Haydée Tamara Bunke Bider
Encyclopedia
Haydée Tamara Bunke Bider (November 19, 1937 – August 31, 1967), better known as Tania or Tania the Guerrilla, was an Argentine-born East German communist revolutionary
and spy
who played a prominent role in the Cuban government after the Cuban Revolution
and in various Latin American revolutionary movements. She was the only woman to fight alongside Marxist guerrillas under Che Guevara
during the Bolivian Insurgency (1966–1967) where she was killed in an ambush by CIA-assisted Bolivian Army
Rangers.
, Argentina
, the daughter of German communists Erich Bunke and Nadia Bider (who was of Russian Jewish origin). Her father Erich had joined the Communist Party of Germany
in 1928 and fled with his wife to Argentina when the Nazis came to power in 1933. Her parents immediately joined the Argentine Communist Party, ensuring that Tamara and her brother Olaf would grow up in a highly charged political atmosphere. Their family home in Buenos Aires was often used for meetings, helping refugees, hiding publications and occasionally stashing weapons.
As a youth Bunke was a keen athlete and an excellent student, who developed a particular fondness for the folk music
of South America. However in 1952, the family returned to East Germany and settled in Stalinstadt (later named Eisenhüttenstadt).
at Humboldt University in East Berlin
. She soon joined the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany
's youth organization, the Free German Youth (FGY). In addition, she also joined the World Federation of Democratic Youth
, allowing her to attend the World Festival of Youth and Students
in Vienna
, Prague
, Moscow and finally Havana, Cuba. Her keen interest in and familiarity with Latin America, along with her linguistic abilities (she spoke fluent Russian, English, Spanish and German), soon saw her translating on behalf of the FGY's International Department. In this capacity she entertained and translated for the growing stream of visitors from Cuba, following the victory of the 1959 Cuban Revolution
.
. Guevara was visiting the East German city of Leipzig
with a Cuban trade delegation and Bunke, who considered him a hero of hers, was assigned to him as an interpreter
. Inspired by the Cuban Revolution
, of which Guevara had become an international icon, Bunke came to live in Cuba
in 1961. Inspired by the idealism of the Cuban revolution, she first sought out voluntary work, teaching and building homes and schools in the countryside. Her Cuban hosts soon began to notice the efficiency, discipline and good-natured sense of service that she possessed. As a result, she participated in work brigades, the militia
, and the Cuban Literacy Campaign
. She also worked in the Ministry of Education
, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, and the Federation of Cuban Women
.
Eventually she was selected for training to take part in Che's ill-fated guerrilla expedition to Bolivia entitled "Operation Fantasma". Guevara's goal was to spark a continent-wide revolutionary uprising into neighbouring Argentina
, Paraguay
, Brazil
, Peru
and Chile
; by creating "two, three, many Vietnams
" in order to challenge American imperialism
. In preparation, Guevara assigned Bunke to be trained by Dariel Alarcon Ramirez (known by his nom de guerre Benigno) in Pinar del Río
in western Cuba. Guevara wanted her taught self-defence, such as how to use a knife, a sub-machinegun and a pistol; and how to send and receive telegraph transmissions and coded messages by radio. It was during this period that she took the name "Tania" as her nom de guerre. During her training in Cuba and later at a small farm on the outskirts of Prague
, Bunke impressed the Cubans with her intelligence, stamina, and skill for espionage
. Benigno for instance, has described her as "gracious, beautiful and kind, but also very tough." She further endeared herself to the Cubans by entertaining them in the training camp by playing Argentine folk songs on accordion
or guitar
. Moreover, as a very sociable person who could strike up friendships easily, the Cuban government realized that she possessed beneficial traits for her future work in Bolivia.
under the name Laura Gutiérrez Bauer, as a secret agent for Guevara's last campaign. Her first mission was to gather intelligence on Bolivia's political elite and the strength of its armed forces. Posing as a right-wing folklore expert of Argentine background, she quickly found herself infiltrating high society and rubbing shoulders with the glitterati of Bolivia's academic and official circles. Showing how high she was able to rise in La Paz
society, she won the adoration of Bolivian President René Barrientos
, and even went on holiday with him to Peru
. In order to maintain her cover, she also busied herself part-time with her explorations of folk music (producing one of the most valuable collections of Bolivian music in the process) and entered into a marriage of convenience with a young Bolivian to gain citizenship.
