TRIPLE DOUBLE WITH SOME 125 EAST-BLOC AGENTS ARRESTED EVERY MONTH IN THEIR 
DIVIDED COUNTRY, GERMANS ARE BLASE ABOUT SPY STORIES . BUT THE 
CASE THAT UNFOLDED IN A KARLSRUHE COURTROOM LAST WEEK PROVED THAT 
BONN'S VAUNTED GEHLEN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE HAD BEEN INFILTRATED FOR TEN YEARS 
BY THE REDS, AND THAT THE ORGANIZATION HAD KNOWINGLY HIRED FORMER 
NAZIS . ALL THREE OF THE MEN ON TRIAL, LONGTIME EMPLOYEES 
OF GEHLEN, WERE ALSO LONGTIME EMPLOYEES OF THE SOVIET UNION . 
BY ALL ODDS, IT WAS THE MOST EMBARRASSING SPY SCANDAL TO 
HIT WEST GERMANY SINCE THE WAR . " I HATE AMERICANS 
. " EX-WEHRMACHT GENERAL REINHARD GEHLEN, WHO IS AS SECRETIVE AS 
ANY OF HIS 5,000 MEN (HIS LAST KNOWN PHOTOGRAPH DATES FROM 
1944), SET UP HIS OUTFIT IN 1947 WITH THE COOPERATION OF 
THE CIA . IT WAS STAFFED LARGELY WITH VETERAN AGENTS WHO 
GOT THEIR TRAINING UNDER THE NAZIS, ALTHOUGH GEHLEN HIMSELF HAD NEVER 
JOINED THE NAZI PARTY . IN 1955 THE GEHLEN APPARATUS WAS 
TURNED OVER FROM CIA CONTROL TO THE WEST GERMAN GOVERNMENT ; 
IT REPORTS DIRECTLY TO THE CHANCELLOR'S OFFICE, HAS A TOP SECRET 
BUDGET . YET IN COURT, THE THREE MEN WHO PENETRATED ITS 
WALLED-IN MUNICH HEADQUARTERS MADE THE FEAT SOUND ABOUT AS DIFFICULT AS 
JOINING A BAVARIAN MARCHING AND GYMNASTIC SOCIETY . FIRST OF THE 
TRIO TO FACE THE FIVE REDROBED JUDGES AT KARLSRUHE WAS STOCKY 
HANS CLEMENS, 61, WHO PEERED WITH INTEREST AT AN EXHIBIT TABLE 
COVERED WITH THE TOOLS OF HIS TRADE : CAMERAS, TAPE RECORDERS, 
MICROSCOPES, RADIOS, FILMS AND SUITCASES WITH SECRET COMPARTMENTS . AS HE 
TOLD IT, CLEMENS HAD BEEN A PIANIST AS A YOUTH IN 
DRESDEN, BUT CHANGED KEYS AND BECAME A NAZI POLICE OFFICIAL IN 
1933 . HE HEADED THE DRESDEN OFFICE OF THE DREADED SS 
SECURITY SERVICE . DURING WORLD WAR II HE COMMANDED AN EXECUTION 
SQUAD IN ITALY THAT KILLED 330 HOSTAGES AND FOR HIS SAVAGERY 
WON THE TITLE " THE TIGER OF COMO . " BACK 
IN GERMANY AFTER THE WAR, HE MET A COLONEL " MAX 
" OF SOVIET INTELLIGENCE, WHO SUGGESTED THAT HE GET A JOB 
WITH THE GEHLEN ORGANIZATION . IT PROVED EASY . THE MOTIVE 
HE GAVE FOR BECOMING A DOUBLE AGENT FOR THE REDS SEEMED 
LIKE AN OLD PROPAGANDA BROADCAST . " I HATE AMERICANS LIKE 
THE PLAGUE, " HE SAID IN COURT, RECALLING THAT AFTER AMERICAN 
AIR RAIDS ON DRESDEN HE HAD SWORN, " I SHALL REPAY 
THEM DOUBLY AND TRIPLY . " CHAMPAGNE IN STREAMS . ONE 
MAJOR SERVICE CLEMENS PERFORMED FOR THE RUSSIANS WAS TO RECRUIT A 
FORMER SS COLLEAGUE, HEINZ FELFE . COOL AND ARTICULATE, DEFENDANT FELFE, 
45, TOLD THE JUDGES THAT HE TOO WAS AN ARDENT NAZI, 
HAD WORKED HIS WAY UP INTO HEINRICH HIMMLER'S STATE SECURITY BUREAU 
. HE BRAGGED OF HIS WARTIME SUCCESSES, WHICH HE CLAIMED INCLUDED 
GETTING FIRST REPORTS ON TEHERAN AND YALTA FROM A CONFIDANT OF 
