Christel Boom
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Christel Boom (
née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Meerrettig, married name Christel Guillaume; 6 October 1927 – 20 March 2004) was an
East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
intelligence agent who worked for the
Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...
to infiltrate the
Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...
(SPD), the ruling party of
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
from 1965 to 1983. Alongside her husband, Günter Guillaume, she helped to orchestrate the infiltration of the West German Chancellor
Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...
's government. The pair passed
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
and SPD information to the Stasi between 1969 and 1974. Their exposure as spies in 1974, dubbed the Guillaume affair, was part of a chain of events which led to Brandt's resignation as Chancellor the same year. Along with her husband, Christel was arrested and imprisoned for seven years, before being released as part of prisoner exchange in 1981. On their return to East Germany, the pair returned to work for the Stasi, and were awarded the Order of Karl Marx. Christel divorced Guillaume shortly after, feeling betrayed that his confession had led to their imprisonment. She retired in western Berlin after
German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
, and died in 2004.


Early life

Christel Ingeborg Margarete Meerrettig was born on 6 October 1927 in
Allenstein Olsztyn ( , ; german: Allenstein ; Old Prussian: ''Alnāsteini'' * Latin: ''Allenstenium'', ''Holstin'') is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. ...
,
East Prussia East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
(modern Olsztyn, Poland). She was the illegitimate daughter of a farm worker, Erna Meerrettig. Her mother married a successful Dutchman, Tobias Boom, the technical director of a tobacco factory in East Prussia, in the early 1930s. Boom adopted Christel, and undertook to give her a good upbringing. The family moved to
Leisnig Leisnig ( hsb, Lěsnik) is a small town in the district of Mittelsachsen, in the state of Saxony in Germany, 50 kilometers southeast of Leipzig. History A settlement in this location was first mentioned in 1046. The town features Mildenstein Ca ...
, but was broken up during the Second World War when Christel's adoptive father was arrested and held in
Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
for being a hostile foreigner after the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940. He was released, but was physically and mentally affected, and died in 1944. Christel had been training as a medical technical assistant, but the end of the war in 1945 prevented her from completing her training. Instead, she trained as a typist, receiving private lessons in typewriting and shorthand. Finding job prospects limited in Leisnig, she moved to
East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
and found work as a secretary at the headquarters of the Committee of the Fighters for Peace, a communist front organisation. She met Günter Guillaume in 1950, who worked as a photographer for a publishing house. Their relationship moved quickly; they were engaged within a few months, and married on 12 May 1951 in Leisnig. After living for a short while with Guillaume's mother, they were assigned an apartment in
Lehnitz Oranienburg () is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel. Geography Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin. Division of the town Oranienburg ...
, about north west of Berlin. Christel's mother, Erna, joined them in 1953. Günter travelled to West Germany a few times in the early 1950s for the Stasi, before the couple received training from the
Main Directorate for Reconnaissance The Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (german: ; german: , ) was the foreign intelligence service of the Ministry of State Security (''Stasi''), the main security agency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), from 1955 to 1990. ...
(HVA), the foreign intelligence service arm of the Stasi, for their infiltration.