Tactically, she was initially invaluable to Guevara's guerrillas because she used radio equipment hidden in a compartment behind the wall in her apartment to not only send coded messages to Fidel Castro
in Havana
; but to Guevara's guerrillas in the field by posing as a radiohost giving encoded relationship advice to fictitious lovelorn couples.
In late 1966 however, the unreliability of many comrades in the urban network set up to support Che's guerrillas forced Bunke to travel to their rural camp at Nacaguazu on a number of occasions. On one of these trips, a captured Bolivian communist gave away a safe house where Tania's jeep was parked in which she had left her address book. As a result, her cover was blown, and she now had no other choice than to join Guevara's armed guerrilla campaign. In this capacity she was in charge of rationing food and monitoring radio broadcasts. There continues to also be the allegation from fellow surviving guerrilla Benigno, that Bunke and Guevara had at some point become lovers in Bolivia; with Benigno remarking decades later in 2008 that "You could tell by the way they spoke so quietly and looked at each other when they were together near the end."
With Bunke as the guerrilla's contact to the outside world, the guerrillas then found themselves isolated. Bunke also soon found herself battling a high fever, a leg injury, and the painful effects of the Chigoe flea
parasite. Consequently Guevara decided to try and send a group of 16 other ailing combatants, including Bunke, out of the mountains.
river at Vado del Yeso. Tania was waist-deep in the water, with her rifle held above her head, when she was shot through the arm and the lung and killed along with eight of her fellow insurgents in quick succession. Her body was then carried downstream and only recovered by the Bolivian army several days later on September 6. When her piranha
-eaten corpse was presented to Barrientos, the plan was to dump her body in an unmarked grave with the rest of the guerrillas. However, the local campesino women demanded that as a woman, she be given a proper "Christian" burial.
When her death was announced over the radio, Guevara, still struggling through the jungles close by, refused to believe the news; suspecting it was army propaganda to demoralise him. Later, when Fidel Castro
learned of her demise, he immortalized her by declaring "Tania the guerrilla" a hero of the Cuban Revolution
.
led to the 1997 discovery of Che Guevara's Bolivian remains, Bunke's remains were also tracked down to an unmarked grave in a small pit on the periphery of the Vallegrande
army base on October 13, 1998. They were transferred to Cuba and were interred in the Che Guevara Mausoleum in the city of Santa Clara
, alongside those of Guevara
himself and several other guerrillas killed during the Bolivian Insurgency (1966–1967).
and/or the East German Stasi
; along with the claim that her and Che Guevara were lovers while in Bolivia, and that she may have even been carrying his child when she was killed.
In 1997 amidst unproven rumors and claims that Tamara Bunke worked for the KGB or East German Stasi, her 85 year old mother Nadia Bunke travelled to Moscow to obtain a written statement from the successors to the KGB declaring that Bunke never worked for them. For their part the German government, which now holds the Stasi files, has also confirmed that it has no records on her.
Before Tania's mother Nadia Bunke died in 2003, she also managed to have the book Tania, the Woman Che Guevara Loved
by Uruguayan author José A Friedl, removed from sale in Germany. The courts ruled that the book contained defamatory allegations against Tamara Bunke; namely it repeated Stasi defector Günter Männel's rumor from the 1970s that Bunke and Guevara started an extra-marital affair in 1965 while training together in the Czech capital of Prague
. However, although they both did receive instruction in Prague, they were never in the city at the same time. Nevertheless, the CIA utilized the rumor to negatively paint Bunke as "a latter-day Mata Hari
."
