Berlin administration. Rising steadily thereafter, Beater (code name
Krüger)—described as a “tough intriguer” by Markus Wolf—was
appointed first deputy to Erich Mielke in 1964 and became a full
member of the Central Committee of the Sozialistische Einheitspartei
Deutschlands in 1973. The defection of Werner Stiller in 1979 con-
firmed his long-standing suspicion of the political reliability of the
Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung. Beater died on 9 April 1982, shortly
after his retirement.BECKER, JOHANNES (1912– ). The chief Latin American operative
of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service) during World War
II, Johannes Becker was born in Leipzig on 21 October 1912. After
serving in the army for several years, he left for Buenos Aires in 1937
as the sales representative of a German firm but returned to Berlin
with the outbreak of World War II. Because of his familiarity with
Latin America, he was placed with the SD and given seven weeks of
espionage training. Becker’s initial assignment focused less on mili-
tary matters and more on popular reaction to the wartime propaganda
of both belligerents and the difficulties facing German businesses
blacklisted by the British.
Arriving in Argentina in early June 1940, under the code name
Pepe, he managed to establish a full-fledged network of agents in
addition to a functioning clandestine radio system in a relatively
short period. His ring’s most notable success was smuggling large
amounts of urgently needed items—platinum, mica, liver extract,
and industrial diamonds—through the Anglo-American blockade via
Spain to Germany. Becker’s entire enterprise threatened to collapse
in the aftermath of the Hellmuth Affair and the decision of the Ar-
gentine government to arrest all suspected German spies in the coun-
try beginning in January 1944. Despite his salvage attempts and his
own altered physical appearance, Becker was taken into custody on
16 April 1945. None of the captured SD agents, however, were con-
victed. According to a U.S. intelligence report in 1947, Becker had
settled on an Argentine farm under the protection of a well-known
loyalist of President Juan Perón.
BEHRENDS, HERMANN (1907–1948). A senior official of the
Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service) and close associate of
26 • BECKER, JOHANNES