from the heart of East Berlin a group of
middle-aged men ran the Cold War for the
East their strategy included the
standard tools of Espionage but they
from the early 1960s until the collapse
of Communism in 1989 this group spent
man their experiments helped create an
army of undercover agents who were
dispatched to the
West their task to seduce lonely West
German secretaries and persuade them to
secrets they left behind them a the
trail of abandoned and betrayed women
who had no idea their lovers were actually
actually
spies also were actually the best years
of my life I was 32 you know I could
have lived I could have had the life and I
didn't known as Romeos they were experts
love what problems do men have in deceiving
deceiving
women not too
many you know it's you do it once or
twice or three times and then you are
a lot of people will think it just
infatuation or sexual attraction it was
all of that but it was much much more it
was an eternal longing within me which I
never even knew I had until I actually saw
him from 1977 until 1984 Gabrielle CLE
had an affair with a man who she thought
was the love of her
life she was unaware that in reality he
was an East German spy mining her for
Secrets Gabrielle passed on more secrets
position he should have gotten and Oscar
Oscar would be too small of a award for
his uh portrayal you know because he was
a fantastic actor really seriously
because he never made me doubt this for a
minute the Romeos were trained to
exploit what different women dreamed of
in a
man Margaret herker met her Romeo lover in
in
1968 for 17 years she too unknowingly
East I suppose his instructions were to
humor me to adapt to me to listen be
attentive and at the time it was
important to have the feeling there was
someone there for me I'd never had that
before I'd never had anyone I could talk
problems the Romeo program which
entrapped Margaret and Gabrielle was
devised in the early 1960s by the hva
East Germany's foreign intelligence
service from their headquarters in East
Berlin it was intended to be a key part
of their battle with the
West these were the years of the Cold
War when Germany was divided into
communist East and capitalist
West at its heart was the Berlin Wall
which divided the city in two East and
West were sworn enemies representing
rival ideologies and rival military
blocks it was crucial for the hva to
thinking our main goal was to infiltrate
the key power centers of the West NATO
government we thought about how to
penetrate these targets and we came up
with the idea of going for single
secretaries who had positions in important
it was the Romeo's job to seduce the
Western secretaries and mine them for
Secrets the East Germans looked for very
specific qualities in the men who were
to be sent to the
West the typical Romeo was between 25 and
and
35 a good-looking well educated East
shman he had good
women first and foremost they had to be
politically reliable what was the use of
trusted we were looking for faith in the
Party Loyalty willingness to join the
struggle so we valued political
reliability Above All [Music]
[Music]
Else strangely enough these secretaries
often fell in love with men who weren't
always that
good-look they had other qualities for
example they might be a father figure
reliable and
serious more important to these women
was the inner values of these men men
who made them think yes I could share my
him he was the kind of man who when he
walks into a room you think he's
important he's tall he appears to be something
special Gart berer was deemed to have
these qualities and was selected to be
West my particular Talent was that I
really understood people I could really
problems this gave women the feeling
that they were dealing with a very extra ordinary
man to learn their trade the men
selected as Romeos were sent to belig a
secret training camp outside
Berlin the syllabus was extensive
Marxist leninism Espionage the most
Nature Good Espionage work always rests
psychology I learned a lot about applied
psychology and psychological
manipulation I studied human behavior
very closely through various different
approaches such as Freudian theories
theories
the Romeos were being sent to the west
to be promiscuous to seduce and
deceive but the East German regime was
highly moralistic there was no mention of
of
sex intelligence Chiefs liked to pretend
women would be seduced by higher
motives we were all ideologically very
indoctrinated the political motive for
doing intelligence work was always uh uh
uh depicted as the strongest the most
reliable uh the use of human weaknesses
was in generally played down you didn't
want to be seen as working with sleazy
characters it was a contradiction the
with we were told that morality was all important
important
the wife was highly valued in East
German Society you should never deceive your
your
wife but these guys were told that they
opposite this was a conflict that was
discussed their training over most
Romeos were sent to Bon West Germany's capital
capital
it was the home of government Ministries
and foreign embassies the key targets
for the East
Germans B is a relatively small town
full of Ministries and
administration the professionals so the
politicians who worked there they
usually had their family lives but they
had a lot lots of secretary and we knew
that Bon was a lonely place these women
didn't have anything to do in the
evening and for a woman they are to find
