Operation Gold
Der Spionagetunnel in Berlin / The Berlin Spy Tunnel
1st Edition
Published on 31. March 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
224 pages
978-3-8148-0348-7 (ISBN)
Description
The British-American spy tunnel extended approximately 330 metres from West Berlin into the GDR. From there, the intelligence services intercepted important telephone conversations between Soviet military personnel from May 1955 onwards. In total, over 400,000 telephone calls were intercepted. The Soviet intelligence service ended the operation in April 1956. The story is well known in film and literature, but only almost. In fact, an important piece of the puzzle piece has been missing until now, slumbering in the´archives of Berlin's underground world. It is the comprehensive documentation that was produced exclusively for the GDR Minister of the Interior, Karl Maron. It was generally considered lost. In fact, it contains previously unknown photos and details about the discovery of this tunnel and how it worked. A real find.
It is introduced and explained by Dietmar Arnold, who knows Berlin's underworld like no other, and Helmut Müller-Enbergs, who studies Berlin's spies, sometimes for counter-espionage, sometimes as a researcher at the Free University of Berlin.
Reviews / Votes
»Der rührige Verein Berliner Unterwelten legt zum 70. Jahrestag der Entdeckung des Tunnels einen Bildband vor, in dem ein weiterer, bislang voll kommen unbekannter Fotobericht des Tunnels abgedruckt ist. « Sven Felix Kellerhoff, Welt am Sonntag, 19.04.2026More details
Persons
Author
Dietmar Arnold, geboren 1964 in Berlin, studierte Stadt- und Regionalplanung an der Technischen Universität Berlin und schrieb seine Diplomarbeit über die Beelitzer Heilstätten. Seit 1991 forscht und publiziert er intensiv über den Berliner Untergrund und gründete 1997 den Berliner Unterwelten e. V. Er wurde mit dem Landesverdienstorden von Berlin (2018) und dem Bundesverdienstkreuz (2025) ausgezeichnet.
Dietmar Arnold, born in Berlin in 1964, studied Urban and Regional Pplanning at the Technical University of Berlin and wrote his thesis on the Beelitz sanatoriums. Since 1991, he has been conducting intensive research and publishing on Berlin's underground, and in 1997 he founded Berliner Unterwelten e. V. He was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of Berlin (2018) and the Federal Cross of Merit (2025).
ISNI:
ISNI:
Helmut Müller-Enbergs, Prof. Dr. phil., geboren 1960 in Haltern am See, ist außerordentlicher Professor am Center for Cold War Studies an der University of Southern Denmark in Odense, Gastwissenschaftler am Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut der FU Berlin und Senior Fellow an der Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Sein Forschungsschwerpunkt ist die Geschichte der Nachrichtendienste.
Helmut Müller-Enbergs, Prof. Dr. phil., born in Haltern am See in 1960, is an associate professor at the Center for Cold War Studies at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, a visiting scholar at the Friedrich Meinecke Institute at the Free University of Berlin, and a senior fellow at Ruhr University Bochum. His research focuses on the history of intelligence services.
ISNI:
ISNI:
Editor
Berliner Unterwelten e.V. erforscht und dokumentiert seit 1997 die geschichtlichen Zusammenhänge des Berliner Untergrundes. Die denkmalgeschützten Orte werden im Rahmen von Touren für die Öffentlichkeit zugänglich gemacht.
Berliner Unterwelten e.V. has been researching and documenting the historical connections of Berlin's underground since 1997. The protected heritage sites are made accessible to visitors through guided tours.
ISNI:
ISNI: