ENGELMANN, BERNT (1921–1994). A prominent and prolific West
German writer who became an informer for the Hauptverwaltung
Aufklärung (HVA), Bernt Engelmann was born in Berlin on 20
January 1921, a grandson of the publisher Leopold Ullstein. A soldier
in the Wehrmacht, he joined a resistance group in the latter years of
World War II and was placed in the Flossenbürg and Dachau con-
centration camps. After the war, he became a journalist, first with
the newsmagazine Der Spiegel and then with West German state
television. During the following decades, he wrote approximately
50 books with a worldwide readership. Many dealt critically with
the ruling elites and their questionable pasts. He was also an ardent
Social Democrat who counted Willy Brandt among his friends.
By the mid-1970s, Engelmann had established a close working
relationship with Division X (disinformation) of the HVA. Günther
Bohnsack, former head of Division X, maintained that Engelmann
(code name albers) regularly met with HVA chief Markus Wolf in
Eichwalde near East Berlin. From 1977 to 1984, Engelmann served
as the head of the Verband deutscher Schriftsteller (VS; German
Writers’ Association)—a position useful for advocating policies that
served the interests of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Particularly controversial was the close relationship he developed
with the head of the official GDR writers’ association, Hermann
Kant (code name martin), who likewise served as an informer to
the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit. As a result, many dissident
GDR writers who had fled to the West resigned from the VS in
protest. Bohnsack further noted that much of the material appearing
in Engelmann’s books had been supplied to him by the HVA. For
example, Das schwarze Kassenbuch (Black Cash Account Book),
written in 1973 and alleging the secret financing of the Christlich-
Demokratische Partei by West German industrialists, was viewed
by the HVA as part of a major disinformation campaign. After the
fall of the Berlin Wall, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office investigated
Engelmann on suspicion of espionage, but no charges were filed. He
died in Munich on 14 April 1994.
ENGELS, ALBRECHT (1899–?). The most important Abwehr spy
working in Brazil, Albrecht Engels was a lieutenant in the Reich-
swehr and saw combat on the western front during World War I. In
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