a partner it's nearly impossible they
walk long hours they don't have a lot of
spare time and there are just not enough possible
possible
Partners it was not only a difficult
place to meet men it was just no place
at all to meet men the competition was
fierce I mean if there was one man Word
of Mouth you know before he even arrived
everybody oh there's somebody coming who
is not married because most of them were
married and and then there were just 20
person Gabrielle CLE worked as a
secretary at the American Embassy in Bon
in the mid
1970s she had hoped to meet a diplomat
to marry but was Finding life in the
capital as a single woman difficult she
you didn't get invited anywhere you
didn't you didn't fit in anywhere you
had to have this kind of husband or
fiance who had to have this
position Margaret herker had also moved
to B in search of a new life in the late
1950s she worked as a secretary to the
Germany I suppose I was looking for
Independence to escape from the
narrowness of my parents
us I particularly wanted to get away
from my mother who had always kept us very
close so it was against her will that I
secret they were both just the sort of
vulnerable women working in useful
places the hva was looking
for a woman who had been neglected by
life up to then you know she was in her
early 30s lonely normally not too
pretty and when they were too pretty
that was it was no good a little bit
ugly not too ugly because you know you
job the Romeos were like vultures
circling the skies above
easily the Romeos now planted themselves
in Bon's cafes and waited for
secretaries to
seduce Margaret herker and Gabrielle CLE
were about to meet the men who would
One Summer Afternoon Gabrielle cim a
secretary at the American Embassy in Bon
was waiting to meet a gentleman friend
rine when I was sitting there waiting
for this friend I saw this man coming
towards me and he was so tall and blonde
hair and fantastic blue eyes
I thought that a man like this would be
actually the answer to all of my inner
dreams and I looked at him and he came
closer and closer and then he talked to
me and I thought well if ever in my life
this and then uh he asked me out and he
said that we could go for dinner and he
wanted to spend the evening with [Music]
[Music]
me he ordered a lot of wine and he
talked to me and I just remembers the
feeling I had
[Music] him
him
the man who approached Gabrielle in the
cafe was a
Romeo his bosses in Berlin had
intricately planned this first meeting
they' been watching her for 2 years to
best the man she was supposed to be
meeting that day was also an hva agent
earlier he had intentionally not turned
up and sent Romeo agent Frank cell to
instead they studied the psychology of
the women exactly this was very
important for example she doesn't have a
husband what does she do in her spare
time that was researched in great
detail the Romeo would then consider how
to make his first approach he played out
the situation in advance in his head
which story to use
use
theater that day on the Rind the hva had
got it just
right it was not only that he was so
tremendously goodlook that he was so
intelligent also he reminded me of my
Father which I never had and this was
something I had always waited for and
every kind of inner dream which I didn't
wasn't even aware of that I had those
dreams he answered to those dreams and
ideas these weaknesses were all
registered loneliness was a big one like
they wanted a father figure so our man
arrives on the scene he has money he's
good-look and
Charming the secretary becomes obsessed
and she will do everything not to lose him
first encounters between a Romeo and a
potential Source were not always planned in
in
advance Romeos were always on the
lookout for secretaries to
seduce for Margaret herker it was a
chance meeting outside a telephone box
house he'd seen me from his flat it
overlooked the telephone box I used I'd
been waiting to call my parents but
hadn't been able to get through so I'd
been pacing up and down outside he'
heard my steps and had come down I'd
never seen him in my life before but
after a while we got chatting and we
ended up going for a walk along the rine
started the Romeo told Margaret his name
was France Becka and he claimed to be a
student she revealed she was a secretary
president when I told him where I work
he was unable to conceal the fact that
he was a bit nervous a little bit
excited and I suppose he thought that's
fantastic and it fitted in very nicely of
of
course hva Chiefs in Berlin were
immediately alerted that a very
important contact had been made nothing
less than a secretary Mar to the
Germany it was Now France Becker's job
source we always used the same method
create trust build the foundations for a
long relationship manipulate emotions
this was the simplest method rooted in
nature Margaret and Becca began an
intimate sexual relationship
he said he needed me because he was all
alone in the world I'm not sure whether
it was pity I felt but I did have the
sense of being somehow responsible for
him a kind of maternal feeling and when
he visited me at my
flat it seemed to me as if he was coming
home that he was coming back to where he belonged
house Becca spent three years developing
the relationship with no mention of
secrets he tapped into her loneliness
companionship well he was the sort of
important he was a wonderful listener he
really engaged with me he made me feel
