Historical Dictionary of German Intelligence

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questioning and was held in a number of concentration camps for
the remainder of the war. His political career resumed following his
release from Dachau in April 1945. A cofounder of the Christlich-
Soziale Union as well as its first chair, Müller served as the Bavarian
minister of justice from 1947 to 1952 and became a persistent critic
of Reinhard Gehlen owing to his former Nazi connections. His
memoirs, Bis zur letzten Konsequenz (Until the Final Conclusion),
appeared in 1977. Müller died in Munich on 12 September 1979.

MÜLLER, RICHARD (1942– ). A West German entrepreneur in-
volved in illegal Eastern-bloc technology transfers, Richard Müller
developed more than 75 sham companies in Switzerland, France,
Sweden, and South Africa. Although 10 employees in the Lübeck
region were arrested and charged, Müller evaded authorities with
the assistance of the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit and moved
to the German Democratic Republic in 1984. After his work for the
GRU (Soviet military intelligence) ended, he presented himself with
his attorney to the state prosecutor in Lübeck in April 1989. Accord-
ing to the legal settlement, Müller received a two-year suspended
sentence and a fine of 1.5 million DM. Despite his claim of having
lost money on balance through his business dealings, he retired to a
large landed estate near Kiel.


MÜLLER, VINCENZ (1894–1961). An enigmatic veteran military
commander in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) courted by
Western intelligence, Vincenz Müller was born in Aichach (Bavaria)
on 5 November 1894, the son of a tanner. Assigned to the German
military mission in Turkey during World War I, he continued his
career afterward in the Reichswehr and became a personal attaché to
Kurt von Schleicher. During World War II, Müller’s service centered
on the eastern front, first as chief of staff of the 17th Army, then as
commander of the encircled units of the 4th Army. After surrender-
ing to the Red Army in July 1944, he joined the Nationalkomitee
Freies Deutschland, having developed anti-Nazi convictions prior to
the war. Ideological training at the Antifa school at Krasnogorsk was
completed before returning to Germany in September 1948,
Establishing himself as both a politician and soldier in the new
GDR, Müller served in the People’s Chamber for eight years as well


310 • MÜLLER, RICHARD

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