their extradition. Meyer’s retrial in October 1980 resulted in a
15-year prison term. The following years saw not only increasing
dissension within the movement but also Meyer’s disillusionment
with urban guerrilla warfare and his desire to pursue other means.
Because of his rejection of armed struggle, he obtained an early
release from prison in November 1986. For roughly two years, he
wrote for the left-wing alternative newspaper taz but found fault
with its extensive coverage of East German dissidents whom he
regarded as “reactionary.” A career as a freelancer followed his
resignation.
In light of his fresh political perspective, the MfS began to show
renewed interest in Meyer. In 1987, at his second meeting with of-
ficers from the “political extremism and terror” division, he agreed
to collect material concerning militant left-wing groups in West
Berlin—specifically the RAF, the Revolutionary Cells, and the
Autonoms. Disinformation, particularly regarding ex-terrorists who
had taken refuge in the GDR from West German authorities, was
also added to his list of responsibilities. Meyer found this activity
rewarding and developed a congenial relationship with his case of-
ficer, whom he helped to escape abroad following the collapse of the
GDR. Not until 1992 was Meyer’s own Stasi connection revealed,
yet because of the destruction of relevant MfS documents, the state
prosecutor had to drop all charges. He returned to Trier as a journal-
ist. A discussion of his relationship with the MfS is included in his
unrepentant memoirs Staatsfeind (Enemy of the State), which ap-
peared in 1996. See also KURRAS, KARL-HEINZ.MICRODOT. A photograph of a document or image reduced to
the size of a period at the end of a sentence, the modern microdot
was developed by Emmanuel Goldberg, a professor at the Dresden
Technical University, and presented at the Sixth Annual Congress of
Photography in Paris in 1925. Dubbed a “Mikrat nach Goldberg,” it
represented a major breakthrough in secret communications and was
employed extensively by the Abwehr. First introduced to the micro-
dot by Dusan Popov in 1941, J. Edgar Hoover, director of the U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation, called it “the enemy’s masterpiece
of espionage,” although both men wrongly attributed its invention to
a nonexistent Arnold Zapp.
298 • MICRODOT