The Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (; , ) was the foreign

intelligence service An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of info ...

of the Ministry of State Security (''Stasi''), the main

security agency A security agency is a governmental organization that conducts intelligence activities for the internal security of a state. They are the domestic cousins of foreign intelligence agencies, and typically conduct counterintelligence to thwart other ...

of the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

(East Germany), from 1955 to 1990. The HVA was an integral part of the Stasi, responsible for operations outside of East Germany such as

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

active measures Active measures () is a term used to describe political warfare conducted by the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The term, which dates back to the 1920s, includes operations such as espionage, propaganda, sabotage and assassination, b ...

foreign intelligence Intelligence assessment, is a specific phase of the intelligence cycle which oversees the development of behavior forecasts or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on wide ranges of available overt and cover ...

gathering, and

counterintelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's Intelligence agency, intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering informati ...

against

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

-aligned countries and their intelligence agencies. The Stasi was disbanded in January 1990 and the HVA's mode of operation was revealed to the public, including its internal structure, methods, and employees. The HVA became the subject of broad interest and intensive research under the responsibilities of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records. The HVA is regarded by some as the most effective foreign intelligence service during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

and the second largest after Soviet Union's intelligence forces. It provided up to 80 percent of all information about NATO countries before the Warsaw Pact, according to the CIA.

Predecessors

In 1951, the ''Außenpolitischer Nachrichtendienst'' (Foreign Intelligence Service) (APN) was founded, under the leadership of Anton Ackermann, disguised as the Institut für wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Forschung (IPW) (Institute for Economic Research). According to

Markus Wolf Markus Johannes Wolf (19 January 1923 – 9 November 2006), also known as Mischa, was a German spymaster who served as the head of the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (), the foreign intelligence division of East Germany's Ministry for Sta ...

, eight Germans and four Soviet "advisers" were present at the founding on 1 September 1951 in Bohnsdorf in the borough of Treptow-Köpenick. The APN was subordinated to the GDR Foreign Ministry. The first leader was Ackermann, his deputy was Richard Stahlmann. The head of the "advisers" was the KGB officer Andrei Grauer, who, according to Wolf, had been personally assigned by Stalin to this "reconstruction aid." In 1952, the APN College (the later HVA College) came into being, where agents known as "scouts for peace" (Kundschafter des Friedens) in Stasi jargon were prepared for operations in Western countries. Toward the end of the year, Ackermann petitioned the ruling party's Politburo to replace him, and

Walter Ulbricht Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; ; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar republic, Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later in the early development ...

assumed direct control of the APN.

Duties

Focus

The primary mandate of the HVA was ''foreign reconnaissance'' (

), which included political, military, economic and technological intelligence-gathering. Among its other duties were activities against western intelligence agencies (by means of infiltrating their operations), preparing acts of

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

, as well as the so-called "Active Measures" ''(distributing false intelligence)'' in the "Operational Sector

Federal Republic of Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...

", including

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

. In the early 1980s, military espionage began to gain significance. The

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, the SED-led administration of the German Democratic Republic, and secretary of national security

Erich Mielke Erich Fritz Emil Mielke (; 28 December 1907 – 21 May 2000) was a German communist official who served as head of the East Germany, East German Ministry for State Security (''Ministerium für Staatsicherheit'' – MfS), better known as the Sta ...

expected paramount information in regard to the early discovery of Western war preparations from the HVA, in light of the rising tensions between the two Cold War superpowers.

Cooperation with the KGB

Optimal conditions allowed the HVA to provide its eastern "sister services", especially the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

, the greatest amount of intelligence flowing out of the Federal Republic of Germany. The KGB was headquartered in Berlin-Karlshorst, the Soviet Union's secret service was located in

Potsdam-Babelsberg Babelsberg () is the largest quarter (urban subdivision), quarter of Potsdam, the capital city of the Germany, German state of Brandenburg. The neighbourhood is named after a small hill on the Havel river. It is the location of Babelsberg Palace an ...

, and in addition, liaisons were present to each district administration. Successful operations against NATO headquarters in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, as well as some other Western European states, such as the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, also contributed to the HVA's significance. In the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, on the contrary, the HVA was never able to break any ground, as the KGB operated there almost exclusively (the significant inroads in the GDR's reconnaissance on, for example, the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

originated from personnel stationed in West Berlin).

