The World - News from Feb. 16, 1987
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Because he was denied a promotion, Markus Wolf retired last week from his legendary 30-year career as East Germany’s top spy, the West German news magazine Der Spiegel said. It said that Wolf, 64, retired in frustration because he could not succeed Erich Mielke, 79, as minister for state security. Der Spiegel said the Moscow-trained Wolf’s promotion was blocked by East German state and party leader Erich Honecker. It said Wolf irked Honecker by opposing his efforts to make the ministry more independent of the Soviet KGB.
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