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COV£R| STORY h ^

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A15-month probe by Insight and the BBC uncovers asecret stash of East German intelligence documents detailing the recruitment of U.S. and U.K.agents.

By Jamie Dettmer he will serve you for many years." months, even years, at a In the latter decades of the Cold time in the universities War, Communistspy agencies took that ofthe Warsaw bloc. Communisthave been scornfulspymastersof religionmay advice to heart and earmarked young Western liberals, but they had at least one thing Americans and Britons for recruit politicians and aca in common with the Jesuits — ment. The superficial thaw in East- demies alike saw they understood the value of West relations provided by bouts of higher-educa wooing the young. In the detente in the 1970s and 1980s gave tion exchange words of former KGB Maj. Gen. Oleg them the opportunity to trawl among programs as a Kalugin: "Ifyou can find a young per hundreds and laterthousands of West chance to fos son, perhaps a student, before his ern students, Americans and Britons ter mutual under opinions have fully matured, then among them, who took part in cultur- standing between the make him truly believe in your cause, al-exchange programs and studied for superpowers. But for

October 18.1999 Caught; BBC TVfilm crexo catches disclosure of the Stasi's massive clan

Pearson unaware. destine recruitment drive, which comes ". .. . on top of a recent wave of spy revela Communist spymasters such as tions in London about Soviet espionage W|3£«l:j( STflsrj Markus Wolf, the wily head of East missions against the West during the ' oad».S;?;;3 090327 Germany's foreign-espionage service, Cold War era, likely will promptfurther the Hauptverwaltung Aufklarung or doubts concerningthe effectiveness HVA, foreign-intelligence wing of the ofWestern counterintelligence dur Stasi, the programs had one use only; ing the Cold War.

They served as a rich source for InBritainthe BBC recently aired •• recruiting American and British stu a documentary detailingsomeofthe dents as long-term penetration agents resultsofthejointinvestigationwith ; who could be groomed to work their Insight, including naming two : way into governmentjobs in their own British moles from the Stasi files. countries — or into other influential Calls since have mounted from oppo spots in journalism, business, higher sition parties for Tbny Blair's Labour llfc fcalllllTTITf education (including scientific and Government to launch an indepen technical studies) or the military. dent commission to establish what Ifen years after the fall ofthe Berlin MIS knew duringthe Cold Warofthis WaU, a joint 15-month investigation by Stasi penetration. Angry Conserva- Insight and the British Broadcasting tives and Liberal Democrats also have Corp., or BBC, has discovered how demanded a full explanation of why the fruitful the exchange programs were government has no plans to prosecute for Communist spy agencies, and in the two unmasked British moles — particular for the HVA Stasi, which Robin Pearson, the director of post worked hand-in-glove with the KGB. graduatestudies atHull University, and Based on a huge cache of hitherto retired Leeds University sociologist secretEast German intelligence docu Vic Allen, who also was a high-pro U_S.£is^s-| ments, including complete Stasi mole file antinuclear activist in Britain in files of two British academics code- the 1980s. So far the Blair govern 'P 0512328 named "Armin" and "Diana," In mentis standingfirm against issuing sight/BBC has established the Stasi any detailed statement, despite the had a high recruitment success rate clamor in the House ofCommons. l- amongAmericanand Britishexchange In the United States, the CIA was students. "Regardlessofwhetherthese coming under stiff criticism even were students from Britain or other before the Stasi disclosures. In mid- countries, as a general rule one out of September the BBC revealed in 10 attempts to recruit someone for the another documentary that Langley secret service were success failed to scoop up former KGB ' ful," says Pieter Richter, a archivist Vasily Mitrokhin when he ^ i"-- former HVA analyst. approached U.S. intelligence opera % Neither the CIA nor tives in 1992 and offered to defect. ^ AIM ^825/9V f Britain'scounterintelli- Among the questions lawmakers are ' gence service, MIS, keen to secure answers to regardingthe A detected the recruit- Stasi revelations is whether the CIA ments at the