Germany vs. Germany Espionage Histories

At the relatively recently new German Spy Museum in Berlin people passionate about Cold War spy stories can extensively listen to testimonies on the intensive intelligence war between the two Germanies. Both sides used parcimonously the available resources of the Reich and built up two systems aimed at each other´s destruction. It is an interesting perspective that leave the imaginative historian to think about what happened in this domain after the reunification of Germany.

Agentinnen aus Liebe. Warum Frauen für den Osten spionierten (Agents from love. Why women spied for the East) by German journalist Marianne Quoirin documents the cases of women working for the Bonn administration in relatively modest positions - secretaries particularly - that were convinced to spy for the Stasi - and implicitly for the KGB which was the allmightly force behind the East German secret services - following simple love traps. Ideology and a clear system of belief was rarely relevant - according to the accounts collected by the author; what mattered was the Romeo that trapped them for a long or shorter relationship.

The book consist of series of cases exposed in detail, revealing the details of the planning, the beginning of the relationships, and the further developments. Based mostly on information exposed during judicial proceedings of specific cases of espionage, it offers insights about the specific interests of the Soviet-manipulated intelligence services not only in the Federal Germany´s policies, but in the developments taking place within the Western Block in general. 

I personally find the title a bit misleading, as I am more than sure there were as well cases of men that fell for women agents - both from the East and the West. Love traps of any kind are part of the fishing system of any intelligence service, before, during and after the Cold War. 

I would have also expected to have, besides the details of the cases also some critical approaches and eventually a theoretical approach which includes political and historical background connecting the facts with the larger geopolitical picture of the time. Therefore, readers interested in the German episodes of the Cold War are recommended to include this book in their coverage of the topic but without having high expectations from the point of view of the theoretical and analytical depths. 

Rating: 3 stars