Organisation and structure

Sections

In 1989 the HVA had 21 sections (''Abteilungen'') and five task forces (''Arbeitsgruppen''). In addition, there was the Headquarters of the HVA (''Stab der HVA'') and the Sector for Science and Technology (''Sektor Wissenschaft und Technik'') (SWT), responsible for technological espionage, whose responsibilities were spread across sections. In a sense the Main Directorate was a secret service within the secret service with an autonomy within the Stasi similar to that enjoyed by the

First Chief Directorate The First Main Directorate () of the Committee for State Security under the USSR council of ministers (PGU KGB) was the organization responsible for foreign operations and intelligence agency, intelligence activities by providing for the training a ...

within the

or the Directorate of Operations within the CIA. The HVA had its own budget and its own enterprises, which not only provided cover employment for its operatives, but also contributed finances from their business activities to the upkeep of the service. The Main Directorate also handled its own

. This was an exclusive prerogative of the Stasi within the German Democratic Republic, but while the Main Division I handled this mission within the

National People's Army The National People's Army (, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (DDR) from 1956 until 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) and the (Bord ...

and the Border Troops, the Main Division VII handled the Ministry of the Interior and the People's Police, the Main Division XX handled espionage penetration attempts within the GDR's state apparatus and the Main Division II handled counterintelligence among the East German public in general, counterespionage within the HVA was handled exclusively by its organic Division ''A IX''. Werner Großmann – Deputy Minister and Chief of the HVA (since 1986), ''Generaloberst'' (since 1989) * Work Group S (''Arbeitsgruppe S'') – internal security within the HVA * Division A X (''Abteilung A X'') –

Active measures Active measures () is a term used to describe political warfare conducted by the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. The term, which dates back to the 1920s, includes operations such as espionage, propaganda, sabotage and assassination, b ...

in the

(including

) * Division A VII (''Abteilung A VII'') – analysis and Information * Division A IX (''Abteilung A IX'') – penetration of enemy intelligence services in the

and counterintelligence within the HVA Horst Vogel – First Deputy Chief of the HVA (since 1989) and Chief of the Science and Technology Sector (since 1975), ''

Generalmajor is the Germanic languages, Germanic variant of major general, used in a number of Central Europe, Central and Northern European countries. Austria Belgium Denmark is the second lowest general officer rank in the Royal Danish Army and R ...

'' (since 1987) * Department 5 (''Referat 5 / SWT'') – the work group of the Deputy Chief of the STS Matthias Warnig * Work Group 1 / STS (''Arbeitsgruppe 1 / SWT'') – officer-residents abroad working in line of the STS * Work Group 3 / STS (''Arbeitsgruppe 3 / SWT'') – operational acquisition of defence materiel * Work Group 5 / STS (''Arbeitsgruppe 5 / SWT'') – exploitation of official channels * Division A V (STS) (''Abteilung A V'' (''SWT'')) – analysis for the STS * Division A VIII (STS) (''Abteilung A VIII'' (''SWT'')) – operational technology, signals equipment * Division A XIII (STS) (''Abteilung A XIII'' (''SWT'')) – fundamental studies * Division A XIV (STS) (''Abteilung A XIV'' (''SWT'')) – electronic, optics, digital data processing * Division A XV (STS) (''Abteilung A XV'' (''SWT'')) – military technology, mechanical engineering * Division A XX (STS) (''Abteilung A XX'' (''SWT'')) – data processing and computing center Heinz Geyer – Deputy Chief of the HVA (since 1977) and Chief of Staff (since 1982), ''

'' (since 1985) * Staff of the HVA (''Stab der HVA'') * Work Group XV / BV (''Arbeitsgruppe XV / BV'') – coordination center for the Divisions XV (the district departments (BezirksVerwaltungen, hence BV) of the Stasi also fielded intelligence departments. They carried the designation Division XV and were coordinated by this work group). Before expanding to the status of an autonomous super-department (the HVA as a whole) the external intelligence department of the Stasi was called Division XV, so the territorial units have retained this designation. * Division A XVII (''Abteilung A XVII'') – border closure * Division A XXI (''Abteilung A XXI'') – rear services, administration and finances * Division A VI (''Abteilung A VI'') – operational travel movement (movement of intelligence officers under the guise of tourism) Werner Prosetzky – Deputy Chief of the HVA (since 1983), ''

'' (since 1984) * Division A III (''Abteilung A III'') – legal officer-residents in Western countries other than the

* Division ''A'' XIX (''Abteilung A XIX'') – training and personnel care Heinrich Tauchert – Deputy Chief of the HVA (since 1987), ''

'' (since 1989) * Division A IV (''Abteilung A'' ''IV'') – military intelligence in the

. The Ministry of National Defence had its own intelligence service, which changed its name several times. In its final reiteration before the end of East Germany its official name was the Intelligence Sector (''Bereich Aufklärung''). The Ministry for State Security also had its own division for military intelligence. Naturally both had West Germany as their main focus. In order to avoid mutual interference they have introduced a separation of their areas of operations. The Intelligence Sector concentrated on the operational side of intel – data about operational plans, manpower and day-to-day operational readiness of the weapons and equipment of the