time. The was aware that young Americans studying overseas were earmarked by Spymaster: Wolf, long the East Germans and, if so, what coun- time head ofthe termeasures were employed by Lang- East German ley.Further, congressional intelligence- Pearson's files: Checks, expense foreign-intel panel members want to know whether accounts, fake passport and thefile ligence the CIA has identified those Ameri jacketfrom the Gauck archives. services, cans who were recruited by the East ran HVA Germans. confined themselves to monitoring the effectively. Western counterintelligence chiefs handful of GDR students who studied are reluctant to discuss the Stasi in the United States or Britain. recruitment drive. But they admit that Longtime HVA head Wolf has students were not warned before they acknowledged in an interview with embarked for the German Democratic Insight/BBCthathis organization made Republic, or GDR, to be wary of HVA strenuousefforts to recruit or, in the par recruitment designs nor were they cau lanceof Stasiofficers, to win overforeign tioned about the Stasi-dominated students and academics andthatAmer nature of the universities they were to icansespeciallywere important. Active attend. There was no systematic measures were mounted bythe Stasi to debriefing ofstudents or academics on pursue students and professors from their return. As far as the exchange the Slatesstudyingin West Germany as programs were concerned, Western weU. "In the last IS years that was the intelligence agencies appear to have Sdcus ofouractivity, lbhave recruitment

October 18,1999 Insight-U groups at faculties ofuniversities which were of particularinterestto us... every person who had not yet been compro To Catch a Spy mised with the police or in defense cir cles was very valuable to us." Even those who had been compromised — people When working for The Times away inthe southeast Germantown of who already had exposed themselves a ofLondon, this reporter was Suhl and denying his well-document- little too much as left-wing—could pro among thosescrambling in ed intelligence career—hundreds of vide tips and advice. Eastern Europe to pick up )ages of secret papers from the HVA According to Wolf, money played a Cold War intelligence inthe wake of ellinto my lap. With them came the negligible role in the successful wooing the collapse ofthe Communist code names of dozens of Western of students — misplaced idealism was regimes. My objectives werewide- moles — American, British, West Ger more important. "Nearly all of these ranging — collectas much informa man, Belgian, Israeli and Irish— people did this work out of a political tion as possible about as much as pos who'd been recruited successfully by conviction, and this politicalconviction sible — butthere also wasa personal the East Germans in the 1970s and did not necessarily have anything to do mission involved: I wanted to track 1980s. with Communism. There were other down theEast German intelligence InSeptember 1993, The Times issues such as the rejection of the Viet agent, one Ulrich Kempf, who had tried published an article ofmine listing the nam War, for instance. There were the Ina ham-fisted manner to recruit me British code names of "Armin" and global politics of America, American overa few London lunches years earli "Diana." British intelligence quietly politics in Germany, the stationing of er. Kempf, then ostensibly a diplomat, swung into action; within six months missiles in Germany.... Thus, preserv had told me, "We could begood for they tracked down Armin's HVA file ingthe peace was an importantmotive your career." and confronted Robin Pearson. for many, more so than a Marxist or In theprocess ofsearching for the Remarkably, the filewas found inthe Communist conviction." For some that suave agent — Ifound him hidden Gauck archives in Berlin, where nearly was the basis, for others it wasn't. And 125 miles of domestic Stasi material for still others, say Stasi recruiters, a has been collected and is being sifted youthful sense of adventure could be through by researchersand periodi exploited, as the seductiveness of the cally released. cloak-and-dagger world worked its The Gauck has little HVA foreign- magic on novices. All of this comes espionage material. There was a near- through the fat spy volumes secured total destruction bythe HVA oftheir during the Insight/BBC investigation. archives in EastGermany afterthe fall The voluminous Stasi files — no ofthe Berlin Wall. The CIA, however, HVA Stasi mole files ever have been did manage to secure