Man Without a Face: The Autobiography of Communism's Greatest SpymasterIn what will surely stand as a classic book on the history and art of espionage, Markus Wolf finally breaks his silence and tells his story. It begins with his childhood in rural Germany and moves to the Soviet Union, where Wolf - whose father was Jewish - fled from the Nazi menace. Coming of age in Moscow during the 1940s, Wolf was picked out by the Party as one of the young cadre of German expatriates whom the Soviets planned to return to Germany after the war. Full of hope and utopian dreams, he returned to a nation in ruins, and was eventually ordered to join East Germany's nascent foreign intelligence service. Wolf's work was so impressive that before he turned thirty he was asked to lead the service. From that point on, East Germany's foreign intelligence operations became the most efficient and effective in the world. Man Without a Face details all of Wolf's major operations, successes, and failures, and illuminates the reality of espionage operations as have few nonfiction works before it. Wolf paints vivid and revealing portraits of Eastern Bloc leaders and captures the frantic rivalry of the Cold War. Wolf tells for the first time the truth about his Romeo agents. He also reveals the real story of Gunter Guillaume, the East German spy who brought down West German chancellor Willy Brandt; East German involvement with terrorist groups; Wolf's adventures in Africa, Latin America, and the United States; and the great defectors. He takes us inside the bowels of Stasi headquarters, with its miles of secret files and Wolf at the center, the one man who knew all the secrets. Man Without a Face reads like a classic spy novel, full not only of moral ambiguity and dark psychology but also of high-speed chases, murdered agents, hidden cameras, phony brothels, secret codes, midnight radio transmissions, false identities, triple agents, and all the other trappings of the most fantastic thrillers - except this time the action is real. Not just a gripping autobiography, Markus Wolf's memoir is a deeply honest examination of loyalty, betrayal, and idealism. With this book, "the man without a face" at long last emerges from the shadows and delivers his remarkable and fascinating story. |
Contents
THE AUCTION | 3 |
OUT FROM UNDER HITLERS SHADOW | 21 |
STALINS PUPILS | 35 |
Copyright | |
14 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Man Without A Face: The Autobiography Of Communism's Greatest Spymaster Markus Wolf,Anne McElvoy No preview available - 1999 |
Common terms and phrases
agents allies American Andropov arrest asked became Bonn Brandt British called chief code name Cold Cold War colleagues Communist contacts counterintelligence Cuba Cubans diplomatic East Berlin East Germany Eastern bloc embassy enemy Erich Erich Honecker espionage Europe files foreign intelligence service friends Fuchs gence Germany's Guillaume Guillaume's Günter Günter Guillaume head headquarters Hitler Honecker Khrushchev knew Kuron later leader leadership lives meeting Mielke military minister Ministry mole Moscow NATO Nazi never nuclear offer officers operations organization Party passed politburo political Porst prison radio recruit Red Army Faction reports Russian Schalck secret services senior sentence side Social Democrats socialist sources Soviet Union spies Stalin's Stiller telligence terrorists things Tiedge tion told took traitor turned Ulbricht wanted Werner Grossmann West German West German counterintelligence Western Willy Brandt