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

. The Stasi's (and more precisely the HVA's) Division A IV concentrated on the political and longer term side of intelligence gathering. It operated on military matters in the West German political parties, the Federal Ministry of Defence, the Weaponry Technical Administration (''WTD''), the administrative departments of the various armed services, research and development establishments, weapons and equipment manufacturers and future weapon acquisitions. Nevertheless, overlapping between the two was not uncommon. * Division A XI (''Abteilung A'' XI) – Intelligence in North America and US military installations in the Federal Republic of Germany * Division A XII (''Abteilung A XII'') – penetration of

and the

EEC The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

institutions Ralf-Peter Devaux – Deputy Chief of the HVA (since 1987), ''

Oberst ''Oberst'' () is a senior field officer rank in several German language, German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the Army, ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, a ...

'' (since 1987) * Division A I (''Abteilung A I'') – penetration of the West German state institutions * Division A II (''Abteilung A'' ''II'') – penetration of the West German political parties and public organisations * Division A XVI (''Abteilung A'' ''XVI'') – exploitation of official channels, coordination of HVA business enterprises * Division A XVI (''Abteilung A'' ''XVIII'') – sabotage preparations Horst Felber – First Secretary of the

Socialist Unity Party The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (, ; SED, ) was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from the country's foundation in 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Ma ...

organs in the Stasi (since 1979), ''

'' (since 1979)

Leadership

Sections VII, IX, X and task force S were directly subordinated to the head of the HVA,

Colonel General Colonel general is a military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically General officer#Old European system, general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, ...

Werner Großmann. His predecessor was Colonel General

, who led the HVA over 34 years until 1986 and was held in high professional regard in the intelligence community. The head of the HVA had five deputies. In the last case, these were Major Generals Horst Vogel (1. Deputy), Heinz Geyer (Chief of Staff), Heinrich Tauchert and Werner Prosetzky as well as Colonel Ralf-Peter Devaux.

Directors

* Anton Ackermann (1951–1952) *

(1952–1986) * Werner Großmann (1986–1990)

Recruitment and training

Initially, the "HVA College", disguised as the '' Zentralschule der Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik Edkar André'' ("Edkar André Main College of the Society for Sports and Vocational Training"), was headquartered in

Belzig Bad Belzig (), until 2010 Belzig, is a historic town in Brandenburg, Germany located about southwest of Berlin. It is the capital of the Potsdam-Mittelmark district. Geography Bad Belzig is located within the Fläming hill range and in the cent ...

. Starting in 1965, it was incrementally absorbed into the '' Juristische Hochschule des MfS (JHS)'' ("Graduate Law School of the Ministry of State Security"), located in Golm (Potsdam), initially as a vocational training school. From 1968 on, it was called ''"Fachrichtung für Aufklärung der JHS"'' ("College of Reconnaissance of the JHS"), and was later renamed to ''"Sektion A"'' ("Section A"). The ''"Fremdsprachenschule des MfS"'' ("College of Foreign Languages of the Ministry for State Security"), also referred to as "Educational Department F", was attached to it. In 1988, the HVA College, including the College of Foreign Languages, previously located in Dammsmühle bei Mühlenbeck, moved to Lake Seddin in Gosen near the

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

city limits, approximately south of the city of Erkner. The backup bunker for the headquarters of the HVA was also located there. In 1989 the college had approximately 300 employees and was headed by Lieutenant Bernd Kaufmann. It worked in close cooperation with ''"Dept. A XIX"'', and was structured into three ''Educational Departments'': * Educational Dept. A: Training for political operatives. Dean: Lieutenant Helmut Eck. 4 courses including Marxist–Leninist training,

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

, and

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

. * Educational Dept. B: ''"Special Operations"'' and methodology of service work. Dean: Lieutenant Horst Klugow. 5 courses, including Operative Psychology, Security and Law, as well as foreign residency training. * Educational Dept. F: College of Foreign Languages. Dean: Lieutenant Manfred Fröhlich. Responsible for the language training for missions abroad, as well as

interpreter Interpreting is translation from a spoken or signed language into another language, usually in real time to facilitate live communication. It is distinguished from the translation of a written text, which can be more deliberative and make use o ...

-training.

