Population Policy Options

In the review by Kristie Macrakis of Beyond the Wall: Memoirs of an East and West German Spy by Werner Stiller, with Jefferson Adams (editor and translator) [Brassey's (US), McLean, VA, 1992; Maxwell Macmillan, London, UK, 1992] (17 Dec., p. 1908), it is stated that physicist Rolf Dobbertin, who denies any spying, was "sent to Paris in 1956 to study at the expense of the Stasi," was "sentenced to 12 years in prison," and "sat in a French jail for five years before he was released in 1991." Legal documents show that Dobbertin, who was arrested in January 1979 for acts of "communication with agents of a foreign power, dealings that could be harmful [intelligence de nature à nuire] to the military or diplomatic situation of France or to its essential economic interest," was jailed until May 1983. He was subsequently tried in 1990 and sentenced to 12 years in prison, but was acquitted of the above charge by a special Assize Court in a second trial in November 1991. According to Dobbertin, he studied continuously at the University of Rostock from 1952 until 1958, and then taught at the University of Berlin for one year before beginning his work in 1959 at the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifigue in France, where he continues to be employed.