some files as made public before — cast consider copies were being transported to able light on the huge recruitment Moscow. effort. They demonstrate the tireless As British intelligence operatives meticulousness and patience of the haddone, Ifiled a requestwith the Stasi in planning recruitments and nur Gauck to see ifby a fluke the Armin file turing moles, characteristic qualities of might bethere. Idoubted itwould be, Soviet-bloc intelligence agencies in but last year to my utterastonishment contrast to their budget-constrained itturned up. Iwasn't theonly journal counterparts in the West, whotended to ist who had appliedto the Gauck grab at quick results and were less archives. After reading The77mes arti averse to squeeze-and-dispose assets. cle, the BBC's David Rose also filed an Belfast-born Robin Pearson, aka Armin request and re-ceived a copy of Armin, age 43, a senior lecturer in eco thefile. Our employers, Insight and nomic history at the University of Hull, the BBC, decided a joint investigation took less time than most to be recruited, was in order. according to the Stasi records and his Thereare two amusing post East German handlers. An average scripts. First, the Gauck sent the file recruitmentmight take two to fouryears to me at The Times\n London, — Pearson was enrolled in a matter of believing Istill worked there. My old months. A student of German and his employers had no idea whatthey tory at Edinburgh, Scotland, he went to were forwarding. Second, neither I Leipzig's Karl Marx University in 1977. nor Rose should have received Back in Britain, files indicate he spied copies of the file in the first place. until the very day the Berlin Wall fell in The Gauck made a big mistakein not November 1989 — and in fact had a checking first with German intelli meeting with his handleras news came gence about whether the file should through of the dramatic collapse of East be released — if it had, the Germany's Communist regime. He Interview: Pearson relaxed as he archivists would have been told not never has been prosecuted, although submitted to questioning by to do so and Pearson would not MIS has known his identity since 1994 Insight/BBC investigators. He have been unmasked. when he was summoned to London for admitted Stasifiles were genuine. ~JD a secret interview with British intelli gence debriefers.

October 18,1999 Ina meeting earlierthis year, which German literature, professes herself itage. Like most foreign students, one of secretly was filmed, Pearson at first shockedthatherstudentwas recruited. the first places Pearson visited was an denied even that he was approached by It was McPherson who helped set up old, underground restaurant, Auerbach the Stasi. Later, confronted with the program to send students from skeller, where Goethe's Faust sold his sheaves from his files,he admitted they Edinburgh to Leipzig in the 1970s — soul to the devil. were genuine: "There'snothing in there against stiff opposition from universi His politics already strongly leaned that would surprise me." Asked if he ty colleagues, who believed that this to the left. As the first entries in his file would like to explain his actions, Pear was endorsing a repressive regime. spanninga dozen years and updated by son said: "You must be joking." He "This sUpped through the net as far several handlers make clear, his'out mumbled: "I'd obviously prefer this as I am concerned," she said. "We are look had beenshaped by growing up in wouldjust go away." not in the business of recruiting spies Northern Ireland during the Ti-oubles, After being confronted by the BBC here. We are also badly equipped to and he was a "determined loner" who with Stasi material, a British woman detect spies. If we had had knowledge had no time for the religious dogmatism code-named Diana, who went to of one instance like that, we would not so prevalent during his youth. Other Leipzig from Heriot Watt University, have proceeded with the exchange." Western contemporaries in Leipzig which also is in Edinburgh, agreed to The Leipzig in which Pearson remember getting into vigorous ideo be interviewed and described how she arrived in the autumn of 1977 was a logical disagreements with him. Gra was seduced by a "Romeo" agent and gray, straitened city, often shrouded by ham Watson, now a Liberal Democrat took the first steps toward becoming a a lignite smog. Stalinist conformism member of the European Parliament, spy. However, afterreturning fh)m East had all but buried its longcultural her- said: "I was already a Liberal, which Germany to her home in the wasn't very fashionable at the time, northofEngland, shebroke off ^ and I was in a sense dismissed by him contact with the HVA. V as beinga capitalistlackey, whereas he Pearson was not, it must be StasiU Code Names was a follower ofthe true faith." said, the Cold War's most impor- ^ Watson and othersspenttheiryearin tant spy. He was no Kim Philby. 