Chief of East’s Feared Secret Police Arrested Hours After Reunification

Authorities arrested the last chief of East Germany’s spy network on espionage charges Wednesday in Berlin, a federal prosecutor’s spokesman said.

The arrest of Walter Grossmann, coming hours after the two Germanys were united, backs up promises by prosecutors that they intend to track down agents of East Germany’s former Communist government and pursue espionage cases.

Earlier Wednesday, the Hamburg-based newspaper Bild reported that longtime spy chief Markus Wolf had probably fled to the Soviet Union. Grossmann replaced Wolf in 1986.

The federal prosecutor’s chief spokesman, Hans-Juergen Foerster, said Grossmann was arrested at his home in eastern Berlin.

Grossmann will be taken to Karlsruhe, the judicial center of Germany, where a decision will be made on whether to keep him in custody, Foerster said in an interview. Foerster said he was being held on espionage charges.

East Germany disbanded the notorious Stasi state police agency earlier this year after a peaceful revolution ousted hard-line Communist leaders.

Germany’s chief prosecutor, Alexander von Stahl, said Grossmann had been in charge of the Stasi espionage department, which made him “one of the main delinquents” on a list of 50 people who are accused of spying against West Germany.