The Man Without a Face
An Imperfect Spy
East German spymaster Markus Wolf's empty "achievements."
By
Anne Applebaum writes about the passing of Markus Wolf. The former STASI spymaster.
I read The Man Without A Face when it first came out. I had heard of him obliquely in other books about espionage and mostly the accounts were limited as little was known about him.
To be sure, Applebaum is correct that Wolf saw himself as the elder statesman and she paints him as a cynic. I don't share that last assessment. To me, the one thing that was evident is that he was a true believer. He believed socialism would prevail and that when it had, the need for all the spying would pass. Wolf was indeed ruthless and willing to use underhanded tactics to achieve his ends. That makes him amoral more than cynical. Calculating and cunning but that doesn't mean he didn't believe in the cause.
She dismisses his achievements in light of the fact that the West won the Cold War. That is foolish and narrow minded. Wolf was a prime mover in creating an intelligence agency that was second to none. The total surveillance of the citizens would make The Ministry of Public Security weep with envy. His agents did not sit idly by when the Berlin Wall fell. Many of them fled to the four winds to advise other oppressive governments, Russian Mafiosi or even South American Drug Lords. They lost the Cold War to be certain but to say that Wolf had little impact is flatly wrong.
East German spymaster Markus Wolf's empty "achievements."
By
Anne Applebaum writes about the passing of Markus Wolf. The former STASI spymaster.
I read The Man Without A Face when it first came out. I had heard of him obliquely in other books about espionage and mostly the accounts were limited as little was known about him.
To be sure, Applebaum is correct that Wolf saw himself as the elder statesman and she paints him as a cynic. I don't share that last assessment. To me, the one thing that was evident is that he was a true believer. He believed socialism would prevail and that when it had, the need for all the spying would pass. Wolf was indeed ruthless and willing to use underhanded tactics to achieve his ends. That makes him amoral more than cynical. Calculating and cunning but that doesn't mean he didn't believe in the cause.
She dismisses his achievements in light of the fact that the West won the Cold War. That is foolish and narrow minded. Wolf was a prime mover in creating an intelligence agency that was second to none. The total surveillance of the citizens would make The Ministry of Public Security weep with envy. His agents did not sit idly by when the Berlin Wall fell. Many of them fled to the four winds to advise other oppressive governments, Russian Mafiosi or even South American Drug Lords. They lost the Cold War to be certain but to say that Wolf had little impact is flatly wrong.
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