11 Leipzig making contacts with the dissi Then again, espionage isa long inII tiie U.S. dent movement: smuggling m forbidden game, and Philby himself was literature after weekends in the West. onthe books ofthe NKVD (fore- •Insight has uneailhed the code names of Pearson, however, was thrilled, accord runner ofthe KGB) fora dozen I Americans run by ust one Stasi branch, ing to his dossier, to discover that short years before herepaid theSovi- I the Leipzig-based Department XV. That ly after his arrival Leipzig began its et investment byjoining British m department alone oversawthe spying of weeklong celebrations for the 60th intelligence and embarking on nirnine American moles in the mid- to late-1980s, anniversary of the Bolshevikrevolution, the most famous ofall Cold War includinginc a professor living inWestGermany a carnivaloftorch-lit parades and mass double-agent careers. As the code-namedCO Flamme; a student who had rallies whose atmosphere and choreog legendary HVA spymasterWolf careerca prospects withthe State Department raphy bore more than a passing resem emphasizes: "Ifa person, espe- code-namedCO Bauer; Roter, who was living in blance to similar jamborees under the ciaUy a young person, was at all WestW( Germanyand had links with the U.S. mili Nazis' Third Reich. suitable to work for us, then wetary: tar Venus, a civil engineer whowenton to Pearson's file provides a unique and had great patience, even if itworkfor wc the U.S. Army; and Johann, an richly textured picture into the Stasi's wasn't possible to place him employeeerr of an American multinational. recruiting methods — the same ones immediately with an interesting SoSources in Bonn's internal-security agency, the that were usedonAmericans whostud target project." BFV,BF fear that some of these moles still may be ied behindthe Iron Curtain and appar The HVA knew that it was engageden in espionage — not for Berlin but for entlywere successfulinthe casesof the impossible to forecast which l\/l(Moscowand the KGB's successor organiza Americans whose code namesare pub recruits would later strike gold, tiction, the SVR. lished in the inset at left. either by design or good for FBI sources say they have underactive As his dossiermakes clear—andhis tune, and secure positions of investigationin\ a number of former East German former HVAhandlers have confirmedin authority, move into jobs or andan Russian spies. The Stasi files secured interviews — all foreign students when forge friendships that could be duringdu the Insight/BBC investigation suggest theyarrivedin the GDR weresubjectto of high significance. Evenif they th(there could be as clandestine scrutiny as the Stasi didn't, they still had a role to m;many as 70. The assessed their suitability for recruit play. "A citizen from England, FBIFB didn't discount ment Ineveryseminargroup, there was France or the United States thisthi number.—JD atleastone Stasiinformer,an inoffizielle would remain interesting to us mitarbeiter, or IM. The Insight/BBC because we obviously were not St; investigation has established that the only in need of sources," says SchlinsogSc was u exchange programs (something of a Wolf. "In order to operate sue- in charge of misnomer, as few East Germans came cessfully, even to contact oth- Le the other way to study in the West) ers,anyintelligence activity also op received substantial Stasi funding: The requires a great number of ... HVAheavilysubsidized both tuition and let's call them ancillary work subsistence costs. Helfried Schlinsog, ers." the former Stasi m^or in charge of the Pearson's former Edinburgh Leipzig student operation, says: "We tutor, Karin McPherson, an made a big effort in regard to the owlishwomanof German birth i exchange program because we were who is one of the few Western convinced that in the long term it rep- academic specialists in East (continued onpage 30)

