Grässler, Günter Doppelnullagent Nr. 7 Ost. Im Dienst der Militärspionage des MfS. Autobiografie

"James Bond and the GDR" certainly do not go together any more than 007 films and the intelligence reality in East and West. And yet he existed, the double zero agent number 7 in the GDR foreign intelligence service of the Ministry for State Security: Günter Gräßler. Now the former "Stasi officer" has put his memoirs on paper.

Without pathos and sometimes with self-irony, he tells of his way into the Central Intelligence Agency, of his apprenticeship years as an officer, of hard efforts and first operational successes, of the responsible management of important sources in the Federal Republic, of everyday and exciting things in the struggle of the spies in the Cold War. He also does not spare doubts and setbacks, as well as humanly moving encounters. And he tells of the end of the State Security Service, even of the end of the state, which went hand in hand with disappointed hopes, with experienced betrayal, with powerlessness in the phase of criminal prosecution of people who trusted him, and finally with a new beginning in a united Germany. He spans the arc to the present day, reveals contradictory sensitivities in united Germany and takes a clear stand on current issues, sometimes sharp-tongued, but always thoughtful. With his autobiography, Günter Gräßler presents a unique résumé that does not stop at retrospective insights. Self-confident, relaxed and frank, he offers a deep and self-reflective insight into his world of experience as a former senior officer in the MfS's main administration for reconnaissance.