Wolfgang Lotz
Encyclopedia
Wolfgang Lotz was an Israel
i spy during the Cold War
.
, Germany
in 1921 to a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish German father. Lotz's father was a theater director who worked alongside his wife, an actress. His parents were non-religious to the extent that Lotz's mother did not even care to have her son circumcised at birth, contrary to Jewish practice. This later proved to be advantageous in his career as a spy; the fact that Lotz had not been circumcised enabled him to convince his lovers that he was not Jewish. His parents divorced in 1931; in 1933, after Adolf Hitler
came to power, Lotz and his mother emigrated to Palestine
, where they settled in Tel-Aviv. He adopted the Hebrew name Ze'ev Gur-Arie, and began to study at the agricultural school at Ben Shemen
. In 1936 he joined the Haganah
and engaged in a number of security duties.
After the outbreak of World War II
in 1939, Lotz was recruited into the British Army
because of his knowledge of the German language
. He was stationed in Egypt
, where he joined an intelligence unit and mostly interrogated German POWs. After the war, he returned to Israel and was involved in smuggling weapons for the Haganah.
In 1948 Lotz married an Israeli Jew, Rivka, and they had a son, Oded. At the outbreak of the Independence War
in 1948 Lotz joined the newly formed Israel Defense Forces
and served with the rank of Captain. He took part in the battle around Latrun
. During the Sinai War in 1956, when Israel, the United Kingdom
, and France
attacked Egypt, Lotz rose to the rank of Major
and commanded an Infantry
brigade
.
After the war, Lotz joined Aman
. His superiors planned to send him to Egypt to gather intelligence on Gamal Abdel Nasser
's armaments plans. Aman also hoped that because of Lotz's command of the German language and his Aryan
appearance, he could infiltrate the circle of German scientists who worked on the Egyptian armaments programs.
Lotz was sent to Germany in 1959 in order to establish his cover story as a German businessman and ex-Wehrmacht
officer who had served in North Africa
, and was a former member of the Nazi Party After purportedly living for 11 years in Australia
where he had bred horses, in his cover story Lotz had came back to Egypt in order to establish a riding club. The North Africa element of his cover story was devised because Lotz, who had interrogated hundreds of the German POWs in World War II, was familiar with their way of life and could easily tell war stories about his "comrades"; the riding club would allow Lotz to make contact with Egyptian high society. He arrived in Cairo
in 1960 and began immediately to form friendships with high ranking Egyptian officials and military personnel.
Lotz traveled to Paris
in June 1961 for a meeting with his operators (he was in the meantime transferred to the responsibility of the Mossad
), where he received large amounts of money and a transponder for sending secret messages. During the train journey from Paris, Lotz met a German woman called Waltraud and decided to marry her, despite the fact he was married to another woman in Israel. Lotz did not discuss his intentions with his operators. Mossad was horrified by this and even considered recalling Lotz, but in the end allowed Lotz to continue his mission. His new wife was allowed to join him. While she soon discovered his real occupation, she was told Lotz worked for NATO and she began to help him.
In Cairo, Lotz eventually opened his riding club and continued to befriend the elite of Egyptian society. He managed to persuade them to show him the Egyptian missile launch sites and he gathered intelligence on the Egyptian military and its industries. He also composed a list of German scientists who worked for the Egyptians and in September 1964 he sent letter bombs to some of them, in an attempt to induce them to cease their work. Lotz'z letter bombs killed some civilians and their effects were deemed limited.
In 1965 the East German Head of State made an official visit to Egypt, and as a gesture to the East Germans, the Egyptians arrested thirty West German citizens, including Lotz. According to some sources, Lotz, thinking he was exposed, confessed to being a spy but stuck to his cover story and claimed he was tempted by the Israelis to spy for them in exchange for their giving him funds to establish his riding club. It has been alleged that this account of what took place was a fabrication by Mossad. A contrary account is given in Lotz's biography, The Champagne Spy. According to this book, Lotz was captured after a wireless set was discovered hidden inside a bathroom scale; he had used this to transmit Egyptian target coordinates prior to the impending Israeli surprise attack of 1967
.
According to some Israeli accounts, the Egyptians believed Lotz even when evidence arrived from Germany which pointed to his true identity. Lotz and his wife were put on trial and the Mossad managed to get him represented by a German lawyer and ensure a German observer from the embassy who oversaw the fairness of the trial.
