The Traitor of Simonstown
ABSTRACT: Dieter Felix Gerhardt was a commodore in the South African Navy [SAN], commander of the Simonstown Naval Base, and from 1963 to 1983, an inimical Russian spy.
Key Words: Espionage, South Africa, GRU, DST, SA Navy, Dieter Felix Gerhard, Ruth Johr
Henning van Aswegen
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Dieter Felix Gerhardt, a South African naval officer based in Simonstown, was a paid penetration agent for the Russian Military Intelligence Service, Glavnoje Razvedyvatel’noje Upravlenije (GRU) in the South African Defence Force (SADF). Without their knowledge and under their noses, Dieter Felix Gerhardt was a Russian spy who betrayed his family, friends, colleagues, and country for money. In The Traitor of Simonstown, the intelligence historian Henning van Aswegen reveals the inside story of Dieter Felix Gerhardt’s callous treachery, and the role of his Swiss-born wife Ruth Johr as his courier and support agent. With the help of the French counterespionage service DST, Gerhardt was arrested in New York on 8 January 1983, and Johr by South African authorities in Simonstown on 9 January 1983. Dieter Felix Gerhardt was found guilty of high treason in the Cape High Court and sentenced to life imprisonment for selling NATO secrets to the Soviet Union.
