pionage activity with ever greater vigor and ingenuity. His was ar-
rested by West German authorities on 23 August 1988—the result of
a lengthy investigation (code name canasta player) by American
counterintelligence officials. On 6 June 1990, owing to the unusual
gravity of the case, Conrad became the first spy to receive a life sen-
tence while in the FRG. The Coblenz court also fined him 2.2 million
DM, the estimated amount of his remuneration. The Kercsik brothers
were each given an 18-month sentence by a Swedish court. Ramsay,
arrested in Florida, received a 36-year prison term. Nine months after
Conrad’s arrest, Szabo decided to cooperate with Austrian officials
and spent only a token period in jail. Conrad died in prison of heart
failure on 8 January 1998.COPPI, HANS (1916–1942). A communist activist and member of
the Rote Kapelle, Hans Coppi was born in Berlin on 25 January
- Arrested in January 1934 because of his anti-Nazi efforts,
he was placed in the Oranienburg concentration camp and released
the following year, finding employment as a lathe operator. With
the outbreak of World War II, Coppi (code name strahlmann)
joined the resistance group led by Harro Schulze-Boysen that soon
formed the nucleus of the Rote Kapelle. Despite his meager technical
training, sole responsibility for the secret radio transmissions from
Berlin to Moscow was assigned to Coppi, and numerous malfunc-
tions occurred as a result. In early August 1942, once the Gestapo
had ascertained the identity of individual members of the apparatus
(Schulze-Boysen’s wife divulged his name under interrogation), both
Coppi and his spouse Hilde were taken into custody and brought to
trial. He was hanged at Plötzensee Prison on 22 December. Seven
months later, Hilde Coppi was executed in the same facility, even
though her role had been only a minor one.
COSSEL, MAXIMILIAN VON. The executor of the first known
successful air-land commando raid, Maximilian von Cossel was a
Prussian officer transported behind enemy lines in Russia by pilot
Rudolf Windisch in early October 1916. Cossel then destroyed a
strategic railway bridge near Rowno-Brody. The following day,
Windisch returned, and the two flew back across enemy lines.
Both were decorated later that month by Emperor William II, and
COSSEL, MAXIMILIAN VON • 73