Lotz was sentenced to life imprisonment as a spy on 21 August 1965 and his wife was sentenced to three years in jail. Both were released in the prisoner exchange in 1968 following the Six-Day War
. He resided in Israel until the death of his wife, Waltraud, in 1973, who died as a consequence of mistreatment suffered in prison. Thereafter he spent time in the USA and resided in Germany until his death in 1993. Lotz was buried in Israel with full military honors.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i spy during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
Biography
Wolfgang Lotz was born at MannheimMannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1921 to a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish German father. Lotz's father was a theater director who worked alongside his wife, an actress. His parents were non-religious to the extent that Lotz's mother did not even care to have her son circumcised at birth, contrary to Jewish practice. This later proved to be advantageous in his career as a spy; the fact that Lotz had not been circumcised enabled him to convince his lovers that he was not Jewish. His parents divorced in 1931; in 1933, after Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
came to power, Lotz and his mother emigrated to Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, where they settled in Tel-Aviv. He adopted the Hebrew name Ze'ev Gur-Arie, and began to study at the agricultural school at Ben Shemen
Ben Shemen
Ben Shemen is a moshav in central Israel. Located around four kilometres east of Lod, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi'in Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 627....
. In 1936 he joined the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
and engaged in a number of security duties.
After the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1939, Lotz was recruited into the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
because of his knowledge of the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. He was stationed in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, where he joined an intelligence unit and mostly interrogated German POWs. After the war, he returned to Israel and was involved in smuggling weapons for the Haganah.
In 1948 Lotz married an Israeli Jew, Rivka, and they had a son, Oded. At the outbreak of the Independence War
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...
in 1948 Lotz joined the newly formed Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
and served with the rank of Captain. He took part in the battle around Latrun
Latrun
Latrun is a strategic hilltop in the Ayalon Valley in Israel overlooking the road to Jerusalem. It is located 25 kilometers west of Jerusalem and 14 kilometers southeast of Ramla.-Etymology:...
. During the Sinai War in 1956, when Israel, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
attacked Egypt, Lotz rose to the rank of Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
and commanded an Infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
.
After the war, Lotz joined Aman
Aman (IDF)
The Directorate of Military Intelligence is Israel's central, overarching military intelligence, of the Israel Defense Forces. Aman was created in 1950, when the Intelligence Department was spun off from the IDF's General Staff ; the Intelligence Department itself was composed largely of former...
. His superiors planned to send him to Egypt to gather intelligence on Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
's armaments plans. Aman also hoped that because of Lotz's command of the German language and his Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...
appearance, he could infiltrate the circle of German scientists who worked on the Egyptian armaments programs.
Lotz was sent to Germany in 1959 in order to establish his cover story as a German businessman and ex-Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
officer who had served in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, and was a former member of the Nazi Party After purportedly living for 11 years in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
where he had bred horses, in his cover story Lotz had came back to Egypt in order to establish a riding club. The North Africa element of his cover story was devised because Lotz, who had interrogated hundreds of the German POWs in World War II, was familiar with their way of life and could easily tell war stories about his "comrades"; the riding club would allow Lotz to make contact with Egyptian high society. He arrived in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
in 1960 and began immediately to form friendships with high ranking Egyptian officials and military personnel.
Lotz traveled to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in June 1961 for a meeting with his operators (he was in the meantime transferred to the responsibility of the Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
), where he received large amounts of money and a transponder for sending secret messages. During the train journey from Paris, Lotz met a German woman called Waltraud and decided to marry her, despite the fact he was married to another woman in Israel. Lotz did not discuss his intentions with his operators. Mossad was horrified by this and even considered recalling Lotz, but in the end allowed Lotz to continue his mission. His new wife was allowed to join him. While she soon discovered his real occupation, she was told Lotz worked for NATO and she began to help him.
In Cairo, Lotz eventually opened his riding club and continued to befriend the elite of Egyptian society. He managed to persuade them to show him the Egyptian missile launch sites and he gathered intelligence on the Egyptian military and its industries. He also composed a list of German scientists who worked for the Egyptians and in September 1964 he sent letter bombs to some of them, in an attempt to induce them to cease their work. Lotz'z letter bombs killed some civilians and their effects were deemed limited.
In 1965 the East German Head of State made an official visit to Egypt, and as a gesture to the East Germans, the Egyptians arrested thirty West German citizens, including Lotz. According to some sources, Lotz, thinking he was exposed, confessed to being a spy but stuck to his cover story and claimed he was tempted by the Israelis to spy for them in exchange for their giving him funds to establish his riding club. It has been alleged that this account of what took place was a fabrication by Mossad. A contrary account is given in Lotz's biography, The Champagne Spy. According to this book, Lotz was captured after a wireless set was discovered hidden inside a bathroom scale; he had used this to transmit Egyptian target coordinates prior to the impending Israeli surprise attack of 1967
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
.
According to some Israeli accounts, the Egyptians believed Lotz even when evidence arrived from Germany which pointed to his true identity. Lotz and his wife were put on trial and the Mossad managed to get him represented by a German lawyer and ensure a German observer from the embassy who oversaw the fairness of the trial.
Lotz was sentenced to life imprisonment as a spy on 21 August 1965 and his wife was sentenced to three years in jail. Both were released in the prisoner exchange in 1968 following the Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
. He resided in Israel until the death of his wife, Waltraud, in 1973, who died as a consequence of mistreatment suffered in prison. Thereafter he spent time in the USA and resided in Germany until his death in 1993. Lotz was buried in Israel with full military honors.