Markus wolf biography sample

1. Biography of Markus Wolf
2. Early Career
3. Later Career and Controversy
4. Literary Career and Death

Biography of Markus Wolf

Markus Wolf, the head (1958-1987) of the foreign intelligence of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was born in the city of Hechingen (Württemberg) into a family of Jewish doctor, writer, and communist Friedrich Wolf. In 1934, after the Nazis came to power, Markus emigrated to Switzerland with his parents and younger brother, Konrad, and later to the USSR. In Moscow, Markus initially studied at the German Karl Liebknecht School, then at the Russian Friedrich Nansen School. With the start of the Great Patriotic War, the Wolf family was evacuated to Kazakhstan, where Markus Wolf was sent to the Comintern School, which trained agents for deployment behind enemy lines. Due to a series of failures by the agents, it was decided to keep the main cadre of young German emigrants for work in post-war Germany. Markus Wolf enrolled in the Moscow Aviation Institute, but was unable to complete his studies. In 1945, he was sent to work in Germany with the "Ulbricht Group", which was preparing for the Communist Party to come to power.

Early Career

Initially, he worked as a correspondent for the Berliner Rundfunk radio station, where he covered, among other things, the Nuremberg Trials. In 1949, Markus Wolf was appointed Assistant Ambassador of the GDR to the USSR. In 1951, he was recalled to Germany to work at the "Institute for Scientific Economic Research", which was actually a cover for the emerging foreign intelligence of the GDR. In December 1952, Markus Wolf was appointed the head of foreign intelligence. Initially, the number of employees and agents of the intelligence service was small. According to Wolf himself, by the end of 1953, there were 12 infiltrated agents working abroad and another 30-40 people being prepared for infiltration. The work of the intelligence service was particularly challenging because many foreign countries refused to recognize the GDR, and illegal methods of espionage had to be used (there were no embassies where legal agents could work). In the 1960s, it was the GDR's foreign intelligence, in close cooperation with the KGB, that carried out the "export" of revolutionary and national liberation movements to Asian and African countries.

Later Career and Controversy

By 1986, there were about 1500 infiltrated agents working for the GDR's foreign intelligence, not counting the legal agency at embassies and auxiliary agents. Many agents held high positions, including agent Guillaume Gunter, who worked as an assistant to Chancellor Willy Brandt of the FRG.

In 1986, Markus Wolf retired. He emigrated to the USSR with the fall of the Berlin Wall, but in September 1991, he decided to return to Germany. He was arrested and spent 11 days in solitary confinement. He was released on bail. In 1993, he was sentenced to 6 years in prison, but in 1995, the sentence was commuted to probation. In 1997, the Düsseldorf court sentenced him to another two years on probation. In 1995, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany issued a decision according to which GDR intelligence officers were exempt from prosecution on charges of treason and espionage. According to Markus Wolf himself, he did not betray any of the known agents of the GDR's foreign intelligence during interrogations.

Literary Career and Death

Until his death, Markus Wolf was engaged in literary activities, writing memoirs and fiction. Several books were published in languages of the world, including in Russia. Markus Wolf passed away on November 9, 2006, in Berlin.