installation of Soviet missiles in the GDR resulted in her expulsion
from the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands in 1983 along
with an occupational ban; her livelihood afterward derived from
beekeeping and translation work. Following a peace rally in Janu-
ary 1988, she was arrested for “inciting mob action” and held for
one month at Berlin-Hohenschönhausen before being deported
to Great Britain on a restricted visa. She returned to participate in
the revolution of 1989. Only after an inspection of her MfS file did
her husband’s role as a longtime informer come to light. Although
Wollenberger defended his actions as an attempt to shield her from
authorities, she obtained a divorce and, as Vera Lengsfeld, continued
her political career in the Bundestag, first with the Green Party and
then with the Christlich-Demokratische Union. Lengsfeld’s 1992 ac-
count—Virus der Heuchler (Virus of the Hypocrites)—elucidated the
wide range of MfS surveillance techniques. The final sequel to this
highly publicized case was Wollenberger’s belated admission of guilt
and request for forgiveness, which Lengsfeld willingly granted.WOLLWEBER, ERNST (1898–1967). An expert in maritime sabo-
tage and briefly head of state security for the German Democratic Re-
public (GDR), Ernst Wollweber was born in Hannoversch Münden
(Lower Saxony) on 28 October 1898 to working-class parents. Lack-
ing funds to continue his education, he became a sailor on Germany’s
internal waterways at the age of 14. He was inducted into the wartime
navy in 1916. Assigned to the elite submarine division, Wollweber
gained knowledge of the use of explosives just as his political views
were becoming radicalized. At the conclusion of the war, he par-
ticipated in the sailors’ mutiny in Kiel and, in early 1919, joined the
newly established Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD).
Wollweber was elected to the Central Committee in 1921 and the
following year was a delegate to the Fourth Comintern Congress in
Moscow. In 1923, he returned to the Soviet Union for further train-
ing and began his long association with Department IV (intelligence)
of the Red Army. Back in Germany, he was identified by a police
informer as an Illegaler and sentenced in December 1924 to three
years’ imprisonment for high treason, which, because of a scandal
involving the prosecuting attorney, ended after only two months.
Known as an effective speaker since his youth, Wollweber took to
506 • WOLLWEBER, ERNST