Commemorative plaque in Moscow in memory of the former head of East German intelligence, Markus Wolf

Russia has installed a commemorative plaque and a bronze relief in Moscow in memory of Markus Wolf, the former head of East Germany’s foreign intelligence service, known as the Stasi. The monuments were installed on the façade of the building at 8 Nizhny Kislovsky Street, where Wolf lived between 1934 and 1945, after fleeing the Nazis to Russia.

The plaque and the relief, created by sculptor Vladimir Ivanov, were unveiled during a ceremony at which the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, praised Wolf’s contribution to the East German intelligence services. He described him as a patriot of Germany, a loyal friend of Russia, and an outstanding intelligence professional. For decades, he was considered “the man without a face” by Western intelligence services, which managed to discover what he looked like only toward the end of the 1970s.

Wolf headed the Stasi’s foreign intelligence division for nearly 30 years and was considered one of the most important master spies of the Cold War. The most spectacular operation associated with his name was the infiltration of Günter Guillaume into the inner circle of West German Chancellor Willy Brandt. The spy’s exposure led to Brandt’s resignation in 1974.

Markus Wolf died in Berlin at the age of 83 on November 9, 2006. The same building also commemorates his family: his father, writer Friedrich Wolf, and his brother, director Konrad Wolf.