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
and 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...
who played a prominent role in the Cuban government after the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
and in various Latin American revolutionary movements. She was the only woman to fight alongside Marxist guerrillas under Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
during the Bolivian Insurgency (1966–1967) where she was killed in an ambush by CIA-assisted Bolivian Army
Bolivian Army
The Bolivian Army or Ejército Boliviano is the land forces component of the Military of Bolivia, the Bolivian Army has around 31,500 men.- Combat units directly under the Army general command :...
Rangers.
Early life (1937–1952)
Bunke was born in Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, the daughter of German communists Erich Bunke and Nadia Bider (who was of Russian Jewish origin). Her father Erich had joined the Communist Party of Germany
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
in 1928 and fled with his wife to Argentina when the Nazis came to power in 1933. Her parents immediately joined the Argentine Communist Party, ensuring that Tamara and her brother Olaf would grow up in a highly charged political atmosphere. Their family home in Buenos Aires was often used for meetings, helping refugees, hiding publications and occasionally stashing weapons.
As a youth Bunke was a keen athlete and an excellent student, who developed a particular fondness for the folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
of South America. However in 1952, the family returned to East Germany and settled in Stalinstadt (later named Eisenhüttenstadt).
University years (1953–1959)
Bunke thrived in her new environment and began studying political sciencePolitical science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at Humboldt University in East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
. She soon joined the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
's youth organization, the Free German Youth (FGY). In addition, she also joined the World Federation of Democratic Youth
World Federation of Democratic Youth
The World Federation of Democratic Youth is a progressive youth organization, recognized by the United Nations as an international youth non-governmental organization. WFDY describes itself as an "anti-imperialist, left-wing" organisation...
, allowing her to attend the World Festival of Youth and Students
World Festival of Youth and Students
The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event, organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth , a left-wing youth organization, jointly with the International Union of Students since 1947....
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Moscow and finally Havana, Cuba. Her keen interest in and familiarity with Latin America, along with her linguistic abilities (she spoke fluent Russian, English, Spanish and German), soon saw her translating on behalf of the FGY's International Department. In this capacity she entertained and translated for the growing stream of visitors from Cuba, following the victory of the 1959 Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
.
Cuba and Che Guevara (1960–1964)
In 1960, at the age of 23, Bunke met the Marxist revolutionary Che GuevaraChe Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
. Guevara was visiting the East German city of Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
with a Cuban trade delegation and Bunke, who considered him a hero of hers, was assigned to him as an interpreter
Interpreting
Language interpretation is the facilitating of oral or sign-language communication, either simultaneously or consecutively, between users of different languages...
. Inspired by the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
, of which Guevara had become an international icon, Bunke came to live in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
in 1961. Inspired by the idealism of the Cuban revolution, she first sought out voluntary work, teaching and building homes and schools in the countryside. Her Cuban hosts soon began to notice the efficiency, discipline and good-natured sense of service that she possessed. As a result, she participated in work brigades, the militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
, and the Cuban Literacy Campaign
Cuban Literacy Campaign
The Cuban Literacy Campaign was a year-long effort to abolish illiteracy in Cuba after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution...
. She also worked in the Ministry of Education
Education in Cuba
Education in Cuba has been a highly ranked system for many years. The University of Havana was founded in 1727 and there are a number of other well-established colleges and universities. Following the 1959 revolution, the Castro government nationalized all educational institutions, and created a...
, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, and the Federation of Cuban Women
Women in Cuba
In Cuba women have equal constitutional rights as men in the economic, political, cultural and social fields, as well as in the family. According to article 44 of the Cuban Constitution, the state guarantees women the same opportunities and possibilities as men, in order to achieve woman’s full...
.
