Under the secret sponsorship of the MfS, Vogel established a law
practice in the GDR but was also accepted for membership in the
West Berlin bar in November 1957. This dual status helped make
him a central figure in arranging the first spy exchange of the Cold
War: on 10 February 1962, the American U-2 pilot Gary Powers,
who had been held in the Soviet Union, was traded for the convicted
atomic bomb spy Rudolf Abel. Vogel’s international reputation was
thereby established, and he became a trusted partner in the eyes of
many Western officials. In addition, he negotiated the emigration
of more than 250,000 GDR citizens and the sale of 34,000 political
prisoners to the Federal Republic of Germany. His main Western
negotiating partner was Jürgen Stange.
Vogel’s name came under a dark cloud during the 1989 revolu-
tion, especially owing to his close association with Alexander
Schalck-Golodkowski. Vogel nevertheless briefly assisted with the
legal defense of former GDR leader Erich Honecker before retiring
in mid-1991 and moving to Schliersee (Bavaria). Accusations by
former clients of having been blackmailed led to a series of trials,
although Germany’s highest court ultimately ruled in his favor in- Despite his highly ambiguous and lucrative role as a commu-
nist intermediary, Vogel maintained that he had a “clear conscience”
regarding his career. He died on 21 August 2008. See also GLIE-
NICKER BRIDGE.
VOLPERT, HEINZ (1932–1986). The head of the special tasks unit of
the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS) charged with obtaining
hard currency for the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Heinz
Volpert was born in Rastenberg (Thuringia) on 21 December 1932.
He joined the MfS in 1951 and held a number of local positions be-
fore being appointed head of the underground division at the main
East Berlin headquarters in 1956. A new position in 1971 made him
directly responsible to Erich Mielke and included responsibility for
the sale of political prisoners to the Federal Republic of Germany
(nearly 3.5 billion DM were ultimately obtained). As the case of-
ficer and friend of Wolfgang Vogel, Volpert was the key link be-
tween the East German lawyer and negotiator and the MfS. Volpert
also worked closely with Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski, hav-
ing coauthored a doctoral dissertation with him at the Juristische
478 • VOLPERT, HEINZ