his ready access to inside information, his books and articles con-
tain a wealth of detail, but their tone is also highly tendentious and
propagandistic. Their chief aim was to expose and condemn the
intelligence services of the United States and the Federal Republic
of Germany and to cast a heroic light on the communist espio-
nage tradition. With one exception—Gelbe Liste: Wo ist die CIA?
(Yellow List: Where Is the CIA?)—they were all published in the
Eastern bloc. Yet numerous articles by Mader also appeared in the
Western press. He became a highly visible figure in the GDR, not
only because of his weekly column “Geheimdienste” (intelligence
services) in the popular Neue Berliner Illustrierte beginning in
1972, but also owing to his frequent appearances at state offices,
factories, and schools, where he warned of the dangers posed by
Western spies and urged vigilance on the part of all citizens.
Although his 1979 book on the Rote Kapelle seemed uncharacter-
istically critical of the Soviet spy network and clouded his relation-
ship with the MfS, works by Mader continued to be published as late
as 1988. The MfS awarded him a medal of honor in 1989 to mark
the 40th anniversary of the GDR. Mader wrote, cowrote, or edited
32 books, which sold about 5.2 million copies in 18 languages (they
enjoyed an especially high reputation in the Soviet Union). He died
in Berlin on 17 May 2000.MAERKER, RUDOLF (1927–1987). A West German journalist
and politician considered a major asset by the Hauptverwaltung
Aufklärung (HVA), Rudolf Maerker was active in his native Rhine-
land as a functionary of the Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German
Youth) after World War II. He later moved to the German Demo-
cratic Republic (GDR), becoming a propagandist for East German
radio. A Stalinist purge caused him to return to the Federal Republic
of Germany in 1952 and begin to work for the Ostbüro der SPD
(code name rudi baumann). After its dissolution, his rise in the
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) continued, and by
1967 he was the local party chief in Bonn. He also became known as
a freelance journalist with an expertise regarding the GDR.
Yet Maerker’s ideological commitment to the communist regime
had not abated. A Selbstanbieter, or walk-in volunteer, he formal-
ized his relationship with the HVA in October 1968. For more than
MAERKER, RUDOLF • 279