Eventually she was selected for training to take part in Che's ill-fated guerrilla expedition to Bolivia entitled "Operation Fantasma". Guevara's goal was to spark a continent-wide revolutionary uprising into neighbouring Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
and Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
; by creating "two, three, many Vietnams
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
" in order to challenge American imperialism
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
. In preparation, Guevara assigned Bunke to be trained by Dariel Alarcon Ramirez (known by his nom de guerre Benigno) in Pinar del Río
Pinar del Río
Pinar del Río is a city in Cuba. It is the capital of Pinar del Río Province.Inhabitants of the area are called Pinareños.Neighborhoods in the city include La Conchita, La Coloma, Briones Montoto and Las Ovas.-History:...
in western Cuba. Guevara wanted her taught self-defence, such as how to use a knife, a sub-machinegun and a pistol; and how to send and receive telegraph transmissions and coded messages by radio. It was during this period that she took the name "Tania" as her nom de guerre. During her training in Cuba and later at a small farm on the outskirts of Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Bunke impressed the Cubans with her intelligence, stamina, and skill for espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
. Benigno for instance, has described her as "gracious, beautiful and kind, but also very tough." She further endeared herself to the Cubans by entertaining them in the training camp by playing Argentine folk songs on accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
or guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
. Moreover, as a very sociable person who could strike up friendships easily, the Cuban government realized that she possessed beneficial traits for her future work in Bolivia.
Bolivian insurgency (1964–1967)
In October 1964, Bunke traveled to BoliviaBolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
under the name Laura Gutiérrez Bauer, as a secret agent for Guevara's last campaign. Her first mission was to gather intelligence on Bolivia's political elite and the strength of its armed forces. Posing as a right-wing folklore expert of Argentine background, she quickly found herself infiltrating high society and rubbing shoulders with the glitterati of Bolivia's academic and official circles. Showing how high she was able to rise in La Paz
La Paz
Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra...
society, she won the adoration of Bolivian President René Barrientos
René Barrientos
René Barrientos Ortuño was a Bolivian politician who served as his country's Vice President in 1964 and as its President from 1964 to 1969....
, and even went on holiday with him to Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. In order to maintain her cover, she also busied herself part-time with her explorations of folk music (producing one of the most valuable collections of Bolivian music in the process) and entered into a marriage of convenience with a young Bolivian to gain citizenship.
Tactically, she was initially invaluable to Guevara's guerrillas because she used radio equipment hidden in a compartment behind the wall in her apartment to not only send coded messages to Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
; but to Guevara's guerrillas in the field by posing as a radiohost giving encoded relationship advice to fictitious lovelorn couples.
In late 1966 however, the unreliability of many comrades in the urban network set up to support Che's guerrillas forced Bunke to travel to their rural camp at Nacaguazu on a number of occasions. On one of these trips, a captured Bolivian communist gave away a safe house where Tania's jeep was parked in which she had left her address book. As a result, her cover was blown, and she now had no other choice than to join Guevara's armed guerrilla campaign. In this capacity she was in charge of rationing food and monitoring radio broadcasts. There continues to also be the allegation from fellow surviving guerrilla Benigno, that Bunke and Guevara had at some point become lovers in Bolivia; with Benigno remarking decades later in 2008 that "You could tell by the way they spoke so quietly and looked at each other when they were together near the end."
With Bunke as the guerrilla's contact to the outside world, the guerrillas then found themselves isolated. Bunke also soon found herself battling a high fever, a leg injury, and the painful effects of the Chigoe flea
Chigoe flea
The chigoe flea or jigger is a parasitic arthropod found in most tropical and sub-tropical climates, not to be confused with the larval form of Trombiculidae found in more temperate climates. In Brazil, the parasite is referred to as bicho-de-pé . At 1 mm long, the chigoe flea is the smallest...
parasite. Consequently Guevara decided to try and send a group of 16 other ailing combatants, including Bunke, out of the mountains.