as if I was someone special for most of
this women
it was probably a dream come true they
suddenly have a partner who's very
attentive who's very nice who avoids all
mistakes who wants to keep the
relationship stable and going and here
[Music]
partner for Gabrielle it was a whirlwind
romance her Romeo lover Frank Dell
claimed he worked abroad and could only
only see her every 4 to 6 weeks they met
for passionate weekends in hotels along
the river rine I would always drive
there with a tremendous amount of
longing you're just driving there you
were totally high as if you had taken
some tracks or something then you would
meet him and then you would know that
that this was the only life you would
get for all this time and you really had
to make some most of it
it [Music]
the way he moved and he just OED
sexuality and so I was sexually totally
dependent on him I never ever considered
man I thought that I just could not live
without it and this longing which he
built up because the lack of sexuality
in the interim periods and I always had
to wait for five weeks and he came up
with those idiotic mathematical
equations telling me that if he would go
to bed with me six or seven times during
this one
weekend that this would equate no this
is not funny this would equate to to
whatever during the weekend and this
would then come up if you add this all
Frank Dell sent the intimate details of
his relationship with Gabrielle back to
Berlin they were poured over by
intelligence Chiefs at hva headquarters
who could then plan the next stage in the
relationship sex played a role of course
it was reported whether sex was
important to the woman this kind of was
included in a dossier and the Romeo used
it to plan his
behavior the Romeo would report about
sex verbally to his controller but that
side of things was left pretty much to
the Romeo to manage as he saw fit but it
was discussed when it was relevant to the
operation Gabrielle may have fallen
passionately in love but for all Romeos
sex served a very specific
we called it the post coal Readiness to disclose
information what this man was the women
you were sleeping with were prepared to
reveal an enormous amount after
sex this will never happen during the
day when they're at their most rational
which is why you have to work on them in
with military Precision the hva Chiefs
in Berlin had made Margaret and
Gabrielle fall in love with their
Romeos they were now considered ready to
east 3 years into his relationship with
Margaret herker Romeo agent France Becka
felt she was ready to pass on
Palace we just chatted about this and
office he just seemed to have a very
all her entanglement was engineered very
carefully very slowly what she delivered
in the early days or reported on didn't
go beyond what any of us might tell a
good friend or
in casual
beginning after 2 years of receiving
this verbal information he felt ready to
ask her for
more secret documents from the
palace Margaret had now been with him
for 5 years and trusted him when he told
he never talked about secret Services of
course there was what he called The Firm
which had its headquarters in Zurich all
I knew was that it was a right-wing
organization when he asked me to give
him documents I didn't say of course
I'll do it I just said I'll see what I
can do if I happen to find anything I
Firm Margaret began to smuggle top
secret government documents from the president's
Palace what I took were just little
notes which I could slip very easily
into my
handbag or a thin carbon copy which I
[Music]
compartments in I had a good
relationship with my bosses but this was
a breach of trust no one would have
thought I was capable
of I asked myself how France managed to
point even though I asked myself this he
told me I was helping
West Germany was at the front line of
the cold war thousands of British and
American troops were stationed there in NATO
NATO
bases all top secret reports on
negotiations within NATO were sent to
the West German president this was the
information the East Germans wanted
Margaret herker gave it to them
in because of the situation at that time
the heightened tension between East and
West this information was extremely
sensitive it was rather like big brother
looking over your shoulder at all
Partners Gabrielle clean's job at the US
Embassy in Bon gave her access to
American Military
Secrets her Romeo also developed the
relationship to the point where would
trust him when he asked her for secret
documents he came up with a story he
said that he was working in Saudi Arabia
and in African countries and that his
home office was in Munich and that he
worked for a company which was uh
collecting information on different
levels also economic levels and
to some kind of like a so-called s tank
or data base which would be used to
support uh um Peace to nurture peace in the
word Gabrielle was obsessed with detel
and willing to believe
anything this sexual attraction with
nobody ever had had this and this
uh I think this made me close my eyes to
newses having smuggled the documents out
of the embassy she would photograph them
at home and give him the films whenever
she saw him I would have the films in
the pocket of my court and he would hack
me and and put his hand in the pocket of
my coat and take the films without ever
saying anything and then always looking
at me like this father image and say oh
yes you did very well child
