Alfred Frenzel - Recruitment

Recruitment

In April 1956, an old friend of Frenzel's visited him in West Germany. He told Frenzel that he was now working for the Czechoslovak government, and offered Frenzel a job. The old friend added that he would expose Frenzel's political past and criminal record unless he took up the offer. He also said that Frenzel's wife, who was on a trip to Prague, would be in grave danger if he refused. Intimidated, Frenzel agreed to take the job.

He travelled to Vienna, Austria, which was at the time crawling with StB officers due to its proximity to Czechoslovakia, where he was given 1,500 Deutsche Marks and given the code name Anna. In July, he signed a document indicating his links to the StB.

Frenzel was now trapped, and the StB had enough information to blackmail him unless he did exactly as they said.