Karl Koecher
| Karel Koecher | |
|---|---|
| Allegiance | Czechoslovakia USSR |
| Service | StB KGB |
| Active | 1962–1983 |
| Codename(s) | Rino |
| Turian | |
| Pedro | |
|
|
|
| Birth name | Karel František Koecher |
| Born |
September 21, 1934 Bratislava, Czechoslovakia |
| Parents | Irena |
| Spouse | Hana Pardemecova |
| Alma mater |
Charles University Indiana University Columbia University |
Karel František Koecher (21 September 1934 in Bratislava) is a mole known to have penetrated the CIA.
Born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, his father was a Viennese-born Czech and his mother Irena, a Slovak Jew. As the son of an Anglophile, Koecher gained his English language skills from an early age attending an English grammar school before the war. Prior to his entry to university, his anti-state activities in his teen years attracted the attention of the security service, the StB, after the communists took over in Czechoslovakia in 1948. He would study physics and mathematics at Charles University as well as film at the Academy of Performing Arts. After university he tried a few jobs including as a teacher, a reporter for state television and as a radio comedy writer. He became a radio comedy writer and was allegedly frequently scrutinized by the Communist security forces for his satire that mocked the regime (this turned out to be a pre-planned "cover story"). He joined the Communist Party in 1960, and the Czechoslovak intelligence service in 1962. Koecher claims that constant harassment from the StB due to his history of anti-state and anti-social behavior, ruined his different careers and in order to end the harassment, decided to join the StB. With the help of a friend within the StB and his language skills, he was recruited into the intelligence service. In 1963, he married Hanna Pardemecova. His first two years were devoted to training and counter-intelligence work against West Germans in Prague.
Because of his English language skills, Koecher was selected to become a mole in the West. In 1965 he and his wife, Hana Koecher (the daughter of a Communist Party official), seemingly emigrated to the United States via Austria posing as defecting dissidents. His language skills and status as a defector aided Koecher in gaining employment at Radio Free Europe and a year long fellowship at Indiana University. He returned to New York in 1967 and he gained a doctorate in philosophy from Columbia University, and became an American citizen in 1971.
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