Gabrielle's position at the US Embassy
made her recruitment by the hva a danger
to the West she was known to East German
intelligence by her code name
geart the source geart was one of the
most important East Germans ever had in
terms of the quantity of information and
the extent of information that was being
passed to East
Berlin she worked in the American
Embassy so had access to very important
information she worked in the very
office where armed supplies and Military
Maneuvers were coordinated between the
Americans Margaret was now regularly
delivering secret documents to Becca but
their relationship
changed she was hooked on him so he
didn't need to spend as much time with
her and insisted their Affair be kept a
secret I never really had an address I
never really had a telephone number
where I could call him him right up to
the end I
didn't he always had some excuse or
other why this had to be the case and
situation Becca gave regular reports to
his bosses back in the east on the state
relationship teams of psychologists
analyzed the reports and worked out how
the relationship should progress
progress
they wanted to keep their Source happy
costs the task really was to keep things
on the boil re-inject Vigor into the
relationship and we did this with interesting
interesting
conversation love an expensive
holiday some of these women couldn't
have afforded it on their own but the
hva footed the bill and it worked it
bought time the relationship could last
another year
if the relationship showed signs of
cooling it was always warmed up again to
motivate the woman and this was always
done according to a set
plan Becca took these photos of Margaret
together but he refused to be
photographed pictures of the back of his
head are all that Margaret has of their time
time
together even then she claimed she
noticed something strange about him
there was always something at the back
of it all which I couldn't really put my
finger on he seemed divided as if he had
this Margaret thought of leaving
him but Becca had been well trained in
her whenever I tried to end the
relationship he'd come along and talk
he'd always say that we needed one
another that we knew one another inside
out that we understood each
me I don't want to talk badly about
women but
women they accept quite a
bit if they are really in Need for for some
some
relationships women are forgiving in
general if you don't over do it and you
can play with the woman as long as you
want at the end you open your shirt and
shoot me oh she will say no it's not
true Long stretches apart
secrecy for Gabrielle too life as the
lover of a Romeo was never
easy I never really lived unless it was
through him so so this was a horrible
problem in all those years and it it got
worse you would think oh well I she
didn't see him for five weeks and she
had the life in those interval periods
but I didn't I didn't have any life I
didn't go out I didn't do anything I
didn't do anything what I wanted
wanted
Berlin couldn't risk Gabrielle becoming
too unhappy they couldn't afford to lose
such a valuable
Source she had to believe there was a
future with her
Romeo detel kept her by promising what
she Most Wanted in the world we were in
dorf and walking along and he lifted me
up in front of a window so we could both
look into our Reflections and he said oh
we was such a beautiful couple
and we will get married next spring of
course I was ecstatic I was dancing with
joy I thought now I would finally have for
for [Music]
Life 6 months later ditel summoned
Bru I because I thought when we were
going to get married I was ecstatic with
joy and I thought that he would tell me
you know something about the wedding
plans but Romeos were not supposed to
marry their
Source they lived in West Germany under
a false identity and marriage would
involve too many
checks so he made his
excuses the wedding was
off I thought that maybe this
relationship would now break up you know
because he had hurt me really not only
but the relationship did not break up
the trips to the Ry and Gabrielle's
spying continued year after year secret
details of Western missile systems and
NATO exercises were all passed
on it was the only way Gabrielle could
keep detel he always plat his fantastic
gole he said of course if you don't
bring any more of those documents my
love for you will certainly not die but
I don't know how I could keep on seeing
you of course if he would have said if
you don't give me any more documents
bloody well I don't come to see you
anymore then even I would have walked
but he always said yes I will do my the
most I can but I don't know how I can do
it and then always calculating and
everything you know and that's how he
got me to do it
it
so the man in Berlin had shaped two excellent
excellent
sources but their spying for the East
was about to come to an
end the West German secret service the
women by 1985 Margaret herker had been
with her Romeo lover France Becka for 17
years for 14 of those she had been
passing on secrets from the president's Palace
Palace
but Becca had been identified as an
agent by the West German secret service
the BN while under surveillance they
noticed he saw a lot of
Margaret and then of course the alarm
Bell started ringing who is this is it
his mother is it his girlfriend is it
his sister and then we discovered that M
herker worked in the president's office
and then of course the alarm Bells
