Deutschlands (SPD). Yet in March 1990, his role as an MfS informer
for more than 20 years became known, and he soon resigned his
position as head of the party. Despite the existence of his own MfS
reports and taped recordings of meetings with his control officer,
Böhme flatly denied any Stasi complicity. Especially noteworthy
were the charges made by the dissident writer Rainer Kunze, who, in
his own file, discovered Böhme’s involvement in his surveillance and
expatriation. In 1992, following the merger of the two branches after
reunification, the SPD removed him for “serious behavior injurious
to the party.” He died in Neustrelitz (Mecklenburg) on 22 November
1999.BOLSCHWING, OTTO ALBRECHT VON (1909–1982). A Sicher-
heitsdienst (SD; Security Service) officer active in Palestine and Ro-
mania, and later an advisor to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA), Otto Albrecht von Bolschwing was born on 15 October 1909,
the second son of a Junker family. After joining the Nazi Party in
1929, he began a career with the SS and—owing to his facility with
languages—became involved in overseas SD operations. His first
assignment was in Palestine, where he posed as a monk in Nazareth
and then as a businessman in Haifa. By encouraging Arab leaders to
cooperate with Jewish groups struggling for independence, he hoped
to rid the country of British domination. In mid-1935, following his
expulsion by British authorities, he was summoned back to Berlin
to assist with the Jewish Affairs Office. As a consultant, he worked
with Adolf Eichmann in drawing up plans to reduce Jewish influ-
ence in Germany, which included the use of terror and the forfeiture
of property.
In March 1940, Heinrich Himmler dispatched Bolschwing
to Romania, giving him full responsibility for all SD activities.
Bolschwing soon threw his support behind the intensely anti-Semitic
and ultra-fascist Iron Guard Movement, which had been excluded
from the otherwise pro-German dictatorship of Marshal Ion An-
tonescu. While a measure of cooperation resulted—King Carol II
was forced to abdicate in favor of his son, and several members of
the Iron Guard became part of the new government—open hostility
resurfaced early the following year. When Antonescu responded to
the attack of the Iron Guard with military force, Bolschwing gave
BOLSCHWING, OTTO ALBRECHT VON • 45