the Wehrmacht and held as a British prisoner of war, he returned to
Magdeburg in 1945 and served with a border patrol unit of the Ger-
man Democratic Republic (GDR). His injuries, however, prevented
further police work, and in 1951 he found employment as a furnace
tender in a local metalworking factory.
In January 1954, receiving an invitation from a former neighbor,
Friedrich Vogt, to visit him in West Berlin at Vogt’s expense, Hesse
reported the letter to authorities. A GDR State Security officer urged
him to accept the offer and submit a report afterward under the code
name jürgen. At their meeting, Vogt secured his cooperation in pro-
viding information and photographs regarding Soviet troops stationed
in the Magdeburg area. Working under the code name lux, Hesse not
only made a series of return visits to West Berlin with the requested
material but also suggested the names of other potential East German
recruits—all, however, under the guidance of his handler. The next
step involved a staged incident in August whereby Hesse’s presumed
role as a spy for the West became known to East German authori-
ties. Interrogated by the Magdeburg police and later expelled from
the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED), Hesse fled to
West Berlin claiming that he had been irrevocably compromised.
This deception had its intended result, and by December he had been
declared a political refugee. He was assigned to the Public Opinion
Research Detachment, a unit of the 522nd Military Intelligence Bat-
talion of the U.S. Army located in Würzburg.
Hesse’s main duties—coordinating radio contact with established
agents in the GDR and recruiting new ones—were carried out to
the satisfaction of his American superiors. Soon his work required
monthly trips to West Berlin, which he also used for covert meetings
with both his East German handler and his wife (code name helga)
at a safe house in the eastern sector. His wife also visited him oc-
casionally in Würzburg and submitted reports on her observations.
Both were monitored for signs of marital discord or weakening of
“class-consciousness.”
Rather than individually apprehend those persons identified by
Hesse to his handler, GDR State Security officials decided to “liq-
uidate” the U.S. Army’s intelligence unit in Würzburg with one
dramatic action (code name schlag). To take advantage of the
traditional festivities that precede the religious holiday of Pentecost,
HESSE, HORST • 187