| Revision as of 19:21, 29 April 2020 edit2601:6c0:8001:1c10:bced:3852:9a12:3073 (talk) →Background and significant events: I gave some first hand witness account to Brig. Jeanmaire.Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit← Previous edit | Revision as of 19:22, 29 April 2020 edit undoEd6767 (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers11,698 edits Rollback recent rev. by 2601:6C0:8001:1C10:BCED:3852:9A12:3073 (talk) to rev. 858253224 by NicholasNotabene: revert good faith edits , manual of style, no citation (RedWarn)Tag: undoNext edit → | ||
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| He was sentenced to a prison term of eighteen years but served only twelve due to good conduct. Jeanmaire was released from prison in 1988, and died of natural causes in 1992 in ]. | He was sentenced to a prison term of eighteen years but served only twelve due to good conduct. Jeanmaire was released from prison in 1988, and died of natural causes in 1992 in ]. | ||
| Brig. Jeanmaire was the highest ranking officer in my military career, which went as far as the rank of a Fourier (Seargant level). I got to know him quite well during that time and always thought if him as a decent man with a good sense of humor. A bit of a tough daddy type. We all liked him, except the young lieutenants. He made them run in front of us all. "I want to see heals!" was his command to them. | |||
| Unfortunately, he liked to drink wine a little too much. I remember when he visited our new Kaserne (Barracks) in thr Bern area. It was just before Noon when he arrived in a gray Mercedes with driver. He called me over and asked "Where's the Party hall" (Festhuette)? Of course i knew what he meant and took him to the Marshall. | |||
| I personally do not believe that Brig. Jeanmaire knowingly or frivolously supplied any foreign power with military secrets. I knew him too well as a true Swiss Amy guy, proud of it and ready to fight for it. If he reveal anything, he would have either too drunk to realize it or the KGB or other trained entity was able to piece pieces together. I for one still see him taking off his hat, holding on tight to his bayonets and make a somersault into the stretched out tarp (Sprungtuch). | |||
| ==Literature== | ==Literature== | ||
Revision as of 19:22, 29 April 2020
Jean-Louis Jeanmaire (25 March 1910 in Biel/Bienne – 29 January 1992) was a brigadier in the Swiss army who passed highly classified Swiss military secrets to the Soviet Union from 1962 up until his retirement at 65 in 1975.
Background and significant events
He was recruited as a spy by Colonel Vassily Denissenko, the Soviet air attaché.
He never accepted money for the information he passed to the Soviets; his motivation appeared to be the result of bitterness at being passed over for promotion.
He was sentenced to a prison term of eighteen years but served only twelve due to good conduct. Jeanmaire was released from prison in 1988, and died of natural causes in 1992 in Bern.
Literature
- Urs Widmer: Jeanmaire: ein Stück Schweiz. Verlag der Autoren, Frankfurt am Main 1992 – ISBN 3-88661-136-1 (play)
- John le Carré: Unbearable peace. Harmondsworth 1991 – ISBN 0-14-015204-0
- Jürg Schoch: Fall Jeanmaire, Fall Schweiz. Wie Politik und Medien einen «Jahrhundertverräter» fabrizierten. «hier + jetzt», Verlag für Kultur und Geschichte, Baden 2006 – ISBN 3-03919-026-1
References
- Blackhall, Sue (1997) . The world's greatest blunders. London: Octopus publishing group Ltd. pp. 131–133. ISBN 1-85152-870-9.
- "Gen. Jean-Louis Jeanmaire, 81, Swiss Spy". The New York Times. January 31, 1992.
External links
- Jean-Louis Jeanmaire in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.