Dieter Gerhardt

Dieter Felix Gerhardt (born 1936) was a Commodore in the South African Navy and commander of the Simon's Town naval dockyard. In 1982, he was arrested and convicted as a Soviet spy together with his second wife, Ruth.

Cold War

Gerhardt started his spying career early, offering his services to the South African Communist Party who referred him to the Soviet embassy in London while still a junior naval officer. He was recruited into the GRU, the Soviet military intelligence branch. It was 1962, and he was on a Royal Navy mine school in Portsmouth and did the Parachute Training Course at RAF Abingdon. He was a graduate of and winner of the sword of honour in 1956 from the naval academy at Saldanha Bay. After his training in Britain, he was seconded to the Royal Navy.^[1] After background checks to ensure that his story was true, the Russian GRU placed him on their payroll.

British journalist and security services specialist Chapman Pincher maintained that, while in London in the late 1950s, he was able to interview Royal Navy Polaris submarine crews for potential candidates that the Soviets could approach, this is probably inaccurate since his recruitment was only in 1962.^{[citation needed]} It was also during this time that he met his first wife, British-born Janet Coggin whom he married in 1958.

Coggin says she became aware of her husband's Cold War spying activities eight years later in 1966,^[2][3] but chose not to turn him in, fearing that he would be executed, leaving her children fatherless. She says Gerhardt eventually gave her an ultimatum to become a spy too, which she declined, forcing the couple's separation. She divorced him in 1966 and moved to Ireland with her children, living in constant fear of the Soviet security services. She subsequently published a book in 1999 about her experiences called 'The Spy's Wife'.^[3]

In 1973 Gerhardt married his second wife, Ruth Johr, a Swiss citizen who author Chapman Pincher claims was already a spy for the German Democratic Republic, although there is no independent evidence for this.^[4]

South Africa

Gerhard rose through the ranks of the naval establishment to commander of the strategically important Simonstown naval dockyard. In this position, he had access to all the South African Naval intelligence reports, technical details of weapons systems as well as ship and aircraft movements in southern Africa.

During the Falklands War, Gerhardt was able to use his position to supply the Soviets with detailed information about the locations of British ships in the south Atlantic that the South African Navy intercepted via its sophisticated listening post at Silvermine, near Cape Town.^[5]

It is also likely that he had some knowledge of the South African Army and Air Force's secrets and plans regarding the South African Border War. He claimed that the United States and the Soviet Union met in 1978 to discuss South Africa's nuclear weapons programme, and that the Soviets proposed a pre-emptive strike on the Pelindaba plant.^[6]

Arrest

While the South Africans were initially none the wiser, the United States Central Intelligence Agency had its suspicions about there being a spy in southern Africa. Gerhard's cover was finally blown by Soviet double agent Vladimir Vetrov^[7] (codename "Boris"), who knew of him.^[8] Gerhardt was arrested in a sting operation in New York by the Federal Bureau of Investigation while he was taking a degree in mathematics at a New York University. He was deported and tried in camera in Cape Town, with a life sentence being handed down in December 1983 for high treason, while his wife received a 10-year sentence for acting as a courier.^[9]

Gerhardt put forward two explanations for his treachery. Initially he stated that he was disillusioned by the war-time internment of his German father, a Nazi sympathizer, at Koffiefontein concentration camp.^[8] However he later contended that he was opposed to the apartheid government, and sought black liberation.

Release

Dieter Gerhardt was released in 1992 in a deal with the African National Congress just before the historic first democratic elections in 1994 in South Africa, and emigrated to Basel, Switzerland. His wife Ruth Gerhardt was released already in 1990.^[10] Gerhardt was subsequently also granted amnesty in 1999 under the new government by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.^[11]

In February 1994, he stated in the Johannesburg City Press that the Vela Incident was the result of a joint Israeli-South African nuclear test, code-named Operation Phoenix. He stated that he had no first hand knowledge of the alleged test, despite being commander of the Simonstown Naval Base at the time. He also specifically stated that no South African warships had been involved.

Further reading

• "The Spy Who Knew It All". London: Daily Mail. 1983-11-20. pp. 1–2, 31–34. 
• "AK2444: Dieter Gerhardt vs Minister of Justice and State President. 1983-1992". Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand. 2006. http://www.historicalpapers.wits.ac.za/inventory.php?iid=8324. 

See also

• Farewell Dossier

References

1. ^ Rusbridger, James (2006). Apartheid's Friends - The rise and fall of South Africa's Secret Service. IB Taurus. p. 127. ISBN 1850433380. http://books.google.com/?id=p62LN9EhsKYC&pg=PA127. 
2. ^ Emma Cook (1999-03-28). "Interview: Janet Coggin - The Spy Who Lied to Me". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/interview-janet-coggin--the-spy-who-lied-to-me-1083517.html. Retrieved 2010-10-11. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Coggin, Janet (1999). The Spy's Wife. Constable & Robinson. ISBN 0094794901. 
4. ^ Chapman Pincher (1987). Traitors: The Labyrinths of Treason. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. ISBN 0283993790. http://books.google.com/?id=eNwdAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 2008-05-21. 
5. ^ Rusbridger, James (1991). The Intelligence Game: The Illusions and Delusions of International Espionage. IB Taurus. p. 127. ISBN 1850433380. http://books.google.com/?id=p62LN9EhsKYC&pg=PA127. 
6. ^ David Albright (July 1994). "South Africa and the Affordable Bomb". Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: p. 42. http://books.google.com/?id=VAwAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37#v=onepage&q=. 
7. ^ Reg Reynolds (January 2009). "Spying for Russia on the Rock". The Gibratar Times. http://issuu.com/thegibraltarmagazine/docs/jan_09_web-1. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Roger Faligot, Rémi Kauffer (1986). KGB, objectif Pretoria. P.-M. Favre. ISBN 2828902331. http://books.google.com/?id=KYsiAAAAMAAJ. 
9. ^ Kalley, Jacqueline Audrey (1999). Southern African Political History: A Chronology of Key Political Events From Independence to Mid-1997. Greenwood Press. p. 487. ISBN 0313302472. http://books.google.com/?id=oVrVK2ElINMC&pg=PA487&lpg=PA487. 
10. ^ "Freed South African Spy Proud Of Work For Soviets". Orlando Sentinel. 1990-06-04. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1990-06-04/news/9006040173_1_soviet-union-gerhardt-injustice. Retrieved 2010-04-10. 
11. ^ "Ex-naval commander Gerhardt Pardoned". Dispatch Online. 1999-03-17. http://www.dispatch.co.za/1999/03/17/southafrica/EXNAVAL.HTM. 

External links

• Report on the 1979 Vela Incident
• David Albright, "South Africa and the affordable bomb," Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, July/August 1994.
• South Africa: Out of Luck

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Name	Gerhardt, Dieter
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Date of birth	1936
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