Dieter Gerhardt
Encyclopedia
Dieter Felix Gerhardt was a Commodore
in the South African Navy
and commander of the Simon's Town
naval dockyard. In 1982, he was arrested and convicted as a Soviet
spy
together with his second wife, Ruth.
who referred him to the Soviet embassy in London while still a junior naval officer. He was recruited into the GRU
, the Soviet military intelligence
branch. It was 1962, and he was on a Royal Navy mine
school in Portsmouth
and did the Parachute Training Course at RAF Abingdon
. He was a graduate of and winner of the sword of honour in 1956 from the naval academy at Saldanha Bay. After his training in Britain, he was seconded to the Royal Navy
. After background checks to ensure that his story was true, the Russian GRU placed him on their payroll.
British journalist and security services specialist Chapman Pincher
maintained that, while in London in the late 1950s, he was able to interview Royal Navy Polaris
submarine
crews for potential candidates that the Soviets could approach, this is probably inaccurate since his recruitment was only in 1962. It was also during this time that he met his first wife, British-born Janet Coggin whom he married in 1958.
Coggin says she became aware of her husband's Cold War
spying activities eight years later in 1966, but chose not to turn him in, fearing that he would be executed
, leaving her children fatherless. She says Gerhardt eventually gave her an ultimatum to become a spy too, which she declined, forcing the couple's separation. She divorced him in 1966 and moved to Ireland with her children, living in constant fear of the Soviet security services. She subsequently published a book in 1999 about her experiences called 'The Spy's Wife'.
In 1973 Gerhardt married his second wife, Ruth Johr, a Swiss citizen who author Chapman Pincher claims was already a spy for the German Democratic Republic
, although there is no independent evidence for this.
.
During the Falklands War
, Gerhardt was able to use his position to supply the Soviets with detailed information about the locations of British ships in the south Atlantic
that the South African Navy intercepted via its sophisticated listening post at Silvermine, near Cape Town
.
It is also likely that he had some knowledge of the South African Army
and Air Force
's secrets and plans regarding the South African Border War
. He claimed that the United States and the Soviet Union met in 1978 to discuss South Africa's nuclear weapons programme
, and that the Soviets proposed a pre-emptive strike on the Pelindaba
plant.
had its suspicions about there being a spy in southern Africa. Gerhard's cover was finally blown by Soviet double agent Vladimir Vetrov
(codename "Boris"), who knew of him. Gerhardt was arrested in a sting operation
in New York
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
while he was taking a degree in mathematics at a New York University
. He was deported and tried in camera
in Cape Town, with a life sentence being handed down in December 1983 for high treason
, while his wife received a 10-year sentence for acting as a courier
.
Gerhardt put forward two explanations for his treachery. Initially he stated that he was disillusioned by the war-time internment
of his German father, a Nazi sympathizer, at Koffiefontein
concentration camp. However he later contended that he was opposed to the apartheid government, and sought black liberation.
just before the historic first democratic
elections in 1994 in South Africa
, and emigrated to Basel
, Switzerland
. His wife Ruth Gerhardt was released already in 1990. Gerhardt was subsequently also granted amnesty in 1999 under the new government by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
In February 1994, he stated in the Johannesburg City Press that the Vela Incident
was the result of a joint Israel
i-South African nuclear test, code-named Operation Phoenix. He stated that he had no first hand knowledge of the alleged test, despite being commander of the Simonstown Naval Base at the time. He also specifically stated that no South African warships had been involved.
Commodore (rank)
Commodore is a military rank used in many navies that is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. Non-English-speaking nations often use the rank of flotilla admiral or counter admiral as an equivalent .It is often regarded as a one-star rank with a NATO code of OF-6, but is not always...
in the South African Navy
South African Navy
The South African Navy is the navy of the Republic of South Africa.-Formation:The South African Navy can trace its official origins back to the SA Naval Service, which was established on 1 April 1922....
and commander of the Simon's Town
Simon's Town
Simon's Town , sometimes spelled Simonstown; is a town in South Africa, near Cape Town which is home to the South African Navy. It is located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula. For more than two centuries it has been an important naval base and harbour...
naval dockyard. In 1982, he was arrested and convicted as a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
together with his second wife, Ruth.
Cold War
Gerhardt started his spying career early, offering his services to the South African Communist PartySouth African Communist Party
South African Communist Party is a political party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa by the joining together of the International Socialist League and others under the leadership of Willam H...
who referred him to the Soviet embassy in London while still a junior naval officer. He was recruited into the GRU
GRU
GRU or Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye is the foreign military intelligence directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation...
, the Soviet military intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
branch. It was 1962, and he was on a Royal Navy mine
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
school in Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
and did the Parachute Training Course at RAF Abingdon
RAF Abingdon
RAF Abingdon was a Royal Air Force station near Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It is now known as Dalton Barracks and is used by the Royal Logistic Corps....
. He was a graduate of and winner of the sword of honour in 1956 from the naval academy at Saldanha Bay. After his training in Britain, he was seconded to the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. After background checks to ensure that his story was true, the Russian GRU placed him on their payroll.