October 18,1999 STASI RECRUITS Kartheus — whose Stasi code name immediately. It just felt right from the (continuedfrom page 13) was Gerd — wrote that Pearson's per first time we met in my seminar, and sonality dovetailed well with the profile this is how one meets people after all." resented a good opportunity to get to of what the Stasi looked for in a "can He adds: "Robin really fitted in well." know students from England (and else didate." In the leaden and ideological In Pearson's HVA file Kartheus where), and to see to what extent they ly correct prose that are the hallmarks describes how the young Britonturned weresuitable for cooperation. We wooed of these documents, he noted: "He is up one day wearing a blue FDJ [Com theminthesamemanneronewouldwin inclined to existential philosophy on munist youth organization] shirt. "He over a bride." account of the alienation he experi was as happy as a child to be the first In wooing a potential mole, the role enced in England, where individuals Scot to have one." ofthe werber, or recruiting agent, was are isolated from the community.... Pearson, Kartheus says, was "very crucial. Having identified their target, There is also a perceptible tendency to bright and very intelligent and wanted werbers setabout their workaccording flirt with Marxism as an intellectual to see some of this partof the world. But to strict guidelines and training, which fashion." Pearson, he went on, "sees what really astounded me at the time had been developed by the Stasi's pseu capitalism as pure chaos compared to was that he really wanted to learn do-academic Department of Opera a centrally planned economy." something about Marxism, including tional Psychology. This Orwellianorga In person, Kartheus described in the theory." As their friendship devel nization also perfected the Stasi's more human terms how he tai^eted oped, unwitting candidate and werber psychological torture and interrogation Pearson. "In my seminar group were stayed up late into the night, studying methods, producing books and papers three English students. A girl, Robin and debating historical materialism. In whichargued thatsoUtary confinement and one other. I believe he was called one report in Pearson's dossier it is and sleep deprivation were much more John. The girl was totally uninteresting noted with delight that he is throwing effective than beatings or electric to me; she was very boring. Between himselfinto readingMarxistclassics— shocks. Johnand methechemistrywasn't quite Karl Marx's Critique ofthe Gotha Pro After developing a profile of their right, but with Robin I got on well gram is mentioned. target, werbers worked through clearly On one occasion, fired by wine and defined stages to befriend and then a meal with Kartheus and his wife, the assess the politics, personalityand espi Kartheus has lost earnest Pearson tried out his theory of onage aptitude of their prey as well as reconciling existentialism and Marx evaluatingwhat they couldexpectfrom none of his faith in ism. This, alas, was heresy and prompt themdown the long and winding road of ed a curt note from M^or Schlinsog betrayal. Even when they had won over IViarxism and speaks ordering Kartheus to "get a grip." He their target, the studying and ongoing was told to connect Pearson's more training and testingof the recruit did not with nostalgia of the etherealinsights with concrete political cease. The handlers and their bosses facts, such as the Socialist struggle endlessly probed, writing report upon old days before the against the West. report about the mole. As Wolf makes plain, HVA recruit No trifle was too unimportant to Berlin Wall fell. ments normally took a long time — in record — on the principle that one some cases, up to four years. Speaking never could tell when it might come in inthe present tense, as^ough hecould- handy and fit into a bigger espionage k n't shake himselffree of his Cold War jigsaw. As recruitment turned into ini ^ role, he says: "Sometimes the werber tiation and then to active espionage, the Stasi pecpuiter: needs to declare himselfearly on, but HVA officers strove to strengthen the Kartheus targeted jj thatistheexception. Well, the werber bondwith their moles and to work with Pearson as a Stasi w is the most important person, and the grain ofthe informer's personality recruit based on f how quickly you can proceed, how and career. his personality. f slowly you must proceed, ultimately Thewerberwho pickedPearson,the . depends on the psychological ability man who was to handle him for the I and the empathy ofthe werber him- next 12 years, was a fellow Leipzig stu • self. For this there are no recipes." dent, now age 45, named Bernhard t In Pearson's case, however, by Kartheus. Tbday Kartheus, a barrel of ^ early 1978,justafewmonthsafterhis a man with a shaved head