Markus Wolf, 83, East German Espionage Chief

Markus Johannes Wolf was born Jan. 19, 1923, in Hechingen, a village in southwestern Germany.

His father, Friedrich, was a prominent doctor, playwright and Communist Party activist. He also was Jewish and relocated the family to Moscow soon after Hitler's rise to power in 1933.

As a young man, Mr. Wolf was educated at a Soviet Comintern school, where he became handy with weapons and propaganda techniques.

In Soviet-held Germany after the war, he befriended future East German leader Walter Ulbricht, who ordered him to abandon aeronautical studies to work as a Communist Party radio broadcaster.

Covering the Nuremberg trials of former Nazi leaders led Mr. Wolf to join the new Stasi. He later explained to the publication Tikkun, "Many other Jews took a similar path, becoming active in the Stasi to hunt down former Nazis."

He justified his decision on the grounds that Western powers used high-ranking Nazis, including Reinhard Gehlen, to build up their postwar intelligence services.

At 33, Mr. Wolf assumed command of the East German foreign intelligence service and wandered the world in disguise, under many names.

Ronald Payne and Christopher Dobson, authors of "Who's Who in Espionage" (1984), wrote: "He had a taste for travel, and has been seen in Aden, the capital of the People's Republic of South Yemen, where the East Germans control security and fill a prominent neo-colonialist role. It has been suggested that he played some part in attempting to destabilize the monarchy in Saudi Arabia."

In retirement, Mr. Wolf wrote a bestselling novel, "The Troika," based on his youth, and tried to revive his standing in a changing society that had little but contempt for the Stasi. He embraced Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's policies of openness and appeared at rallies against Honecker.

Despite his public transformation, he was barred from entering the United States, which he found hypocritical, considering that Yasser Arafat and Gerry Adams, leaders aligned with violent political groups, were embraced by the White House. Partly to blame, he said, was his refusal to work for the CIA with the promise of a seven-figure salary, a home in California and a fresh identity.

Recounting his career in later years, Mr. Wolf could be charming and self-effacing. He noted that his best-known operative, Guillaume, was supposed to target only a West German labor leader but inadvertently took down Brandt's government.

Mr. Wolf's first two marriages, to Emmi Stenzer and Christa Wolf, ended in divorce. Survivors include his third wife, Andrea Wolf; three children; and a step-daughter.

Mr. Wolf was said to be an inspiration for the Soviet spy Karla, a character in John le Carre's espionage novels, but le Carre said he did not know of Mr. Wolf when he created Karla.

Le Carre was also unimpressed with Mr. Wolf's latter-day conversion, calling him "the modern equivalent of Albert Speer . . . a nasty little twerp."