published a professional newsletter, which contained many articles
written by his East German Instrukteur, Dr. Werner K. In addition,
Egon Bahr, a prominent Social Democratic politician and the main
architect of the West German policy of Ostpolitik, rented a house
belonging to Kanter. The installation of eavesdropping devices thus
allowed the HVA to obtain critical knowledge regarding the negotiat-
ing positions of the FRG toward the German Democratic Republic.
In 1974, Kanter obtained a senior staff position with the Flick Or-
ganization in Bonn, which gave him a new range of contacts through
his political lobbying efforts. Although the Bonn office was closed
as a result of illegal spending practices that came to light in 1981,
Kanter’s importance for the HVA continued to grow. With the elec-
tion of Helmut Kohl as chancellor in 1982, Kanter utilized his friend-
ship with Philipp Jenniger, the state secretary of the Chancellor’s
Office, to gain access to important internal government information.
Although under the code name fichtel he had submitted some 1,200
reports to East Berlin and was the longest serving known spy in the
FRG for the HVA, Kanter received merely a suspended sentence of
two years in March 1995.KAPPIUS, ÄNNE. See KAPPIUS, JOSEPH.
KAPPIUS, JOSEPH (1907–1967). An underground Allied agent
active during the final phase of World War II, Joseph (Jupp) Kap-
pius was born in Bochum on 3 March 1907. A trained construction
worker, he became a member of the International Socialist Militant
League in 1933 and performed a variety of illegal functions before
leaving Germany four years later. Interned in Australia from 1939 to
1944, he was selected and trained for Operation faust by the U.S.
Office of Strategic Services (OSS). In early September 1944, Kap-
pius (alias Jack Smith) was paradropped by the British in the Ruhr
area with the aim of restoring the trade union movement in this key
industrial region. Acting as his courier was his wife Änne, who had
received instruction from the British and returned to Germany via
Switzerland disguised as a Red Cross nurse.
The OSS supplied Kappius with a safe address in Bochum and
instructed him to develop a network of agents, commit acts of sabo-
tage in strategically important factories, and use subversive methods
KAPPIUS, JOSEPH • 221