and a long arrival in Leipzig, Kartheus was graying beard, lives in near-poverty in ready to take the first step. One a remote hamlet in Thuringia. He has evening, as they put away their vol- lost none of his faith in Marxism and umes of Engels in the fea- speaks with nostalgia of the old days tureless block where before the Berlin Wall feU. Communism Pearson had his room, isn't all that he misses. His shelves are Kartheus asked his laden with spy books. "I loved the friend if he would be pre- adventure," he tells Insight and the pared to spy on his fellow BBC. "I was veryimpressed and proud students and lecturers. At when I was chosen to work for the HVA. this stage, he made no mention of lb be asked to work for the department the Stasi. Instead, he made his of the legendary Markus Wolf — that request on behalfof the "univer- was really something! It had distinctly sity security department," saying positive connotations —ja!" it wished to discover if anyone In early entries in Pearson's file. harbored hostile attitudes and

Insight October 18,1999 might be vulnerable to "poUticai-ideo- cal." At once he began collecting intel logical diversions." ligence. The dissident GDR writers, lb denounce a person in East Ger Jurek Becker and Christa Wolf, came many was to jeopardize their career, to Edinburgh to lecture: He was in the their livelihood, even their liberty. But audience, taking notes not for an essay his Stasi dossier says Pearson readily but the Stasi. (A few years later, Beck agreed and during the next few months erwas expelled from East Germany as passed on a series of juicy political tid an "enemyof the people.") He read the bits. Whattheirconsequences may have dissertations of other students bound been, the file does not record. for Leipzig, looking for signs of "polit However, Pearson hadn't fallen in ical-ideological deviation." love with Marxismalone. He had begun More seriously, he gathered the a passionate affair with an East Ger names ofseveral former students from man, Petra Oehlke, a fellow student at Edinburgh and HeriotWatt universities the Karl Marx University. The HVA, as who had gone on to sensitive jobs in it is now widely is known, used Romeo, Britain's defense ministry and NATO. and occasionally Juliet, agents in their Once the Stasi knew who they were, recruitment efforts. But Pearson's they in turn became recruitment tar romance had nothing to do with the Miles to go: stasifiles contain untold gets. The Stasi alsowanted toknowwho HVA — at least not at first. secrets. There are 125 miles ofthem. had taught such students. Schlinsog lb Pearson, Petra was a totally new says: "Wesimply wanted to know what experience. He had never met anyone ^earson gathered the universities and via which tutors it was like her, Kartheus says. "She was res possible to get such an interesting job. olute, self-confident, t^,strong. Incon names of several This is generally not a coincidence. We trast, Robinlookedsmall and delicate,so wanted to know who had good relations they were a rather uneven couple."TTie former students who with NATO, possibly with the Foreign ; two fell completely in love with each Office and possibly with MIS or MI6," other. "We then dida lot of tilings togeth had gone on to sensi referring to the British internal securi er." They went canoeing and toboggan ty service and the British secret intelli ing — with the stronger Petra towing tive jobs in Britain gence service, respectively. Then, he Pearson uphill. went on, the Stasi could infiltrate an The affair worked initially to the and NATO. They, in agent into their courses. HVAsadvantage: It served to strength On several occasions during the enPearson's ties to East Germany, exact turn, became recruit ensuing months, Pearson allowed his ly what the Stasi set out to do with spymasters to dictate the path of his Romeo or Juliet agents in other cases. ment targets. career. For example, he hadconsidered But Petra was a "kind of elite student," joining UNESCO, a plan they shot Kartheus says. She was reading African expulsion. Petra's father also was told down, because there he would be of lit- and Eastern studies offered only at one to do what he could to split the lovers de use. Hewondered about trying to do departmentin the country "Studentsfor up. Finally, another Stasi IM, Peter postgraduate studies in the GDR: This this were specially selected, since it was Kunz, informed him Petra no longer too, self-evidently,would have been of a very 'red' department." More seri wished to see him. "Robin must never no