Former West German defector Tiedge dies

Published November 17, 2014

A German publisher says Hansjoachim Tiedge, a top West German counterintelligence officer who defected to East Germany in 1985, has died in Russia. He was 73.

Eulenspiegel-Verlag, which published Tiedge's memoirs in 1998, said Tiedge died at his home near Moscow on April 6.

The head of West Germany's domestic intelligence agency was fired shortly after the defection for having allowed Tiedge to remain in his job leading the hunt for East German spies despite a serious drinking problem and debts.

Tiedge left East Germany for the Soviet Union in 1990, less than two months before German reunification.

West German prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant for Tiedge in 1986 but Germany did not seek his extradition from Russia.

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