US spy pub in Hamburg
#thread

Most people know the #Reeperbahn in Hamburg only at night. Numerous bars hide a lot of bizarre stories. A pub served as an important spy place against Poland for a U.S. intelligence agency. The pub even operated to the service 1/7
Hamburg's St. Pauli district attracts many figures - tourists, homeless people, love-seekers and sailors. And it is precisely these that various Western intelligence services are targeting during the Cold War. 2/7
Especially seamen behind the Iron Curtain are important sources of information and possible candidates for espionage in the home country. 1955, COMNAVER (US Naval Forces Germany) wrote a report on a pub: "The tavern served as a contact house for Polish agents in Hamburg" 3/7
COMNAVER report: "According to information received from various HAMBURG sub-sources the GASTSTAETTE KOEPLIN there is allegedly a restaurant being operated as a cover for a US Intelligence agency". But the Polish Intelligence Service also sits in the bar 4/7
Which US intelligence agency is behind the „Gaststätte Köplin“ remains unclear. In old Hamburg telephone directories you can find the address of the establishment. It is a corner house #Friedrichstraße 2/ #Davidstraße. Today it is called Pils-Börse - very famous 5/7
The Navy report criticized the intelligence mess at the time: "Nobody really knows who works for whom and agains whom" 6/7
Details and other counterintelligence operations can be found in a 736-page INSCOM dossier. It covers a period between the late 1940s and the 1970s."Poland Intelligence Services Personalities and Sources" bit.ly/3025qjH Thanks to @Cryptome_org for the Foia request ;) 7/7

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Le cueilleur

Le cueilleur Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @LCueilleur

27 Oct 20
Small service - big tasks
#thread

Luxembourg played an active role in the Cold War. For the Soviet bloc it was an important gateway for intelligence operations. The State Intelligence Service #SRE is unable to cope with its tasks. Assistance comes from abroad 1/13
Under Soviet pressure exerted since the late 1960's, Luxembourg agreed to sign an air traffic memorandum with the USSR in 1974 and a formal agreement in 1975. Shortly afterwards #Aeroflot opens a travel agency in Luxembourg city 2/13
Another service moves into the office building in 35, rue Glesener a little later. Above the travel agency the #SRE intelligence service operates a covert office. All movements at Aeroflot are monitored and registered 3/13
Read 13 tweets
7 Oct 20
It was not only the US that helped #Aut to build up its signing capacities. #BND know-how was/is in great demand. The #Bundesnachrichtendienst was/is dependent on Austria for information gathering in the Balkan region 1/7
Between 1960 and 1980, the #BND was highly supportive of radio reconnaissance in particular. The espionage was of course also aimed at the Soviet presence in Austria 2/7
Cooperation culminated in the war in Yugoslavia. There were several mobile receiving stations along the Slovenian border. Austrians and Germans „shared headphones“ at that time 3/7
Read 7 tweets
6 Oct 20
The fear of the lover from the East
#thread

The #Stasi/#KGB used so-called Romeos on female secretaries in West Germany with great success. Women were particularly targeted in ministries and the security apparatus 1/5
Especially in the 1970s there were a number of East lovers in West German beds who had been busted. In 1979, six "spies for love" were discovered within a few weeks. All of them were either married or permanently involved with full-time Stasi or KGB staffers 2/5
In the same year, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz launched a poster campaign. "There is a code word for opening safes: love"" warned the intelligence service 3/5
Read 5 tweets
1 Jun 20
The early BND machine records program
#thread

At the beginning of 1960s, the #BND submerged in a flood of data. With the help of the #CIA, the BND wanted to make the technical leap. The main objective: The automation of #sigint, #humint and #osint data handling 1/6
A CIA report (1965) states: ‚CADITE (BND) has an archaic index card and file system which involves some 1,5 million index cards which lead to dossiers filed in country sections and subfiled by intelligence service. There is no document control‘ 2/6
‚It is clear from the revelations during this session that CATIDE'S capability for name  tracing and information support in protection of its own operational security, and it's response to name trace request from other services, is poor,‘ the CIA report says 3/6
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!