Markus Johannes Wolf, also known as Mischa, was a German spymaster who served as the head of the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung), the foreign intelligence division of East Germany's Ministry for State Security (Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, abbr. MfS, commonly known as the Stasi). He was the Stasi's number two for 34 years, which spanned most of the Cold War. He is often regarded as one of the most effective spymasters during the Cold War. In the West he was known as "the man without a face" as Western agencies reportedly did not know what he looked like until 1978.




