HVA, the Rupps were arrested in Saarburg in 1993 while visiting
relatives. On 17 November, he was sentenced by a Düsseldorf court
to 12 years in prison and fined 300,000 DM for betraying secrets that
could have been decisive in time of war. Ann-Christine received a
22-month suspended sentence. In 1998, the prominent writer Martin
Walser made a public plea for Rupp’s early release, while the Partei
des Demokratischen Sozialismus named him a parliamentary advisor
on foreign and security affairs. Following his discharge in July 2000,
he became a freelance journalist and frequent contributor to left-wing
publications such as Neues Deutschland and Junge Welt.– S –
SÄGEBRECHT, WILLY (1904–1981). A communist functionary
who briefly headed East German military intelligence, Willy Säge-
brecht was born in Gross Schönbeck (Brandenburg) on 21 February
- A committed communist since his youth, he headed a section
of the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands of Berlin-Brandenburg
from 1929 to 1931 and was elected in 1932 to the Prussian parlia-
ment. His participation in illegal activities, however, led to his arrest
and confinement in various Nazi prisons and concentration camps
from 1934 to 1945.
At the end of the war, Sägebrecht resumed his party work and es-
tablished close contact with the new political and security elite in the
Soviet occupation zone. In 1954, after the founding of the German
Democratic Republic, he received the rank of colonel in the Bar-
racked People’s Police, the forerunner of the Nationale Volksarmee,
and concentrated on propaganda campaigns directed at the United
States and the Federal Republic of Germany. Despite Sägebrecht’s
lack of military training and experience, Defense Minister Willi
Stoph appointed him head of the Verwaltung 19 (Administration 19)
in September 1957. The transition proved difficult, as his colleagues
came to resent his aloof manner. Only with the political subsection
did Sägebrecht show any degree of involvement.
Eleven months later, his tenure abruptly ended with the defection
of his assistant, Siegfried Dombrowski, to the U.S. Central Intel-
ligence Agency. Rather than replace Sägebrecht immediately, Stoph
SÄGEBRECHT, WILLY • 385