ring Margaret's flat in Bon was now put under
surveillance after several months the
West Germans had the evidence they
needed it was time to tell her boss
viter he was very
skeptical suddenly the head of Counter
Intelligence comes along and says Mr
President one of your closest AIDS is an
agent and of course you have to have
some very strong evidence to back that
up and I remember that President Von
dubious my impression at the time was
that he was more willing to Believe Miss
me but the evidence was
overwhelming Margaret was picked up from
her flat and charged with
Espionage she insisted her lover had
worked for a peace Institute in Switzerland
Switzerland
I really believed even then that it was
Switzerland but the police didn't
said in the whole world there is no
Swiss organization whatever its
political color which would have been
interested in the type of material that
over and her claim that she didn't know
what she was involved in well this this
is something all these people do to
self-esteem she was not naive she might
have been clinging to the idea of doing
something good or working for peace but
the fact that she clung to something
like this is a sign that deep down she
for the first time Margaret discovered
that the man she had loved for 17 years
East I only discovered later that he was
here that was a terrible Revelation for [Music]
[Music]
me I mean the whole thing was bad enough
but the fact that he'd always gone on
about how he was all alone in the world without
think while France Becka escaped to the
east Margaret was sentenced to 8 years
in prison for Espionage of which she served
served four
well of course it was absolutely awful I
needed all the strength I had just to
survive it and if you ask me how I
know for Gabrielle CLE the end came in
1991 the Cold War and her affair with
her Romeo lover Frank Dell were now
over the hva had been
disbanded documents uncovered from their
files revealed that Gabrielle had been
passing secrets to the east from 1977
until the collapse of Communism in
1989 she had handed over 1500 documents
more than any other source in her
position but at her trial all she could
think of was detail they were constantly
talking about Espionage and I didn't
care about that I always said but
did you know him what was he like and
did he love me I I'm sorry I always
wanted to know did he did he have some
feelings for me or was it all just a lie
know if something like that happens to
you you tend to question
yourself what is true and what is not
true and what part is who and what part
is imagined and what part is a story and
what part is a fiction and you go
absolutely insane because you just feel
that you are disintegrating Bit by Bit
Bit memories were false everything you
lived for was kind of taken away so you
[Music] identity
identity
we were people and they destroyed us on
in every
level as the Cold War was now over
sentence The Men Who Run the operation
from Berlin were not even put on trial
as they were deemed to have been doing their
their
job I think it's so devastating that
some stupid I'm sorry who
I don't know from a hole in the ground
sit in some stupid office in East
Germany picking people women out you
know like like like animals for testing
and saying okay we are going to destroy her
life today Margaret herker lives alone
in her parents' old
house after her release from prison she
had nowhere to go but the place she had
had left 30 years earlier in search of
an exciting life in
Bon she has not seen France Becker since her
her
ill it seems to me that he now has to
live with himself and that must be hard
enough but I think I've worked through a
lot of this this is his issue
now I don't have any feelings of hatred
life it did have a purpose and a meaning
for me so in that respect these were not Wasted
Gabrielle CLE now lives alone in Holland
dogs there is little Sympathy for the
plight of Gabrielle and Margaret from
the men who benefited from the secrets they
gave we never abused women we saw it as
a legitimate method a method which was
justified by the very real threat posed
by the Cold
War if we're talking about the brutality
of secret Services if you show me this
broken heart well then I can show you
much much
worse look back through history and a
nothing is whichever way you look at it
Espionage is a dirty business but it's
necessary there is always a point where
you want to know more from someone than
he's prepared to reveal and to get this
information you use all the means at
your disposal and because the human
being is always the weakest link in the
chain you use this weakness to your own
C if it hadn't been the Romeo for this
poor woman that would be 10 years of a
happy life may be missing I don't think
there was a too big human CA to it
because it it goes into the in a general
mixture of human faith and and human
happiness and
unhappiness some of them are probably
[Music] Romeos
[Music]
Gabrielle's Romeo lover died several years
years
ago he may have deceived her to keep her
go if he would walk into my
life like I remember
him I'm terribly afraid that I would
fall in love with him again
and because of I'm now um alone again totally
alone very big part of me would say yes
that I loved you and you felt a void in
me which nobody ever could or would or
will again and why don't we just move on
from there oh God and live for once together
together gold
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