Secretary to Bonn Presidents Held as Spy : Senior West German Defense Aide Also Suspected of Espionage

West Germany today charged a former secretary in the president’s office with treason and with spying for the Soviet Union since 1971, and announced the arrest of a senior Defense Ministry aide for espionage.

Margarete Hoeke, 51, who worked as a secretary for various West German presidents from 1959 until her arrest in August, 1985, is “an especially serious case,” chief federal prosecutor Kurt Rebmann said. She was also charged with corruption and disclosure of official secrets.

Hoeke saw 1,717 classified documents from various ministries concerned with security matters, including the nation’s foreign intelligence agency, from 1972 until her arrest, Rebmann said.

She probably passed on material to the Soviet KGB from those documents as well as from reports by West German embassies, he said.

The prosecutor said the Defense Ministry official, whom he identified only as Juergen W., was suspected of spying for East Germany. He was arrested Tuesday, apparently before he managed to pass along any secrets, and is in investigative custody, Rebmann said.

“This is not a grave case,” Rebmann said of the Defense Ministry official. Rebmann said Juergen W. apparently was recruited by East German agents only four months ago.

West German security sources said the arrested man’s full name is Juergen Westphal, 48, a senior official attached to the army command. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

Jewelry, Free Vacations

Hoeke allegedly received $16,500 for her work, as well as jewelry and various free vacations from Communist agents who directed her activities, Rebmann said.

West German officials said she received some of her instructions from a couple now on trial for espionage in Switzerland.

Hoeke had access to documents classified “confidential,” “secret” or “top secret” from the Foreign, Interior and Defense ministries as well as the foreign intelligence agency, Rebmann said.

The Hamburg-published Bild newspaper reported that Westphal had been a member of the staff in charge of personnel and weapons planning for the West German army.

Rebmann said the official allegedly agreed to start spying for a Communist intelligence agency, presumably the East German Ministry for State Security, during an Aug. 15 meeting in Vienna.

The official met in the Austrian capital with a man identified as “Doctor Sternberg,” Rebmann said.

“Sternberg” allegedly gave the official $1,400 and promised more in exchange for confidential material, security sources said.

The sources said “Sternberg” had previously contacted Westphal at his Bonn residence in June, introducing himself as an employee of an American arms company.

Bild said that the official’s wife died five years ago and that he had alcohol and personal problems afterward. Exploiting these problems, the East Germans sought to recruit him as a spy, the newspaper said.