Alfred Frenzel (1899–1968) was a
West German member of parliament, who was secretly conducting
espionage for
Czechoslovakia while serving on the Bundestag's Defense Committee. Given the
code nameAnna by the
StB, he passed along classified information to the Communist government in Prague for five years, until his arrest in
Bonn on October 31, 1960. [1] He was the most important StB spy during the entire
Cold War.
The new state intelligence service in Czechoslovakia, the StB, examined the files of pre-war intelligence officers, and found information on Frenzel's pre-war activities. When they discovered that Frenzel had been appointed to the
parliamentary defence committee responsible for remilitarising West Germany and establishing her place in
NATO, the StB leapt on this opportunity to recruit such a highly placed spy.
Recruitment
In April 1956, an old friend of Frenzel's visited him in West Germany. He told Frenzel that he was now working for the Czechoslovak government, and offered Frenzel a job. The old friend added that he would expose Frenzel's political past and
criminal record unless he took up the offer. He also said that Frenzel's wife, who was on a trip to
Prague, would be in grave danger if he refused.
Intimidated, Frenzel agreed to take the job.
He travelled to
Vienna,
Austria, which was at the time crawling with StB officers due to its proximity to Czechoslovakia, where he was given 1,500
Deutsche Marks and given the code name Anna. In July, he signed a document indicating his links to the StB.
Frenzel was now trapped, and the StB had enough information to
blackmail him unless he did exactly as they said.
Espionage activities
Under the close watch of his StB controller,
MajorBohumil Molnár, Frenzel returned to West Germany. He began to pass information to Molnár, including a copy of the entire West German defence
budget and details of
prototypeAmericanaircraft.
To reward him for this, the StB gave him a
car and a
villa back in Czechoslovakia, and also paid Frenzel an enormous
salary, placed into a Czechoslovak
bank so as not to arouse West German suspicion.
During his time as a spy, the StB's
Technical Directorate gave Frenzel many new and experimental devices, including a small
film-carrying
statue, which, by way of a small
explosive charge, would destroy its film unless a special
mercury switch was deactivated.
Much of the information the StB gathered from Frenzel was passed on to the
KGB.
Downfall
In September 1959, Frenzel was passed on from Molnar (who was promoted to deputy director of the StB for his work with Frenzel) to a new controller, a man operating under the
pseudonymFranz Altman. Altman's favourite method of transporting information and film was by way of the containers that would destroy their contents, such as the small statue mentioned before.
These containers would be passed on to Czechoslovak
diplomats, who would return the information to Prague. However, in October 1960, the West German
counterintelligence organisation, the
BfV, became suspicious of Altman, after the
tax department reported spending disproportionate to his
income.
Altman was arrested just before he boarded a flight to Prague. The arresting BfV agents went through his luggage, and found a
talcum powder tin. It was determined to be carrying film, and BfV agents very carefully disassembled it.
Inside was a roll of film, and when the film was developed, photos were found of key West German installations. In the corner of one photo was the
number plate of a car. The BfV investigated this, and found that the car belonged to Alfred Frenzel. Along with further evidence, he was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in
prison.
He was exchanged for four West German agents five years later.
Frenzel died of natural causes in 1968.
References
^Allen W. Dulles, The Craft of Intelligence (Lyons Press, 2006) p108; "Bonn Deputy Held as Spy for Czechs; Bundestag Aide Had Access to State and NATO Secrets -- Seized in Parliament", New York Times, October 30, 1960, p13
Berg (from 27 June 1955, from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Blank (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Blücher (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Euler (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Fassbender (from 18 November 1955 DP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Hübner (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Manteuffel (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Neumayer (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Preiß (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Preusker (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Schäfer (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Schneider (from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Bender (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
Eckhardt (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
Finck (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
Haasler (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
Körner (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 FDP, from 23 February 1956 Non-attached, from 15 March 1956 Demokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DA), from 26 June 1956 FVP, from 14 March 1957 DP/FVP)
Kraft (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
Oberländer (from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)
Samwer (from 15 October 1953, from 12 July 1955 Non-attached, from 14 July 1955 Group Kraft/Oberländer, from 15 July 1955 Guest of CDU/CSU-Fraktion, from 20 March 1956 CDU/CSU)