Infiltration of West Germany

In May 1956, the Guillaumes, along with Christel's mother, were assigned to Frankfurt, where they posed as refugees. They were initially supposed to integrate themselves into the community and work as handlers for sources within the
Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...
(SPD). As Christel's mother had a Dutch passport, she was able to travel to West Germany without restriction, and so she was sent ahead to establish herself in the city. When Christel and Günter followed, they were able to avoid the normal checks carried out on refugees by registering at a local police station, rather than a refugee camp. Along with a letter from Christel's mother requesting they be granted refugee status, this was sufficient to gain them entry. The couple ran a cafe and tobacco shop near Frankfurt Cathedral (german: Frankfurter Dom), called 'Boom am Dom'. Christel initially carried out administrative work in support of Günter, who acted as a handler for two contacts within the SPD; she would decode and encrypt the messages relayed between them and Stasi headquarters. The pair joined the Frankfurt branch of the SPD, and in April 1957 Christel gave birth to their son, Pierre. Two years later, Christel made the first significant inroad, gaining employment as a secretary at the SPD office for
Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
South, initially working in refugee affairs, before transferring to work for Willi Birkelbach, the party chairman for the region. As well as his role within the SPD, Birkelbach was also a Member of the
Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
(West Germany's national parliament) and a
Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
. When Birkelbach rose to be part of the party leadership, and a secretary of state, Christel gained access to
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
documents as well as SPD ones. She passed reports on the NATO military exercises Fallex 64 and Fallex 66 in 1965 and 1967 respectively. After Christel's initial successes, it was Günter who later made more significant inroads; after being elected to the Frankfurt city council in 1968, he was campaign manager for
Georg Leber Georg Leber (7 October 1920 – 21 August 2012) was a German Trades Union leader and a politician in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Biography Leber was born in Obertiefenbach (Beselich). After serving in the Luftwaffe (the Germ ...
who became West Germany defence minister. Günter was given a position as junior aide to
Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...
, the newly elected
Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
in 1969. The main information he relayed to the Stasi was on the mood of the government towards East Germany, and specifically Ostpolitik, the normalisation of relations between West and East Germany. He was elevated to become one of Brandt's personal aides in 1972. There had always been rumours about the Guillaume's past, and as early as 1955 Günter had been suspected of working as an East German agent, but the initial report had been overlooked and dismissed. More red flags were raised during his 1969 elevation to work with Brandt, but nothing concrete could be found. In 1973, a counter-intelligence officer came across the Guillaumes during the investigation of another case. Among the most compelling pieces of evidence were radio intercepts dating back to the 1950s that coincided with significant events for the Guillaumes; the birth of Pierre, birthdays and other family occasions. The HVA had sent messages like these to improve the morale of their foreign operatives, but for the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) this provided motivation for further investigation. Günther Nollau, the head of the BfV, recommended to Brandt that the Guillaumes be left in place and put under surveillance. The couple became aware of the surveillance, and were told to suspend their own intelligence work by their superiors in the Stasi. The choice of whether to return to East Germany was left in their own hands, and they opted to remain in place. On 24 April 1974, under the name Operation Tango, the Guillaumes were arrested at their home in
Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
. Günter declared "I am a citizen and officer of the GDR. Do respect that." Brandt resigned soon after, officially citing the Guillaume affair as the reason. In June 1975, the pair were put on trial for high treason in
Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
; Günter was sentenced to thirteen years, while Christel was given eight years. Under normal circumstances at the time, the pair would have expected to be sent back to East Germany sooner rather than later as part of a prisoner exchange, but given the high profile and embarrassing nature of the infiltration, the West German government was not interested in such a swap.


Later life

Christel was eventually released from prison in March 1981 as part of a prisoner exchange for six West German spies and went back to East Germany, while Günter was not released until October that year. The couple were awarded East Germany's highest honour, the Order of Karl Marx. Soon after their return, she divorced Guillaume, who she felt had betrayed her by confessing to their spying, and for revelations made during the trial that he had been a member of the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
, against whom she held a grudge for their treatment of her father. She returned to work for the Stasi at their headquarters in
East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
. In 1990, East and West Germany began the process of
reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governmen ...
. In February 2001 she lost a court case against the German government, in which she petitioned for the seven years she served in prison to be added to her pension earnings. She retired to
Wilmersdorf Wilmersdorf (), an inner-city locality of Berlin, lies south-west of the central city. Formerly a borough by itself, Wilmersdorf became part of the new borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. History The vi ...
, a district in western Berlin, and died of heart failure on 20 March 2004.


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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boom, Christel 1927 births 2004 deaths East German spies Women spies People convicted of spying for East Germany People from Olsztyn People from East Prussia Stasi officers East German women