value. According to Schlinsog: "We ously, she was the daughter of a lieu suspect the true role I had in bringing were actually of the opinion that it tenant colonel in the National People's aboutthe end ofhis relationship," reads would bebetterfor him to follow anaca Army Air Corps. The HVAdecided the a file note from Kunz. demic career in England." affair would have to stop. "Our security But once again Kartheusjudged his What could an academic do for the policy demands revolutionary vigi target perfectly. As the lovelorn Pear HVA? The same that other academics lance," thunders an entry in Pearson's son moped, he decided the time had were doing for them in America, file. "It is clear we cannot allow a bour come to reveal his true hand. The story Britain and other Western countries, geois from an imperialist countiy to about the university security depart including Belgium, where the East Ger open each and every door to the ^-my ment was untrue, he told Pearson. In mans ran "IM Volvo," a professor who and state apparatus." reality, he represented the HVA. The had links with NATO: Spy on students There was a second reason why the question is: "Are you prepared to do and identifyjobs they were going on to Stasi had to halt the romance. Already, some jobs for us, to supply us with after graduation; snoop on fellow aca Pearson was dreaming of marriage and information?" he asked. The work demics to discover whether they had of settling in the GDR. "It would not mainly would be in the spirit of pre anyintelligencecontacts or acted as tal have been in ourinterest if Robin built serving the peace. Pearson, Kartheus ent scouts for Western security agen a committed love relationship in says, indicated that he was. In the cies. Check up on professors who want Leipzig,as this wouldhave complicat dossier IM Gerd declares: "He has ed to visit East Germanyorthe Warsaw ed our efforts to convince him that he enough political insight to see the bloc to see if they hadany links with dis would be betteroff in England," Schlin- necessity for our work." By the time sidents orwere smuggling literature in sogsays.In other words,he wouldhave Pearson returned to Edinburgh in the orout ofthe Warsaw bloc. And keep an been useless as a spy, says Schlinsog. autumn of 1978 he was a Stasi spy. eye on visiting or exiled East Euro With typical efficiency, the Stasi The Stasitold Pearson to conceal his pean dissidents.In a series ofresearch machine swung into action to ensure political sympathy for the GDR and, and teaching posts — at Leeds, York the relationship came to an end. It according to his tutor, Karin McPher- and Hull — Pearson did all of these leaned on Karl Marx University to son, on his return he was "much less things, according to both his dossier threaten Petra to break it off or face pro the system ... disillusioned, criti and interviews with his handlers. October 18,1999 The beginning ofthe 1980s marked some ofhis notes were ofimportance," phone numbers of their contacts in a heightening of Cold War tensions, he says. "Perhaps the only ones to Poland. Bauman says in an interview and the HVA's interest in inside infor know were the analysts in my depart with Insight/BBC: "I alwayssmelta rat. mation from the West was intense. This ment which coordinated all the gath I alwayssuspected it wasnota burglary was Pearson's most active period as a ered information. It was there that but a political operation." spy—and also the most active for other individual, seemingly unimportant There were two signs in the early Western moles handled by the Stasi, pieces of information were gathered eighties that the HVAwas pleased with judging from the annual reports of HVA into a coherent whole, with the help of Pearson's development. His handler, sections such as Department XV. He reports which had seemed rather Kartheus, was promoted to the status of was leading an extraordinary double insignificant." Instrukteur, allowing him to service life. Every Tuesday, he stood by one of agents on enemy territory and make the stone lions at Leeds town hall in field decisions. Pearson himself was case the HVA wished to make Sometimes the impor given a course at Stasi training school. unplanned contact with him. Every few There he was shown videos of famous weeks he met Kartheus for planned tance of a detail from turncoat British spies such as George meetings, ortreffs. Some took place in Blake, and trained to use radio codes — London. Most, however, were in an agent such as numerical sequences broadcast on a Antwerp, Vienna, Copenhagen, Ams