 markus johannes "mischa" wolf (19 january 1923 â 9 november 2006) was head of the general intelligence administration (hauptverwaltung aufklÃ¤rung), the foreign intelligence division of east germany's ministry for state security (mfs, commonly known as the stasi). he was the mfs's number two for 34 years, which spanned most of the cold war. many intelligence experts regard him as one of the greatest spymasters of all time. ==life and career== born in hechingen, province of hohenzollern (now baden-wÃ¼rttemberg), wolf was the son of the writer and physician friedrich wolf and brother of film director konrad wolf. his father was a member of the communist party of germany, and after adolf hitler gained power, wolf emigrated to moscow with his father, via switzerland and france, because of their communist convictions and because wolf's father was jewish.http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/30984/e-german-spymaster-markus-wolf-examined-jewish-roots-in-later-years/where have all his spies gone? by steven emerson, new york times, august 12, 1990 during his exile, wolf first attended the german karl liebknecht schule and later a russian school. afterwards, he entered the moscow institute of airplane engineering (moscow aviation institute), which was evacuated to alma ata after germany's attack on the soviet union. there he was told to join the comintern, where he among others was prepared for undercover work behind enemy lines. after the war he was sent to berlin with the ulbricht group, led by walter ulbricht, to work as a journalist for a radio station in the soviet zone of occupation. he was among those journalists who observed the entire nuremberg trials against the principal nazi leaders. in 1953, at the age of 30, wolf was among the founding members of the foreign intelligence se
1923_births 2006_deaths Cold_War_spies East_German_spies German_communists German_criminals German_people_of_Jewish_descent People_from_Hechingen People_from_the_Province_of_Hohenzollern Recipients_of_the_Order_of_Karl_Marx Refugees_from_Nazi_Germany_in_the_Soviet_Union Spymasters Stasi_officers Stasi_officers_convicted_of_crimes