A memorial plaque for the outstanding intelligence officer, anti-fascist and former head of the GDR's foreign intelligence service, Markus Wolf, has been unveiled in Moscow.
The ceremonial unveiling was attended by the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, the Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, K. I. Mogilevsky, veterans of the foreign intelligence service, representatives of public organizations, and Moscow citizens, accompanied by the media.
In his speech, Sergey Naryshkin paid tribute to the personality of Markus Wolf – a convinced anti-fascist and internationalist, a patriot of Germany and a loyal friend of the USSR and Russia, an outstanding intelligence professional, a level-headed analyst and a gifted writer.
The SVR chief emphasized in particular that Markus Wolf had succeeded in making the intelligence service entrusted to him one of the most capable intelligence services in the world.
In the view of the director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, the ceremony held was first and foremost a tribute to the memory of Markus Wolf, whose life "represents an example of steadfastness, high moral integrity, unbending willpower and devotion to duty and – of course – a model example of the highest professionalism." In a conversation with journalists, Sergey Naryshkin also stressed that Markus Wolf had been a "companion-in-arms of many of our intelligence officers."
Photo from SVR press service
As part of the event, Major General of the Foreign Intelligence Service (ret.) S. S. Yakovlev shared personal memories of Markus Wolf. He read out a letter from Andrea Wolf, Markus Wolf's widow. In her message on the occasion of this ceremonial event dedicated to the memory of her husband, she expressed her heartfelt thanks to "all Russian friends" who contributed to the realization of this project.
The memorial plaque is located on the facade of the house in Lower Kislovsky Lane, where Wolf lived in his childhood, after his family's escape from Nazi Germany, together with his parents and his younger brother Konrad.
Marcus Wolf was born on January 19, 1923, in Hechingen. Since 1934, the Wolf family has lived in Moscow. After school, Markus Wolf studied at the Moscow Aviation Institute; after graduating, he attended the Comintern School and became a speaker at the German-language Moscow radio station "Volkssender."
After the Second World War, he returned to Germany and worked until 1949 at Berlin Radio as a correspondent accredited to the Nuremberg Trials. After the founding of the GDR, Marcus Wolf was invited to work at the GDR embassy in Moscow.
In September 1951, he joined the foreign intelligence service of the GDR and took over its leadership in 1952. From 1953, this service was subordinated to the Ministry for State Security of the GDR. Markus Wolf headed the agency until his departure in 1986. According to experts, the foreign intelligence service of the GDR under Wolf's leadership was among the most efficient intelligence services in the world.
After the annexation of the GDR, in 1989, a court in Germany sentenced the former head of the GDR's foreign intelligence service to six years in prison in 1993. In 1995, the verdict was overturned and Wolf was released. He died on November 9, 2006, in Berlin.
Further articles and books on the life and work of Markus Wolf
Book: "Aufklärung und Spionage. Meilensteine des geheimen Krieges" ("Intelligence and Espionage. Milestones of the Secret War")
https://gegenzensur.rtde.world/international/160245-deutscher-namens-mischa-markus-wolf
75th anniversary – the Ministry for State Security (MfS) of the GDR