Personnel

Full time

The HVA had more than 3,800 full-time employees in 1989. Among them were, according to the agency's directory, approximately 2,400 professional agents and 700 deputies, 700 unofficial employees, and 670 special agents ''( Offiziere im besonderen Einsatz)''. In the course of the HVA's self-disestablishment, the number of employees rose at times above 4,200. In the autumn of 1989, seven supervisors had a ranking of "general": highest-ranking associate was manager of the HVA, Werner Großmann, as lieutenant general. Four of his deputies, as well as Harry Schütt (chief of counter-espionage) and Otto Ledermann (manager of the SED foundation of the HVA) were Major Generals. The HVA associates regarded themselves to be the elite of the Ministry of State Security. A high degree of personal engagement, flexibility, performance, and primarily absolute

loyalty Loyalty is a Fixation (psychology), devotion to a country, philosophy, group, or person. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty, as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only another human being can be the obj ...

to the SED was expected of them. Qualified employees of other Stasi departments, such as those with secondary educational degrees, knowledge of foreign languages, etc., could, as a reward for "remarkable achievements", be transferred to the HVA as needed, which was akin to a decoration. On the other hand, HVA personnel could, due to inadequate performance or following an investigation, be transferred to other departments of the Stasi, practically constituting a demotion.

Unofficial and other employees

The full-time staff of the HVA were complemented by more than 10,000 "unofficial collaborators" or "unofficial employees", the so-called IMs (''

Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter An unofficial collaborator or IM (; both from German ''inoffizieller Mitarbeiter''), or euphemistically informal collaborator (''informeller Mitarbeiter''), was an informant in the German Democratic Republic, German Democratic Republic (East Germa ...

''). These were primarily GDR citizens with permission to travel to the West (the ''Reisekader''; conversely, only a fraction of those with travel permission were IMs), residents of East Germany who were related to "functionally interesting" target persons in the West, couriers and instructors, but also thousands of residents of West Germany and West Berlin, partly in exposed positions in society. The HVA was particularly interested in recruiting Western students who were visiting the GDR. These were young academics who were suitable for leadership roles and therefore particularly predestined for confidential information; they were developed over decades at a high financial and personnel cost, with the goal of placing them in high positions in the state and the economy, through which they gained access to secret information. A famous example of such a recruitment operation was Gabriele Gast, who committed herself in 1968 as a student and rose to the rank of ''Regierungsdirektorin'' (Government Director) in the

Bundesnachrichtendienst The Federal Intelligence Service (, ; BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Federal Chancellery of Germany, Chancellor's Office. The Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service, BND headquarters is ...

(Federal Intelligence Service), the foreign intelligence agency of West Germany. As a high-level source, she was led by Markus Wolf personally. The actual sources of espionage operations in the West were not necessarily registered as IMs with the HVA (or the Ministry of State Security). In many cases, they were noted as ''Kontaktpersonen'' (KP) (contact persons), which reveals little about the degree of cooperation with the intelligence service.

Headquarters

The HVA's predecessor, the APN (''Außenpolitischer Nachrichtendienst'': Foreign Intelligence Service) resided in the early 1950s first in

Pankow Pankow () is the second largest and most populous Boroughs and quarters of Berlin, borough of the German capital Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weissensee (Berlin), W ...

, then at the Rolandufer in

Mitte Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuz ...

, both in Berlin. The headquarters of the HVA was situated since the mid- to late 1950s in the building complex of the Stasi's headquarters in the Berlin borough of

Lichtenberg Lichtenberg may refer to: Places * Lichtenberg, Austria * Lichtenberg, Bas-Rhin, France * Lichtenberg, Bavaria, Germany * Lichtenberg, Berlin, Germany * Lichtenberg, Mittelsachsen, Saxony, Germany * Lichtenberg (Lausitz), Saxony, Germany * Lichte ...

. After completion of the new office buildings at the corner of Ruschestraße and Frankfurter Allee, the HVA established its base of operations there. (After 1990 an employment agency moved into a building on the site. The building on the Frankfurter Allee is used by

Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...

. A Deutsche Bahn company logo has been affixed and is easily noticeable.) The ''Operativ-Technische Sektor'' (OTS) was located in the Roedernstraße in Hohenschönhausen.

Budget

Former HVA director

asserted in front of a Bundestag committee investigating the activities of the Division of Commercial Coordination (''Bereich Kommerzielle Koordinierung'' or ''KoKo'') that at the end of his tenure (1986) the yearly financial resources of the HVA for operational purposes stood at 17 million

East German mark The East German mark ( ), commonly called the eastern mark ( ) in West Germany and after German reunification, reunification, was the currency of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Its ISO 4217, ISO 4217 currency code w ...

and 13.5 million

Deutsche Mark The Deutsche Mark (; "German mark (currency), mark"), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later of unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it ...

. It was not possible to conclusively refute or verify this statement. In individual HVA sections, there existed "black cash boxes" under the responsibility of the section or department head. Considerably greater amounts were made available for the secret procurement of equipment for section A VIII ("Operational Technology and Radio Communications") and for other recipients in the Stasi, the

or the East German economy; this money generally came from the Division of Commercial Coordination.

References

External links

*Daniel und Jürgen Ast. Inside HVA. 2 part documentary, (German) 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Main Directorate for Reconnaissance Stasi 1955 establishments in East Germany 1990 disestablishments in East Germany East German intelligence agencies