compromise that tightened the accessibility of Stasi information
collected through spying and prohibited the release of this material
without the written consent of the person concerned. Although both
parties declared victory, Birthler held that the ruling would under-
mine many future historical projects.BLACK TOM ISLAND. The site of the most publicized act of Ger-
man sabotage in the United States during World War I, Black Tom
Island served as a major munitions depot in New York harbor. On 30
July 1916, as nearly 2 million pounds of ammunition were awaiting
transport to the Allied powers in Europe, a huge explosion rocked the
area, completely destroying the depot and grazing the nearby Statue
of Liberty with shrapnel (a plaque in Liberty State Park marks the site
of the blast). A related explosion occurred at the assembly plant of
the Canadian Car and Foundry Company in Kingsland, New Jersey,
on 11 January 1917, likewise involving the destruction of war mate-
riel bound for overseas.
Although Michael Kristoff, a young Slovakian immigrant living in
Bayonne, New Jersey, emerged as the person who probably ignited
the incendiary devices at Black Tom Island, the actual organizers of
the plot were never identified beyond a reasonable doubt. Two prime
suspects, Kurt Jahnke and Lothar Witzke, were later located and
questioned. Other likely participants in both incidents were Friedrich
Hermann, Paul Hilken, Friedrich Hinsch, Raoul Gerdts, Carl Ahrendt,
Wilhelm Woehst, and Theodore Wozniak. After the war, the Lehigh
Valley Railroad Company, the owner of the depot, sought damages
against Germany with the U.S.-German Mixed Claims Commis-
sion. Agreeing that Germany had been responsible, the commission
announced a settlement figure of $50 million in 1939.
BLAU, HAGEN (1935– ). A highly regarded agent of the Haupt-
verwaltung Aufklärung (HVA) serving in the Foreign Ministry
of the Federal Republic of Germany, Hagen Blau was recruited in
1960 while a student of Chinese and Japanese at the Free Univer-
sity in West Berlin. After completing his doctorate the following
year, Blau (code name detlev) entered the Foreign Ministry with
the encouragement of his case officer. A political counselor dur-
ing the mid-1970s, he gave the East Germans access to extensive
40 • BLACK TOM ISLAND