quality of the double agents it enlisted. In 1943, Jahnke’s Berlin villa
was destroyed, and afterward he led a secluded life, mostly on his
Pomeranian estate. Shortly following his capture and interrogation
by the Soviets in 1945, he was executed.JAMIN, ERICH (1907–1976). A director of K-5 and later senior of-
ficial in the Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung (HVA), Erich Jamin was
born in Witten (North Rhine-Westphalia) on 20 March 1907, the son
of a locksmith. A member of the Kommunistische Partei Deutsch-
lands since 1929, he was arrested by Nazi officials for treasonous
activities and placed in Brandenburg Prison in 1936. He was later
transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and then to a
prisoner’s unit of the Wehrmacht captured in 1944 by the Red Army.
Released in 1947, Jamin returned to Germany and took charge of K-5
the following year. With the formation of the HVA came a variety of
new responsibilities, such as security clearance, underground opera-
tions, and relations with the People’s Police. He retired in 1965 and
died on 29 December 1976.
JÄNICKE, HORST (1923–2006). A long-serving deputy head of the
Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung (HVA), Horst Jänicke was born in
Strausberg (Brandenburg) on 4 January 1923. Trained as a baker,
he was recruited into the Wehrmacht in 1941 and fell into Soviet
captivity four years later. Following his release in 1949, Jänicke
returned to the German Democratic Republic and became active in
various capacities for the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands.
His entry into intelligence work coincided with the establishment of
the Aussenpolitischer Nachrichtendienst in 1952, which evolved
into the HVA.
Named second deputy of the HVA in 1971 and first deputy in
1986, Jänicke had particular responsibility for developing ties with
Third World countries—notably Ethiopia, Mozambique, and An-
gola—in the wake of the greatly expanded international diplomatic
recognition of the German Democratic Republic. He also assisted
with the escape of targeted Chilean communists following the coup
of August Pinochet in 1973. Despite his retirement in February 1989,
Jänicke, together with former HVA chief Werner Grossmann, at-
tempted unsuccessfully to negotiate a general amnesty agreement for
JÄNICKE, HORST • 209