gaining important military information. A more advantageous situa-
tion materialized with his appointment to the data processing center
of the Bundeswehr in fall 1972.
As repeated security checks by the Militärischer Abschirm-
dienst revealed no irregularities, Ludwig continued to work unde-
terred at the Bad Neuenahr facility until 1990. His administrative
status gave him unrestricted access to all data systems and hence
to a wealth of confidential material, including the disposition and
equipment level of all Bundeswehr units. Given the sheer volume
of material that Ludwig acquired, a second agent, using the false
identity of Dieter Grube, was dispatched as his assistant. Posing
as a student at the University of Coblenz and working part-time
at a gas station, Grube had the task of securing the material for
transport to the GDR.
When Ludwig was arrested in April 1990, there was little doubt
as to the extraordinary comprehensiveness of his penetration, which
the former VA chief Alfred Krause acknowledged afterward. Found
guilty of espionage in June 1993, Ludwig was given a suspended
sentence of five years and fined 100,000 DM.LUDWIG, KURT FREDERICK (1903–?). An Abwehr agent ap-
prehended in the United States, Kurt Frederick Ludwig was born in
Ohio but raised in Germany. Recruited by the Abwehr and trained in
Berlin, he was dispatched to New York City by his case officer, Ul-
rich von der Osten, in March 1940. His task was to construct a spy
network to obtain information about U.S. military capabilities, espe-
cially aircraft production and transatlantic shipping to Great Britain.
Ludwig (known by at least 50 different male and female code
names) recruited eight subagents, including Paul Borchardt, but
his frequent written communications to cover addresses in Lisbon
and Madrid—ostensibly from a leather exporter named “Joe K”—
aroused the suspicion of a British censorship station in Bermuda.
After mastering the formula of the secret ink employed by Ludwig,
British officials notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of
their discovery. On 23 August 1941, following closer surveillance of
his movements from Florida to Washington State, the FBI arrested
Ludwig outside Seattle. Tried in March 1942, he, Borchardt, and
Rene Froehlich received prison sentences of 20 years, while the oth-
LUDWIG, KURT FREDERICK • 275