Kant was born in Hamburg on 14 June 1926, the son of a florist.
Trained as an electrician, he was inducted into the Wehrmacht dur-
ing the final stages of World War II. As a Polish prisoner of war for
four years, he participated in the founding of an Antifa Committee
in Warsaw before returning to Germany and earning an advanced
degree in German literature in 1957 from Humboldt University in
East Berlin. His writings—particularly his debut novel Die Aula
(The Auditorium)—earned him numerous literary awards as well as
a large audience in both Germanys. He also ardently embraced the
ruling Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED).
Kant’s most controversial public action occurred in 1978, when,
as the new president of the Schriftstellerverband der Deutschen
Demokratischen Republik (Writers’ Association of the German
Democratic Republic), he demanded the removal of nine prominent
authors who had openly protested the government’s expatriation of
Wolf Biermann. Renewed criticism of Kant followed in the wake of
German reunification. When allegations began to circulate pointing
to his active cooperation with the MfS, Kant denied any connection
and successfully took legal action. Yet extensive MfS documenta-
tion soon came to light, indicating that close contact had begun in
1957 and that Kant, under the code name martin, had conveyed in-
criminating reports against other writers (one handler noted that their
meetings gave him much “amusement”). Later, however, Kant came
under surveillance by another MfS informer, Gerhard Henniger, the
secretary of the Schriftstellerverband. Kant’s role as an informer
formally ended in 1976, primarily because of its incompatibility with
his rising status in the SED.KANTER, HANS-ADOLF (1925– ). An influential West German
lobbyist as well as a key asset of the Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung
(HVA), Hans-Adolf Kanter began his lengthy espionage career in
- An early member of the communist-dominated Freie Deutsche
Jugend (Free German Youth), he switched his allegiance to the youth
organization of the Christlich-Demokratische Union in the Rhein-
land-Palatinate the following year. His long association with the
future chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), Helmut
Kohl, also started in this period. During the 1960s, with the aid of the
HVA, Kanter established a financial consulting office in Bonn and
220 • KANTER, HANS-ADOLF