British journalist and security services specialist Chapman Pincher
Chapman Pincher
Harry Chapman Pincher is an Indian born British journalist and novelist whose writing mainly focuses on espionage and related matters, after some early books on scientific subjects.-Family and education:...
maintained that, while in London in the late 1950s, he was able to interview Royal Navy Polaris
UGM-27 Polaris
The Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fuel nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile built during the Cold War by Lockheed Corporation of California for the United States Navy....
submarine
Resolution class submarine
The Resolution-class submarine armed with the Polaris missile was the United Kingdom's primary nuclear deterrent from the late 1960s to 1994, when they were replaced by the Vanguard-class submarine carrying the Trident II.-Background:...
crews for potential candidates that the Soviets could approach, this is probably inaccurate since his recruitment was only in 1962. It was also during this time that he met his first wife, British-born Janet Coggin whom he married in 1958.
Coggin says she became aware of her husband's Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
spying activities eight years later in 1966, but chose not to turn him in, fearing that he would be executed
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
, leaving her children fatherless. She says Gerhardt eventually gave her an ultimatum to become a spy too, which she declined, forcing the couple's separation. She divorced him in 1966 and moved to Ireland with her children, living in constant fear of the Soviet security services. She subsequently published a book in 1999 about her experiences called 'The Spy's Wife'.
In 1973 Gerhardt married his second wife, Ruth Johr, a Swiss citizen who author Chapman Pincher claims was already a spy for the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
, although there is no independent evidence for this.
South Africa
Gerhard rose through the ranks of the naval establishment to commander of the strategically important Simonstown naval dockyard. In this position, he had access to all the South African Naval intelligence reports, technical details of weapons systems as well as ship and aircraft movements in southern AfricaSouthern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...
.
During the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
, Gerhardt was able to use his position to supply the Soviets with detailed information about the locations of British ships in the south Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
that the South African Navy intercepted via its sophisticated listening post at Silvermine, near Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
.
It is also likely that he had some knowledge of the South African Army
South African Army
The South African Army is the army of South Africa, first formed after the Union of South Africa was created in 1910.The South African military evolved within the tradition of frontier warfare fought by commando forces, reinforced by the Afrikaners' historical distrust of large standing armies...
and Air Force
South African Air Force
The South African Air Force is the air force of South Africa, with headquarters in Pretoria. It is the world's second oldest independent air force, and its motto is Per Aspera Ad Astra...
's secrets and plans regarding the South African Border War
South African Border War
The South African Border War, commonly referred to as the Angolan Bush War in South Africa, was a conflict that took place from 1966 to 1989 in South-West Africa and Angola between South Africa and its allied forces on the one side and the Angolan government, South-West Africa People's...
. He claimed that the United States and the Soviet Union met in 1978 to discuss South Africa's nuclear weapons programme
South Africa and weapons of mass destruction
From the 1960s to the 1980s, South Africa pursued research into weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Six nuclear weapons were assembled...
, and that the Soviets proposed a pre-emptive strike on the Pelindaba
Pelindaba
Pelindaba is South Africa's main Nuclear Research Centre, run by The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation, and was the location where South Africa's atomic bombs of the 1970s were developed, constructed and subsequently stored...
plant.
Arrest
While the South Africans were initially none the wiser, the United States Central Intelligence AgencyCentral Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
had its suspicions about there being a spy in southern Africa. Gerhard's cover was finally blown by Soviet double agent Vladimir Vetrov
Vladimir Vetrov
Vladimir Ippolitovich Vetrov was a high-ranking KGB spy during the Cold War, who decided to covertly release to France and NATO valuable information on the Soviet Union's clandestine program aimed at stealing technology from the West.Vetrov was assigned the code-name Farewell by the French...
(codename "Boris"), who knew of him. Gerhardt was arrested in a sting operation
Sting operation
In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
while he was taking a degree in mathematics at a New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. He was deported and tried in camera
In camera
In camera is a legal term meaning "in private". It is also sometimes termed in chambers or in curia.In camera describes court cases that the public and press are not admitted to...
in Cape Town, with a life sentence being handed down in December 1983 for high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
, while his wife received a 10-year sentence for acting as a courier
Courier
A courier is a person or a company who delivers messages, packages, and mail. Couriers are distinguished from ordinary mail services by features such as speed, security, tracking, signature, specialization and individualization of express services, and swift delivery times, which are optional for...
.
Gerhardt put forward two explanations for his treachery. Initially he stated that he was disillusioned by the war-time internment
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
of his German father, a Nazi sympathizer, at Koffiefontein
Koffiefontein
Koffiefontein is a small farming town in the Free State province of South Africa. Farming in the district focuses on cattle and sheep farming with lucerne, potatoes and ground nuts being the main crops sown. There are also a cheese factory and vineyards in the town...
concentration camp. However he later contended that he was opposed to the apartheid government, and sought black liberation.
Release
Dieter Gerhardt was released in 1992 in a deal with the African National CongressAfrican National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
just before the historic first democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
elections in 1994 in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, and emigrated to Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. His wife Ruth Gerhardt was released already in 1990. Gerhardt was subsequently also granted amnesty in 1999 under the new government by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
In February 1994, he stated in the Johannesburg City Press that the Vela Incident
Vela Incident
The Vela Incident was an unidentified "double flash" of light that was detected by an American Vela Hotel satellite on September 22, 1979....
was the result of a joint Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i-South African nuclear test, code-named Operation Phoenix. He stated that he had no first hand knowledge of the alleged test, despite being commander of the Simonstown Naval Base at the time. He also specifically stated that no South African warships had been involved.
External links
- Report on the 1979 Vela Incident
- David Albright, "South Africa and the affordable bomb," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, July/August 1994.
- South Africa: Out of Luck