special shorwave frequency, which he terdamand occasionallyinEastBerlin. Pearson might not be woulddecipher using a "one-time pad." On every occasion, Kartheus says, He also was taught how to use secret there would be a fallback plan in case apparent for months invisible ink and was given a supply. one or the other of the pair was late, Apart from a two-year period in the and theytried to guard against possible or years. But later it early 1980s,Pearson continued to work surveillance. fiDr the Stasi, following the routine of his Pearson needed a cover to make might provide the key. double life. At Hull, Pearsonconceived these meetings — what spies call a the idea of starting a new student legend. His sport, fencing, was per- I I exchange for students at the uni- feet. He was a national champion, B I versity —purely as a means of and treffs were arranged to coincide | I allowing them to be recruited in with matches abroad. The Stasi paid • I turn. He met Kartheus to discuss allhistravel expenses, amounting to I • the proposal and was advised the thousands ofdeutsche marks. They I B Stasi would need "politically clean" also gave himbonuses and money S m students, together with detailed for entertaining "operationally M psychological profiles. interesting targets." On almost ^ #1^UiY i H The exchange plan was defeated every occasion, Pearson gave his ^ y by history—the fall of the Berlin handler notes on those the Stasi had ^ j Wall. One ofthelastthings Pearson asked him to target, which hewould S 9 did for the HVA was to attemptto smuggle across frontiers. 9 H get close to a British Minist^ of Inexorably, he was being drawn • H Defense official who had access to inmore deeply, and being asked to 9 top-secret classified materials observe people henever otherwise 9 9ly involving weapons development would have come into contact with. and high-speed photography of One example was staff at the Russian Smelt a pat: Sociology professor Zyg- bomb explosions from the air. and Chinese departments at Leeds. munt Bauman and his wife, Janina, By the summer of 1989, as tens of This was judged so important that it were targets ofa clandestine Stasi thousands of East Germans poured was passed, the file states, from Berlin burglary oftheir home in Britain. across the frontierinto Hungary, which to the KGB in Moscow. What couldthis had opened its borderto the West, it was intelligence have been? According to Throughout Pearson's time as a spy, clear the GDR's days were numbered. Kartheus, Pearson was asked to dis the HVA was particulsirly interested in Still Pearson carriedonspying with the cover if the departments had links to material about Solidarity, the free Pol St£si, Kartheus says, more interested British intelligence and also the politi ish trade union, which was heavily thaneverin his informationabout East calconnections ofacademics who trav backed by emigres abroad. At Leeds, European emigres. On Nov. 9,Kartheus eledregularly behindtheIron Curtain. he was told to obtain as much informa and Pearson met for a treff in London. Some were involved with dissidents tion as he couldabout the sociology pro Kartheus says: "We had dinner togeth and discovering such relationships fessor Zygmunt Bauman. He and his er and were generally happy. It had could enable Communist secret ser wife, Janina, are survivors ofthe Holo been nice in London. The next day dur vices to repress their internal oppo caust and had fled for their lives from ing breakfast on Nov. 10, I took the nents on the grounds they were being Warsaw in 1968. Pearson infiltrated newspaperand read the massive head supported from the West. The infor meetings Bauman addressed and line — the Wall is broken. We agreed mation also could help him identify claimed he was one ofthe "intellectual immediately: no more meetings, no fur underground dissident networks. fathers of the Polish counterrevolu ther contact, no phoning, no letters. I Sometimes the importance of a tion." After one ofPearson's reports on told him if he had any more of the detail from an agent such as Pearson Bauman, an unexplained burglarytook secret ink, or anything else, he should might not be apparent for months or place at the couple's home. A thief throw it out." years. Butlater, Kartheus says, it might broke in at the dead of night and took provide the key to an intelligence jig only one item — Janine Bauman's David Rose ofthe BBCcontributedto this saw. "Robin maynot haveknown ^at address book, which containedthe tele article.

32 • Insight October 18,1999