MfS officers who had had long, distinguished careers. Among the
first group were Fritz Schmenkel, Richard Sorge, Max Clausen,
Ilse Stöbe, Arvid Harnack, and Harro Schulze-Boysen, while the
latter included Richard Stahlmann, Alfred Scholz, Gustav Szinda,
and Franz Gold. In addition to introducing new recruits to the past
exploits of these figures, the MfS issued special coins, plaques, and
other commemorative items. See also KUNDSCHAFTER.TRAUBE AFFAIR. An illegal eavesdropping operation conducted by
the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), the Traube Affair re-
volved around Klaus Traube, a nuclear physicist suspected of main-
taining ties with the terrorist Red Army Faction. Having received the
authorization of Interior Minister Werner Maihofer, Operation müll
(Trash) began on 30 December 1974 with the installation of listening
devices in Traube’s home. The BfV further contacted his employer,
Kraftwerk Union AG, resulting in his dismissal as managing director
of Interatom in Bensberg (North Rhine-Westphalia). The surveillance
of Traube, however, yielded no proof of a terrorist connection.
In 1977, when a BfV employee, Karl Dinhofer, discovered this
incident and relayed the supporting BfV documents to a journalist, a
major scandal ensued. After the story appeared in the newsmagazine
Der Spiegel, Maihofer submitted his resignation on 8 June 1978.
The espionage term Lauschangriff (bugging action or attack) also
entered the popular vocabulary, having been invoked in the docu-
ments reprinted by the magazine. Initial charges against Dinhofer
were dropped when a Cologne court determined that the eavesdrop-
ping operation had no legal justification and violated article 13 of the
West German Basic Law, which specifically underscores the sanctity
of one’s domicile. Afterward, Traube became a major figure in the
antinuclear movement and directed an alternate energy institute at the
University of Bremen from 1990 to 1997.
TREBITSCH-LINCOLN, IGNÁCZ (1879–1943). An international
adventurer, confidence man, and intelligence agent during World
War I, Ignácz Trebitsch-Lincoln was born in Paks, Hungary, on
4 April 1879, the son of a prosperous Jewish merchant. After
briefly studying drama in Budapest, he left for England, where his
conversion to Christianity occurred in 1899. A sojourn in Canada as a
TREBITSCH-LINCOLN, IGNÁCZ • 465