ESPIONAGE, PROSTITUTION AND SEXPIONAGE IN MOVIES SELECTED

The former Assistant FBI Director William C. Sullivan stated in November 1975 in testimony before the Church Committee: « …The use of sex is a common practice among intelligence services all over the world. This is a tough dirty business. We have used that technique against the Soviets. They have used it against us…». Sexpionage is the possibility of sexual activity to conduct espionage. My interest for the subject was a result of having read the book about « Frida» who was a prostitute.The author is Nina Grunfeld. My aim was to make a search in my private movie collection for movies dealing with espionage? My result was not a good one. But I found only four movies dealing with the subject: Spies, prostitution, military secrets and politics.

According to information published in the book titled: « Ultimate Spy» (Alt om spionasje) making use of prostitutes were a policy of the secret service of East- Germany. Hauptverwaltung Aufklarung (HVA) was set up in 1952. The German Director of HVA  from 1952 to 1986 was Markus Wolf. He was called « the man without face «. The agents of HVA were trained in exploiting human weekness. The training program was called « Romeo- method». Making use of prostitutes were also a part of the policy of HVA.How to seduce  men and women and making use of sexual intercourse to get military and political information were the aim of the « Romeo- method». Sex- schools were also set by the KGB. The use of « Honey trapping « is still an object for the training of agents in many countries. « Honey trapping» is a method involving the use of romantic or sexual relationships for interpersonal and political purpose.

THE MOVIES SELECTED FROM MY PRIVATE COLLECTION

The movie: « Die Schøne Spionin», or « The Beautiful Spy» or « The Spy» are titles used of the movie dealing with the story of Vera Schalburg. She was born in Siberia, Russia in November 23,1907 and died February 8, 1946. Christian Fredrik von Schalburg was her brother.Christian Fredrik von Schalburg was a Danish officer,the second commander of Free Corps Denmark (1906-1942).  Vera von Schalburg is portrayed by actress Valerie Niehaus. She is a German prostitute working for Nazi Germany. She was sent to Great Britain by the Germans as a spy but she was revealed. In order to save her life she accepted to become a British agent. The plot of the movie is thrilling but fictional.
She was a Soviet,German and British agent.The movie was released in December 2013.

SCANDAL

« SCANDAL» is the title of a British drama film released in March 1989. The film is a docudrama dealing with the Profumo affair. Minister of War John Profumo was a member of the British government chaired by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. The plot is about the relationship between the conservative politician John Profumo and the young exotic danser Christine Keeler. The British osteopath Stephen Ward was her friend and mentor. The contact with the young prostitute and the Minister of War became a public scandal when the affair was known. Besides Christine Keeler is also involved with an affair with a Russian diplomat. The Soviet military attache Yevgeny Ivanov was an intelligence officer in the Russian GRU. He was a friend of Stephen Ward too. In 1982 MI5 confirmed the contact between Stephen Ward, MI5 and Yevgeny Ivanov.

RED SPARROW

The spy thriller movie was released in 2018. The plot is about how  to train a young girl in acting like a prostitute in order to seduce men for information.The former ballerina Dominika Egorova has been recruited by Russian Intelligence Service.She attended the school " State School 4" where she got a realistic training in sexpionage. The movie is fictional but true in a way in presenting a realistic picture of the Russian espionage. The plot is thrilling with much dramatic actions too. Sex spy operations were made by making use of Bolshoi ballerinas, famous actresses, movie and theater actresses. The femal agents were called « swallows». The sexpionage school was called « State School 4».

MATA HARI

Movies have been made about the story of Mata Hari. She was born August 7,1876 and died October 15, 1917. Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod was her real name.She was a Dutch exotic dancer. During World War I she worked as a spy both for Germany and France. She was executed by firing squad in France. I found only one movie of Mata Hari in my collection.

« MATA HARI» was released in September 1985. The movie is an erotic biographical film dealing with the story of the dancer and the spy Mata Hari.The film is fictional. The plot is about the innocent dancer who is manipulated by the secret services of Germany and France. Mata Hari is making use of her erotic power seducing politicians, military officers and people who are involved in political and military matters in order to get information.

CONCLUSION

Espionage has been- and is still an object for feature films. My experience viewing feature films dealing with espionage led me to questions about the reality of the movies. Papers and published books about spies, prostitution, and political affaires with reference to matters of international importance are of great interest for the political events of today. What is reality and what is fiction might be hard to understand when official reports about the life of elected politicians are published?