Germany in the years 1945-1961. It explains two goals in conducting espionage in East Germany: to provide warning of any attack on Western Europe by the Soviet army, and to use the DDR's (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) connections with the Soviet Union to penetrate the latter. It also discusses the large programmes of arrests carried out by the Stasi of large numbers of Western spies and anti-Communist resistance fighters. It explains that despite losing many of its sources, the CIA claims that it achieved great success in Germany that resulted from the number of their spies and the depth of their penetration of East Germany's ministries, factories, political parties, armed forces, and Western services. It adds that the open border in Berlin allowed the Western secret services to fully exploit flight from the SED regime and resistance to it.Less
This chapter discusses that traditional espionage using human spies peaked in Germany in the years 1945-1961. It explains two goals in conducting espionage in East Germany: to provide warning of any attack on Western Europe by the Soviet army, and to use the DDR's (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) connections with the Soviet Union to penetrate the latter. It also discusses the large programmes of arrests carried out by the Stasi of large numbers of Western spies and anti-Communist resistance fighters. It explains that despite losing many of its sources, the CIA claims that it achieved great success in Germany that resulted from the number of their spies and the depth of their penetration of East Germany's ministries, factories, political parties, armed forces, and Western services. It adds that the open border in Berlin allowed the Western secret services to fully exploit flight from the SED regime and resistance to it.