ALLEN DULLES . AFTER WAR'S END HE WAS CLASSIFIED BY A 
GERMAN DENAZIFICATION BOARD AS UNBELASTET (NOT INCRIMINATED) . THIS ASTONISHING FACT 
WAS ACKNOWLEDGED BY PRESIDING JUDGE KURT WEBER WITH AN OUTRAGED " 
DONNERWETTER ! " (THUNDERATION) . IN 1947, JUST 18 MONTHS AFTER 
FELFE'S RELEASE FROM A PRISONER-OF-WAR CAMP, HE FOUND SPY WORK WITH 
THE BRITISH, CONTINUING WITH THEM UNTIL, AS HE PUT IT, THE 
BRITISH / RAN OUT OF MONEY . " THEN HIS OLD 
FRIEND CLEMENS MADE CONTACT WITH HIM ON ORDERS FROM COLONEL " 
MAX, " ARRANGED A MEETING IN EAST BERLIN, AT WHICH FELFE 
WAS HIRED TO WORK FOR THE SOVIETS . THE DEAL WAS 
CLINCHED AT A DINNER AT MAX'S VILLA, WHERE THE TABLE " 
WAS PILED HIGH WITH FOOD AND CHAMPAGNE POURED IN STREAMS . 
" NOT LONG AFTERWARD, THANKS TO A RECOMMENDATION FROM HIS FRIEND 
CLEMENS, FELFE WAS OFFERED A JOB IN THE GEHLEN SERVICE . 
" NOW, " HE SAID, " I WAS TO DANCE AT 
TWO WEDDINGS, WITH THE RUSSIANS AND WITH GEHLEN . " FELFE 
DANCED UP FAST IN GEHLEN'S RANKS, AND BY THE TIME OF 
HIS ARREST IN 1961 HAD BECOME A DEPARTMENT HEAD IN THE 
COUNTER-ESPIONAGE DIVISION, SPECIALIZING IN ANTI-SOVIET WORK . REWARDING INVESTMENT . THE 
WORRIEDLOOKING THIRD MEMBER OF THE GROUP, ONE ERWIN TIEBEL, MERELY SERVED 
AS COURIER FOR FELFE AND CLEMENS . THE SPIES TRANSMITTED THEIR 
INFORMATION BY MICROFILM HIDDEN IN FOOD CANS SENT TO EAST GERMANY, 
BY DROPS ALONG THE AUTOBAHN, AND BY FREQUENT TRIPS ON U.S 
. AIR FORCE COURIER FLIGHTS TO BERLIN, WHICH THEY BOARDED UNDER 
THE PRETEXT OF BEING ON GEHLEN BUSINESS, THE THREE GOT A 
TOTAL OF $78,000 FROM MOSCOW . FOR THE INVESTMENT, THE SOVIETS 
GOT 15,000 MICROFILM PHOTOGRAPHS OF WEST GERMAN INTELLIGENCE DOCUMENTS, 20 SPOOLS 
OF TAPE RECORDINGS, NUMEROUS VERBAL AND RADIO REPORTS, INCLUDING THE IDENTITY 
OF MANY WEST GERMAN AGENTS WORKING BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN . 
AS THE TESTIMONY POURED FORTH, THE OUTCRY FROM WEST GERMANY'S PRESS 
AND PUBLIC FORCED DEFENSE MINISTER KAIUWE VON HASSEL TO PROMISE A 
" RE-EXAMINATION " OF GEHLEN'S ORGANIZATION, AND REPORTEDLY GEHLEN WILL RETIRE 
SOON . VON HASSEL ADDED LAMELY : " THERE WILL ALWAYS 
BE CASES OF INFILTRATION IN ANY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE . " BUT 
THE GEHLEN GROUP MUST HAVE SET A RECORD OF SORTS . 
AT ONE POINT, TESTIFIED FELFE, HIS RUSSIAN BOSSES URGED HIM TO 
GET A TRANSFER BECAUSE THERE ALREADY WAS A SURPLUS OF SOVIET 
AGENTS IN HIS DEPARTMENT . SHORTLY BEFORE THEIR ARREST, ADDED FELFE, 
HE AND CLEMENS RECEIVED LETTERS OF COMMENDATION AND CASH BONUSES FROM 
THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SOVIET COMMITTEE FOR STATE SECURITY.SIMULTANEOUSLY, THE TWO 
AGENTS GOT CITATIONS FOR TEN YEARS' MERITORIOUS SERVICE FROM GENERAL GEHLEN 
. 