U.S. RELEASES 4 AND EAST BLOC 25 IN SPY EXCHANGE ON BERLIN BRIDGE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630065-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 65
• Publication Date: June 12, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

(e Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630065-0
"TLEAPPEAID
(IN PAGE ti 12 June 1985
NEW YORK TIMES
U.S. Releases 4 and East Bloc 25
In Spy Exchange on Berlin Bridge
By BERNARD GWERTZMAN
Special to The New York Times
WASHINGTON, June 11 ? The
United States today freed four East
Europeans imprisoned on espionage
charges in exchange 'for 25 Western
agents who had been held prisoner in
East Germany and Poland, State De-
partment officials announced.
The exchange was described by one
State Department official as "the big-
gest spy swap" in memory. It was car-
ried out at 1 P.M. Berlin time on the
Glienicke Bridge, which crosses the
Havel River and connects West Berlin
and East .Germany, the scene of fa-
mous East-West exchanges in the past.
No Americans were involved in the
exchange, but a Justice Department of-
ficial said of those
Communists had been "of interest" to
the United States, apparently suggest-
ing that they had worked for American
intelligence or for other Western intel-
ligence agencies in collaboration with
Washington.
A Justice Department offical said
that the United States, in the three
years of discussions leading up to to-
day's secret exchange, had sought to
include the Soviet dissidents Andrei D.
Sakharov and Anatoly B. Shcharansky
but "we were told that the Soviet Union
would not consider their release."
"After it became clear that the Sovi-
ets would not change their position," he
said, "we decided that obtaining the re-
lease of 25 persons and family mem-
bers was an important humanitarian
step which justified the agreement"
The operation was coordinated on the
American side by Richard R. Burt, the
Assistant Secretary of State for Euro-
pean Affairs, who secretly broke away
from Secretary of State George P.
Shultz's party in London last weekend
to fly to Berlin. Television cameras
were allowed on the Glienicke Bridge
to record the transfer and Mr. Burt was
seen surveying the scene before it took
place.
Only 23 of the prisoners held in East
German or Polish custody crossed into
West Berlin today. The two others
"wished to remain behind out of con-
cern for personal business and the wel-
fare of family members," a Justice De-
partment official said. But the East
Germans have agreed that they will not
be subject to further imprisonment and
can leave for the West within two
weeks if they choose.
"Furthermore," the official said, "it
has been agreed that family members
of all 25 persons who wish to do so will
be allowed to join them within a short
time. We believe a number of family
members may take advantage of this
possibility."
The United States declined to make
public the names of those freed by the
Communist authorities "in order to
protect the interests of the persons con-
cerned," a Justice Department official
said.
"In the interest of the privacy of
these people, who have gone through
quite a lot and need some rest, I am not
going to reveal their current where-
abouts," he said.
'Inhuman Treatment' Charged
One of the 25 was interviewed on
West German television in Giessen,
where East Germans who come to the
West are processed. He identified him-
self as Gerhard Suss. He said he had
been imprisoned for 13 years and had
been systematically tortured by the
jailers. He said he was speaking out to
protest "this inhuman treatment."
The four freed by the United States
were flown secretly by Air Force plane
to Tempelhof Airport in West Berlin on
Monday night and taken to the bridge
this morning.
This is how a State Department offi-
cial at the scene described the trans-
fer:
"After it was verified that the 25
Europeans were present on the East
German side of Glienicke Bridge, the
four were moved in a van to the Glie-
nicke Bridge. We had the opportunity
to meet with all 25 individuals on the
East German side of the bridge and to
interview them and ascertain their in-
tentions and desires. When those indi-
viduals were interviewed, they were
told that they had the right to come
across the bridge.
"A bus was brought up to the middle
of the bridge and the 23 who wished im-
mediately to come to the West were
able to leave the bus and boarded the
American bus that we had brought up.
Once that exchange took place, the four
individuals under our custody were
brought up and released to the custody
of East Germany."
Initiated by East Germany
The exchange was initiated by the
East Germans, a Justice Department
official said, and involved Wolfgang
Vogel, an East German lawyer who
has been a part of many publicized and
unpublicized cases. His most famous
exchange took place in 1962 and in-
volved Gary Powers, the U-2 recon-
naissance pilot shot down over the
Soviet Union, in return for Col. Rudolf
Abel, a Soviet agent, who had been con-
victed of espionage in Brooklyn.
Mr. Vogel was seen greeting the four
released today as they crossed into
East Germany, news agency reports
said.
A West German source was quoted
by the West German news agency
D.P.A. as having said that of the 23 who
came to the West today, 17 were Ger-
mans. But it was not made known
whether they had been West German or
East German citizens originally. No
other breakdown was provided.
The 4 Freed by the U.S.
These are the four people released by
the United States:
q Marian W. Zacharski, a Polish busi-
nessman convicted in California on
Nov. 16, 1981, on one count of consni,
acy to transmit information relating to
the national defense of the United
States and sentenced to life imprison-
ment on Dec. 19, 1981. He had been
charged with buying secret informa-
tion dealing with an antitank missile
and radar technology. He was granted
executive clemency in connection with
the exchange.
Zehe, an East German
physicist, who pleaded guilty last Feb.
21 in Massachusetts to eight counts of
espionage and was sentenced to eight
years' imprisonment and fined $5,000.
He was involved in buying classified in-
formation from a source who was
working with Federal authorities in
supplying material not damaging to
the national security, according to in-
formation presented in court. He was
released by the court for the exchange.
4IAlice Michelson, a 67-year old East
German woman, who pleaded guilty on
May 31 to helping agents of a foreign
country obtain classified documents
and was sentenced to 10 years impris-
onment. She was arrested last October
at Kennedy International Airport in
New York as she was about to board a
plane for Czechoslovakia with a tape
recording of secret United States infor-
mation hidden in a cigarette package.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/11/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630065-0
American authorities said she had been '
given the material by an Army ser-
geant who was posing as a spy for the
Soviet Union but in fact was working
for the United States. She was freed by
the court for the exchange.
Penyu Baychev Kostadinov, a Bul-
garian trade official indicted in Sep-
tember 1983 for buying secrets relating
to the security of nuclear weapcns from
an American who was cooperating with
the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
His case was caught up in a dispute
over whether he had diplomatic im-
munity and had not gone to trial.
Charges against him are being dis-
missed.
State Department officials stressed
that the exchange was not related to
other developments and specifically
had nothing to do with the case of the
purported spy ring organized by John
A. Walker Jr., a former Navy warrant
officer.
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