and counted the Sektor Technik und Wissenschaft as its first user.
Each piece of information collected abroad by the HVA was given
a registration number, a brief description, and a numerical grade
according to its importance and became part of the database. Re-
sembling a large library catalog, SIRA contained none of the actual
documents and reports.
Although members of the HVA succeeded in destroying nearly
all their files in 1989–1990, four magnetic tapes were overlooked in
the general turmoil. Eight years later, they were restored with the aid
of a former East German telephone technician and included 484,881
entries beginning with the inception of the system. Yet because only
code names were indicated, it was necessary to acquire the Rosen-
holz material before the real identity of the agents involved could be
ascertained. SIRA has proven an invaluable tool in determining the
scope of HVA activities and in evaluating the performance of indi-
vidual spies such as Günter Guillaume.SZINDA, GUSTAV (1897–1988). A Soviet intelligence operative who
later worked in the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), Gustav
Szinda was born in Blindgallen (now Blakaly, Poland) on 13 Febru-
ary 1897, the son of a carpenter. Trained as a machine fitter, he was
a soldier in World War I and resettled in Gelsenkirchen afterward. A
member of the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands since 1924, he
was engaged in illegal work following the Nazi accession to power
and immigrated to Amsterdam in 1935. Szinda’s participation in the
Spanish Civil War included the command of the XI International
Brigade, the direction of counterintelligence for the International
Brigades, and membership in the central committee of the Spanish
Communist Party. Transferred to Moscow in 1939, he was entrusted
with a variety of wartime tasks, culminating in a teaching position at
Antifa School 12.
Szinda returned to Germany in late December 1945 and directed
the new People’s Police in Mecklenburg. By 1949, his responsibili-
ties extended to all police matters on behalf of the central committee
of the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands. Known as a former
street fighter and implacable interrogator, he headed the counterintel-
ligence section of the Aussenpolitischer Nachrichtendienst after its
founding in 1951. From 1958 until his retirement in 1965, he directed
454 • SZINDA, GUSTAV