Death
Eventually, at 5:20 pm on August 31, 1967, Bunke's guerrilla column led by Joaquín, was ambushed while crossing the Río GrandeRío Grande (Bolivia)
The Río Grande in Bolivia rises on the southern slope of the Sierra de Cochabamba, east of the city of Cochabamba, at . At its source it is known as the Río Rocha and crosses the Cochabamba valley basin in a westerly direction...
river at Vado del Yeso. Tania was waist-deep in the water, with her rifle held above her head, when she was shot through the arm and the lung and killed along with eight of her fellow insurgents in quick succession. Her body was then carried downstream and only recovered by the Bolivian army several days later on September 6. When her piranha
Piranha
A piranha or piraña is a member of family Characidae in order Characiformes, an omnivorous freshwater fish that inhabits South American rivers. In Venezuela, they are called caribes...
-eaten corpse was presented to Barrientos, the plan was to dump her body in an unmarked grave with the rest of the guerrillas. However, the local campesino women demanded that as a woman, she be given a proper "Christian" burial.
When her death was announced over the radio, Guevara, still struggling through the jungles close by, refused to believe the news; suspecting it was army propaganda to demoralise him. Later, when Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
learned of her demise, he immortalized her by declaring "Tania the guerrilla" a hero of the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
.
Remains
After the research of biographer Jon Lee AndersonJon Lee Anderson
Jon Lee Anderson is a biographer, author, international investigative reporter, and staff writer for The New Yorker, reporting from warzone locales such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Uganda, Israel, El Salvador, Ireland, Lebanon, Iran, and throughout the Middle East. Anderson has also written for The New...
led to the 1997 discovery of Che Guevara's Bolivian remains, Bunke's remains were also tracked down to an unmarked grave in a small pit on the periphery of the Vallegrande
Vallegrande
Vallegrande is a small colonial town in Bolivia, located in the Department of Santa Cruz, some 125 km southwest of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. It is the capital of the Vallegrande Province and Vallegrande Municipality and serves as a regionally important market town...
army base on October 13, 1998. They were transferred to Cuba and were interred in the Che Guevara Mausoleum in the city of Santa Clara
Santa Clara, Cuba
Santa Clara is the capital city of the Cuban province of Villa Clara. It is located in the most central region of the province and almost in the most central region of the country.- History :Santa Clara was founded by 175 people on July 15th, 1689...
, alongside those of Guevara
Guevara
Guevara can refer to:*Amado Guevara, Honduran football player*Alvaro Guevara Mexican composer*Ángel Aníbal Guevara, Guatemalan politician*Antonio de Guevara, Spanish chronicler and moralist*Armando Guevara, Venezuelan boxer...
himself and several other guerrillas killed during the Bolivian Insurgency (1966–1967).
KGB, Stasi, and affair claims
Since the time of her death there have been various conflicting rumors or allegations that she worked for the Soviet KGBKGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
and/or the East German Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
; along with the claim that her and Che Guevara were lovers while in Bolivia, and that she may have even been carrying his child when she was killed.
In 1997 amidst unproven rumors and claims that Tamara Bunke worked for the KGB or East German Stasi, her 85 year old mother Nadia Bunke travelled to Moscow to obtain a written statement from the successors to the KGB declaring that Bunke never worked for them. For their part the German government, which now holds the Stasi files, has also confirmed that it has no records on her.
Before Tania's mother Nadia Bunke died in 2003, she also managed to have the book Tania, the Woman Che Guevara Loved
Tania, the Woman Che Guevara Loved
Tania, the Woman Che Guevara Loved is the English translation of a book by José Antonio Friedl Zapata, about Haydée Tamara Bunke Bider , better known as Tania or Tania the Guerrilla, who was a communist revolutionary and spy who played a prominent role in the Cuban government after the Cuban...
by Uruguayan author José A Friedl, removed from sale in Germany. The courts ruled that the book contained defamatory allegations against Tamara Bunke; namely it repeated Stasi defector Günter Männel's rumor from the 1970s that Bunke and Guevara started an extra-marital affair in 1965 while training together in the Czech capital of Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. However, although they both did receive instruction in Prague, they were never in the city at the same time. Nevertheless, the CIA utilized the rumor to negatively paint Bunke as "a latter-day Mata Hari
Mata Hari
Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida "M'greet" Zelle , a Dutch exotic dancer, courtesan, and accused spy who was executed by firing squad in France under charges of espionage for Germany during World War I.-Early life:Margaretha Geertruida Zelle was born in Leeuwarden, Friesland,...
