Refugees and Western Intelligence in Germany, 1945-1969

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Dirk van Laak
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History ; History of Science
• Term: from 2013 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 243681960

This project considers the role of East German refugees in the intelligence work of Western agencies based in West Berlin and West Germany. Few scholarly attempts have been made to analyze the relevance of this human exodus to espionage agencies stationed to the Federal Republic of Germany. Focusing on those refugees most sought after in both postwar German states, scientists and technicians, this project seeks to examine the activities of Western services and the professional networks they created within West German industry and science during the first two decades of the Cold War. The research phase of this project involves a targeted review of documentary collections in Germany, Great Britain, and the United States. The most important of these collections are currently accessible to researchers. We will also seek to obtain access to additional archival sources that, based on the materials we have examined to date in these three countries, will be of interest to scholars of Central Europe and the Cold War more generally.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants