“Super Watergate”
According to historians, former chancellor Adenauer had SPD leaders spied on – Kühnert demands a reappraisal
The first Chancellor of the Federal Republic: Konrad Adenauer
© Alfred Hennig / Picture Alliance
It has long been known that Konrad Adenauer had domestic opponents monitored. But now evaluated documents reveal a “new dimension”. The SPD called on the CDU to face the past.
According to historian Klaus-Dietmar Henke, the first chancellor of the Federal Republic, Konrad Adenauer (CDU), had the SPD leadership spied on for almost ten years. “There was nothing in the SPD that didn’t interest him. The party executive was extensively researched,” said Henke “Zeit Online”. He spoke of a “Super Watergate”. The SPD reacted in horror – General Secretary Kevin Kühnert asked the CDU to work through the processes.
As the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported at the weekend, citing historian Henke and historical documents, Adenauer had the SPD leadership spied on to a far greater extent than previously assumed with the help of two informants. One of them is said to have worked directly in the SPD leadership. Almost 500 confidential reports from the SPD executive board reached the CDU-led chancellery. Adenauer, who governed from 1949 to 1963, was often informed about events in the opposition party on the same day via the informer of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND).
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According to the newspaper, this emerges from files from the CDU-affiliated Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, which Henke evaluated. Henke is spokesman for the independent commission of historians to research the history of the BND. The Konrad Adenauer Foundation and a spokeswoman for the CDU did not want to comment on the facts at the weekend.
When asked about parallels to the Watergate affair in 1972 in the USA, Henke said “Zeit online”: “The Watergate affair was triggered in 1972 by the break-in into the party headquarters of the US Democrats: US President Richard Nixon wanted to have bugs installed there.” As is well known, it was all extremely amateurish. “If you wanted to measure it by that, what happened in Bonn would be a super watergate.” Because what didn’t work for a single day in Washington worked in Bonn for almost ten years. “Not with bugs, but through a traitor in the ranks of the SPD. And not through some plumber’s troop, but through the instrumentalization of the foreign intelligence service by the top government.”
SPD General Secretary Kühnert told the Süddeutsche Zeitung: “It is an outrageous event that is probably unprecedented in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany that the first democratic Federal Chancellor systematically expanded and consolidated his power while disregarding the rule of law and democratic principles.” It is pointless today to speculate about the extent to which history would have taken a different course without this massive political distortion of competition. However, that does not reduce the explosive power of the findings. History books and biographies would have to be rewritten and, in particular, “Adenauer’s work would have to be reclassified in view of his abuse by the foreign intelligence service”.
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Documents prove “new dimensions” of Adenauer’s espionage
It was already known that Adenauer, through his state secretary Hans Globke and Reinhard Gehlen, the head of the Gehlen organization named after him, had domestic opponents under surveillance. Probably the most prominent example is Willy Brandt, who later became Chancellor of the SPD. According to “SZ”, the documents that have now been evaluated reveal a “new dimension” of espionage in political competition. The BND emerged from the Gehlen organization in 1956.
According to “SZ”, the two main suppliers of confidential information from the SPD leadership were the two Social Democrats Siegfried Ortloff and Siegfried Ziegler. Ortloff worked for the SPD board and was responsible for the defense against communist infiltration. Ziegler was a member of the Gehlen organization and SPD district chief in Starnberg. Both provided information to Gehlen, which found its way to Adenauer via Globke.
For example, Adenauer found out what was discussed in the SPD board of directors about the change to majority voting that was being considered at the time – or who would run as the SPD candidate in the federal presidential election. Adenauer also received the confidential message that the then party leader Erich Ollenhauer did not want to run again as a candidate for chancellor in the 1961 federal election.
Henke said “Zeit online”: “The whole thing was a secret operation of the BND, which was operated with the knowledge and for the benefit of Adenauer.” The members of the government knew nothing about it. “It would have been unwise and dangerous to initiate a larger group of people into such a big mess – you can’t call it anything else.” The SPD was not a political competitor for Adenauer. “The SPD was the enemy; sometimes the chancellor even spoke of a ‘mortal enemy.'” The idea that it could come to power was a nightmare for Adenauer, which, as he has repeatedly said, was “Germany’s downfall,” he said the historian.