was primarily logistic—establishing “an illegal residence for liaison
and maintenance” in a neutral country.
Yet recruitments never materialized, and no network was estab-
lished. Some information regarding Swiss military and security
arrangements, however, was conveyed to East Berlin before their ar-
rest in 1973. Among the evidence found by Swiss police was a radio
transmitter hidden in a hall chest in their residence. On 21 June 1975,
the Wolfs were sentenced to seven years in prison. After serving
their full terms, they returned to the GDR in 1982. Gisela was fatally
injured in a traffic accident in 1986. Hans died in 1991.WOLF, MARKUS (1923–2006). The long-serving head of the Haupt-
verwaltung Aufklärung (HVA), Markus Wolf was born in Hechin-
gen (Baden-Württemberg) on 19 January 1923, the son of a Jewish
doctor, writer, and communist activist. After the family left Germany
for the Soviet Union in 1933, he completed his education in Moscow
and was admitted to Institute for Aircraft Construction. Gaining So-
viet citizenship in 1939 and becoming a member of the communist
youth group Komsomol, he was chosen to attend the Comintern’s
training school in Kushnarenkovo in 1943. The dissolution of the
Comintern shortly afterward led to his appointment as an editor and
radio commentator in Moscow.
In late May 1945, Wolf returned to Germany and assumed a
position at the Soviet-controlled Berliner Rundfunk under the alias
Michael Storm. Although his coverage of the Nuremberg Trials as
a special correspondent earned him particular recognition, a career
in diplomacy loomed with the founding of the German Democratic
Republic (GDR) in 1949. He became connected with the new East
German mission in Moscow and gave up his Soviet citizenship the
following year. In 1951, Wolf returned to East Berlin and, abandon-
ing his diplomatic career, became a member of the newly created
Aussenpolitischer Nachrichtendienst (APN), disguised as the Insti-
tute for Economic Research. His main efforts as the deputy director
of the counterintelligence division focused on West Berlin and the
Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), since other foreign countries
were not initially in the purview of the East Germans. Wolf’s rise
through the ranks was rapid. In November 1952, he succeeded An-
ton Ackermann as head of the APN, which became Main Division
WOLF, MARKUS • 499