GDR SPY CACHE IN THE SUBURBS - THE CASE OF REINHARD AND SONJA SCHULZE

On 19 AUG 85, Hans Joachim Tiedge, a West German BfV officer defected to the GDR. He had been in charge of West Germany's effort to thwart GDR spying in the West. His defection heralded a series of arrests on both sides of the Iron Curtain.
I particular on August 23 Special Branch raided 249 Waye Avenue in Cranford, Middlesex to arrest a German couple called Schulze who were living in this rented house near Heath row airport. The man Reinhard was a kitchen designer and his wife called Sonja was a translator. Nobody suspected that they were actually long term HVA undercover agents had been sent Britain to spy by the GDR and were recipients of number transmissions in Morse from East Germany
The man had entered the UK in 1980 as Schulze with a West German passport but hid identity papers in the name of Bryan Waldemar Strunze The real Strunze had been born in the UK after the war with an English mother and German father. He had gone to Erfurt in the GDR and was not heard of again. Then in 1980 Reinhard Schulze appeared in Britain to rent a holiday flat for a few months before disappearing abroad and then finally coming back to Britain for 4 years. Reinhard lived in Hounslow as a student of interior design and despite this appeared to have plenty of cash as he paid his rent well in advance and even installed a 'phone in his flat. His landlord worried about what a quiet life this 30year old led who never received visitors�
Richard spent most of his time studying and took up a postal course in interior and kitchen design passing with merit in 18 months instead of the normal 2 years.
The school was so impressed that they recommended him to a Kingston company who was looking for a design and salesman 1983. He had by now been joined by his 36 year old "wife" a female HVA agent, whom he said he had met in Dublin, Ireland on holiday the previous year. They then married at Hounslow Registry Office.
Sonja Schulze used the Austrian name Ilona Hammer when she came to the UK and advanced courses in English before starting work as a translator.
They lived a life of quiet suburban anonymity and Reinhard's work was regarded as
Superb by his bosses in the kitchen firm as generated contracts worth �500 000 in a few months
When their home- was raided, the Police spent two days ripping up floorboards and dismantling furniture. The search continued for a month and the most important evidence was in the garden shed. In an air freshener were three little plastic wallets containing papers. Two had German words on them against a list of figures, presumably to encipher and decipher messages. The third contained a paper-printed figures on it and these OTPs were shown to the court. Each one was the size of a large stamp and a five figure code was later found on a note pad in a desk and this featured in a CW transmission from East Germany. Two thirds of one of the pads had been used up and the pad had 50 blocks of 5F groups per page. Recent messages from the GDR picked up by GCHQ were found in code at their home. A radio receiver was also found and this was said to be able to receive messages from the GDR. This was a small Sony portable with LCD display and there was also a tape recorder I seem to remember. Also found was an escape-kit containing a false' British passport for a man and a West German identity card for a woman as well as a large amount of cash. The kit was in an envelope hidden in the lining of a bag which the Police slit open.
The Schulzes received regular messages which were impossible to break, but experts detected a callsign in the blocks of numerals. Under surveillance they might have told MI5 much about HVA operations and agents but the defection panic forced MI5's hand. They were the first illegals from the Soviet bloc to be arrested in this country since the Portland case in 1961. The question of why they were here remained unanswered. It was suggested that they were engaged in technical espionage against Companies in the Thames Valley or perhaps were sleepers for wartime use. Their close proximity to Heathrow suggested that they had a quick escape in mind, as did the- Krogers
No master spy was found and it appeared that the GDRs plan had not matured and there were no others in the ring. They had collected maps and information on the flight paths to and from Heathrow, Stanstead , Luton, Gatwick and Manchester airports. There was also an interest in routes and plans for numerous towns in England. The thrust of their work remained unknown, however. There was no transmitter but there was a desktop computer owned by Reinhard. It was felt by one source that the GDR used such equipment to send computerised burst messages by 'phone
It was found that they had made three trips abroad between 1982 and 1983 and that cash deposit of several thousands of pounds had been made in bank accounts in England and Ireland after each trip. Sonia had placed �13 000 into her account yet at that time she had never worked
In the Police interview however his legend was shown to be flawed as he did not know that the it the real Strunze had a half brother living in England or other simple details of the family. Both of them changed their stories simultaneously after they were arrested. It appeared that they were betrayed by a defector to West Germany or by Oleg Gordievsky who had dealt with illegals as part of his duties. Reinhard was also charged with making false statements to obtain a passport and the false application may have given him away. They had to be arrested before they destroyed evidence and fled as one GDR suspect had already fled the country the previous year.
Neither of them gave evidence at their trial but admitted to Police that they had given false identities to them. She denied having a false Austrian passport and he denied having an irregular West German identity card. Both of them denied spying but at their trial they were described as intelligent, talented and determined and received sentences of ten years each. The judge recommended that they be deported at the end of their sentence. He admitted that their real identities, damage done to the UK and what intelligence, if any, had been sent to the East was unknown.
They were well trained and well equipped to pass and receive information secretly. Perhaps their details are in some Stasi file which was destroyed or fell into Western hands. Maybe Mr Tiedge could shed some light on it as he now lives in retirement on Moscow where he moved after
German unification. Perhaps they now work for the BND as they must have finished their sentences by now. They were and remain to this day an Enigma

Text by "D". Courtesy ENIGMA group.