to pose as a CIA operative and attempt to enlist Wilhelm Keil, the
head of the emigration surveillance division of the Bundesnachrich-
tendienst (BND). That Vogel conveyed this information to the CIA
and BND was revealed to the HVA by another agent. Arrested in Au-
gust, Vogel underwent intense interrogation at Berlin-Hohenschön-
hausen before being tried for aggravated espionage and sentenced
to life imprisonment the following year. Prison officials at Bautzen
termed his March 1982 death a suicide by hanging, although docu-
mented evidence exists to the contrary.VOGEL, HORST (1931– ). The last deputy director of the Haupt-
verwaltung Aufklärung (HVA), Horst Vogel was born in Theissen
(Saxony-Anhalt) on 11 May 1931, the son of a locksmith. After first
following in his father’s footsteps, he was recruited for the HVA
in March 1955 and later earned a degree in chemical engineering
from the Technical College in Merseburg-Leuna. Vogel’s steady rise
through the ranks included his appointment as head of the Sektor
Wissenschaft und Technik in 1975 and then as deputy director of
the HVA in 1987. Following the dissolution of the German Demo-
cratic Republic, he became a vocal defender of the Ministerium für
Staatssicherheit.
VOGEL, WOLFGANG (1925–2008). The most prominent lawyer in
the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and a negotiator involved
in numerous spy exchanges, Wolfgang Vogel was born in Wilhelms-
thal (now Boleslawów, Poland) on 30 October 1925, the son of a
Catholic rural schoolteacher. During World War II, he served as a
navigation instructor in the Luftwaffe. Resettling in Jena after the
war, Vogel studied criminal law there as well as in Leipzig. His
mentor, Rudolf Reinartz, assisted him in obtaining a position in
the new GDR Justice Ministry in August 1952. In the reprisals that
followed the Uprising of 17 June 1953, Reinartz was dismissed
and defected to the West. Ignoring his urging to follow his lead,
Vogel remained in East Berlin and agreed to work with the Mi-
nisterium für Staatssicherheit (MfS) as an informant (code name
eva, later georg). His long-term handler was Heinz Volpert, who
was replaced in 1986 by Gerhard Niebling, head of the MfS Central
Coordination Group.
VOGEL, WOLFGANG • 477