Evening star., 1954-09-19
Johns Super-Spy Rivals
MuscIed Him Out of Bonn
BY Joachim Joesten

Beware Of the deviltry of secret
service intrigues; don't ever drink
from the poisoned cup Of coun-
ter-intelligence. for that poison is
lethal -
This strange warning was con-
veyed in letter addressed on March
80. 1853. by the then head of West
Germany's military intelligence serv-'
ice, 1t. Col. Friedrich Wilhelm
Heinz, to the then head of the Fed
eral Security Office, DR.. Otto John.
Since then, both men have left office,
the former by dismissal, the latter
by detection.
It may seem surprising that West
ern Germany, having no armed
forces Of its own as yet, should pos
sess q military intelligence service.
Actually. Bonn has had an informal
or preparatory Defense Ministry for
about four years. an embryonic mill
tary intelligence service developed
within the agency. Since 1850, it has
been headed by 1t. Col. Heinz.
Johns Empire
Also in 1850, there was established
the Federal Office for the Defense
Of the Constitution. or Federal Secu-
rity Office. DR.. Otto John became
it's chief. Although these two agen-
cies were designed to serve widely
different ends-one for the purposes
of military intelligence, the other to
combat subversives of the extreme
right and left-they soon became
involved in bitter wrangle over
Jurisdiction. The battle was intensi-
fled by personal rivalries between
Heinz and John.
To complicate matters even fur
ther, there existed, long before
either of these two German secret
services was set up. q hush-hush or
ganization known as the "Gehlen-
Apparat." All that originally was
known about this hybrid outfit was
that it had BEEN set up by the
Americans, with headquarters at
Pullach near Munich; that it OPP
Grated a far-f1ung network Of espio-
mage and counter espionage behind
the Iron Curtain; that it was
headed by a former Nazi general,
Reinhart Gehlen, and that it was
financed out of United States Secret
Service funds.
Gen. Gehlen unquestionably is
one of the most intriguing living
legends" of the postwar period. For
a long time. his personality and
background were cloaked by such
impenetrable mystery that reporters
could not even come by the gen.
erals proper first name. So some
body called him Gustav" and the
name stuck.
It Is still being widely used as a
nickname. as IN the catch phrase
"Grussen Sic Gustav" "Give my re-
CARDS to Gustav') which Is coming
into fairly general use as synonym
of Mind your own business" It
was first employed as a challenge
to supposed secret listeners on the
telephone. since it Is widely assumed
in Gernany-rightly or wrongly
that the Gelslen-AppGrat has been
engaged in wire-tapping, even with
in the Federal Republic. es M
Fierce Triangle
There was no love lost between
DR.. John and Gen. Gehlen, any
more than between the latter and
Col. Heinz. ALI three - looking
to the day West Germany would
regain her sovereignty -- fought
fiercely for supremacy in a field
where the Marquis of Queensberry
rules have never been applied.
The downfall of Col. Heinz was
of DR.. Johns making, but with a
friendly assist from the Gehlen or
ganization. It came about last Sep
tember, after DR.. John had pains
takingly compiled voluminous dos
sier, "F. w. Heinz" which was
brought to Chancellor Adenauer's
attention.
Heinz was incriminated on various
counts: He had been an active Nazi
and terrorist (Which he never de-