."
Popular Culture
- During her involvement with the Symbionese Liberation ArmySymbionese Liberation ArmyThe Symbionese Liberation Army was an American self-styled left-wing urban militant group active between 1973 and 1975 that considered itself a revolutionary vanguard army...
in 1974, Patty HearstPatty HearstPatricia Campbell Hearst , now known as Patricia Campbell Hearst Shaw, is an American newspaper heiress, socialite, actress, kidnap victim, and convicted bank robber....
took on the alias "Tania." - Minor planetMinor planetAn asteroid group or minor-planet group is a population of minor planets that have a share broadly similar orbits. Members are generally unrelated to each other, unlike in an asteroid family, which often results from the break-up of a single asteroid...
2283 Bunke2283 Bunke2283 Bunke is a main-belt asteroid discovered on September 26, 1974 by Lyudmila Zhuravlyova at Nauchnyj.- External links :*...
, discovered in 1974 by SovietSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
astronomer Lyudmila ZhuravlyovaLyudmila ZhuravlyovaLyudmila Vasilyevna Zhuravleva is a Soviet, Russian and Ukrainian astronomer.She works at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory.She also serves as president...
, is named after her. - Venezuelan folk singer songwriter Ali PrimeraAlí PrimeraAlí Rafael Primera Rosell was a musician, composer, poet, and Venezuelan political activist. He was born in Coro, Falcón State, Venezuela on October 31, 1942 and died in Caracas on February 16, 1985...
wrote a song titled Tania, commemorating Bunke and her dedication to revolution. - Tania Bunke also appears intermittently in the first part of Luigi NonoLuigi NonoLuigi Nono was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music and remains one of the most prominent composers of the 20th century.- Early years :Born in Venice, he was a member of a wealthy artistic family, and his grandfather was a notable painter...
's 1972 music/theatre work Al gran sole carico d'amore. - Before unification, Bunke was a folk legend in East Germany. At one time, there were 200 youth clubs named after her.
- She is portrayed by Franka PotenteFranka PotenteFranka Potente is a German film actress and singer. She first appeared in the comedy After Five in the Forest Primeval and gained critical recognition in the action thriller Lola rennt . Potente received Germany's highest film and television awards for her performances in Run Lola Run and...
in Steven SoderberghSteven SoderberghSteven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...
's 2008 biopic of Che GuevaraChe GuevaraErnesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
, entitled CheChe (film)Che is a two-part 2008 biopic about Ernesto 'Che' Guevara directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro. Rather than follow a standard chronological order, the films offer an oblique series of interspersed moments along the overall timeline...
.
In fiction
- A 2007 novel by ChileChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an economist Sebastián Edwards entitled El misterio de las Tanias is inspired by Bunke's story. - A character known as Tania Vunke appears in Chuck Pfarrers novel Killing Che. In the story Tania is an East German KGB spy who falls in love with Guevara when she is supposed to be helping to kill him. Eventually she betrays the KGB to fight for Che and dies in battle.
Further reading
- Tania, the Woman Che Guevara LovedTania, the Woman Che Guevara LovedTania, the Woman Che Guevara Loved is the English translation of a book by José Antonio Friedl Zapata, about Haydée Tamara Bunke Bider , better known as Tania or Tania the Guerrilla, who was a communist revolutionary and spy who played a prominent role in the Cuban government after the Cuban...
, by José Antonio Friedl Zapata, Planeta, 1997, ISBN 9783351024659 - Tania: Undercover With Che Guevara in Bolivia, by Ulises Estrada, Ocean Press (AU), 2005, ISBN 1876175435
External links
- Images of Tania
- Members of Che Guevara's Guerrilla Movement in Bolivia - by the Latin American Studies Organization