Jean-Louis Jeanmaire

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Jean-Louis Jeanmaire (25 March 1911 in Biel/Bienne - 29 January 1992) was a brigadier in the Swiss army who passed highly classified, but rather insensitive Swiss military secrets to the Soviet Union from 1962 up until his retirement at 65 in 1975. 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 18 years, but only served 12 due to good conduct. After his release in 1988, he agitated vigorously to clear his name, and there is doubt about the extent of his guilt, as evidenced by the fact that he was chosen to give the 1st of August speech at Vue des Alpes in 1990.

Jeanmaire died 1992 in Berne.

[edit] 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

[edit] References

Blackhall, Sue [1989] (1997). "6", The world's greatest blunders (in English). London: Octopus publishing group Ltd., 131—133. ISBN 1-85152-870-9.
"Gen. Jean-Louis Jeanmaire, 81, Swiss Spy", The New York Times, January 31, 1992.