and bureaucracy of the German Democratic Republic, including the
diplomatic service. Equipped with a detailed legend, they operated
undetected by their colleagues and reported regularly to a control of-
ficer (Führungsoffizier). In contrast to Inoffizielle Mitarbeiter, who
functioned primarily as informers, the OibEs also sought to influence
the decision-making process in their assigned vocational sphere.
While they drew the regular salary of their position, a supplement
was added commensurate with their MfS rank. An MfS ordinance of
17 March 1986 set forth the rules governing their activities. Originat-
ing in the late 1960s and used extensively by the Hauptverwaltung
Aufklärung, they came to number approximately 3,000, among
them the currency dealer Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski and the
espionage author Julius Mader.OHLENDORF, OTTO (1907–1951). The outspoken head of the do-
mestic division of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA), Otto
Ohlendorf was born in Hoheneggelsen (Lower Saxony) on 4 Febru-
ary 1907, the son of a prosperous Protestant farming family. Already
a member of the Sturmabteilung at age 18, he was transferred to the
SS two years later and also became a member of the Nazi Party. Fol-
lowing his studies in law and political science at Leipzig and Göt-
tingen, a scholarship allowed him to spend a year at the University
of Pavia studying Italian corporatist institutions, which met with his
ultimate disapproval. Upon his return to Germany, Ohlendorf had
little success in launching an academic career.
In 1936, owing to the intervention of his former tutor and well-
known economist, Professor Jens Jessen—and by reactivating his SS
membership—Ohlendorf found a position in the Sicherheitsdienst
(SD; Security Service) as director of Department II/23 (Economy).
Attracted to an intelligence organization that aspired to be a cor-
rective to certain Nazi state policies, he soon aroused the enmity of
Robert Ley and Richard Darré because of his critical reports and
therefore asked to be released from his duties. His superior, Rein-
hard Heydrich, reduced his SD work to “honorary duties” and
allowed him to join the National Trade Group in 1938. With the
outbreak of World War II in 1939, Ohlendorf was made director of
Office III (German-settled areas) of the newly formed RSHA, which
included responsibility for research into domestic public opinion.
328 • OHLENDORF, OTTO