Historical Dictionary of German Intelligence

(Kiana) #1
Abel and Francis Gary Power at the Glienicker Bridge on 10 Febru-
ary 1962. Later that year, Stange and Vogel expanded the scope of
their negotiations to include the purchase of political prisoners in the
German Democratic Republic by the Federal Republic of Germany.
See also VOLPERT, HEINZ.

STARITZ, DIETRICH (1934– ). A leading West German academic
authority on the German Democratic Republic (GDR) who worked
for the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), Dietrich Staritz
was born in Berlin. Although raised in the Western sector, he began
attending Humboldt University in East Berlin in 1956 and became
a member of the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED)
the following year. Political differences with the regime following
the arrest of his brother caused him to return to West Berlin in 1958.
There he gained a prominent position in the Sozialistischer Deutscher
Studentenbund (SDS; German Socialist Student Association) and
was engaged as an informer by the MfS in September 1961. Under
the code name erich, Staritz reported on conflicts within the SDS
and provided names of many potential recruits. In addition, he be-
came an informer for the West Berlin office of the Bundesamt für
Verfassungsschutz (BfV), receiving the code name rabe in April



  1. His dealings with the BfV were also recounted in his reports
    to the MfS.
    After working as a reporter for the newsmagazine Der Spiegel
    between 1968 and 1972, Staritz became a professor at the University
    of Mannheim and gained recognition for his works on the GDR. In
    1973, the MfS terminated his activity, concluding that “an effective
    and reliable working relationship” was no longer possible. When his
    MfS file became known after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he denied
    ever having caused any scholarly damage to anyone. As a professor
    emeritus, Staritz became a contributor to the former SED newspaper
    Neues Deutschland.


STARZICZNY, JOSÉF. An Abwehr operative in Brazil during
World War II, Joséf Starziczny was born in Upper Silesia of Polish
parents. After serving in the imperial navy during World War I, he
obtained a degree in mechanical engineering in 1922 from the Tech-
nical College in Breslau (now Wroclaw). At the outbreak of World


440 • STARITZ, DIETRICH

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