William Borm (7 July 1895 – 2 September 1987) was a German politician, of theFree Democratic Party (FDP). He was a member of theBundestag from 1965 to 1972, and a member of the FDP National Executive Committee from 1960 to 1982. Several years after his death, it was revealed that since the late 1950s he had been an agent of theStasi, the State Security Service of theGerman Democratic Republic.[1][2]
Borm was born the son of a furniture merchant, and grew up with his uncle inBautzen. He graduated from high school in 1914. InWorld War I he was from 1915 to 1918 a volunteer in a hussar regiment. He studied economics at theUniversity of Berlin. In 1929 he founded a company for electro-acoustics. InWorld War II he was appointed in 1940 as aWehrwirtschaftsführer. After 1945 he became chairman of the Industry Committee in the American sector ofBerlin.
From 1924 to 1933 Borm was a member of theGerman People's Party (DVP). In 1945 he joined theLiberal Democratic Party (LDP) and became Chairman of the Industry Committee. From 1948 to 1950 he was deputy LDP regional chairman. In 1950 he was arrested by the GDR'sVolkspolizei at theEisenach-Wartha border crossing on the transit highway and two years later sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Greifswald Landgericht for incitement to war and boycott. He was detained in the prisons atBützow-Dreibergen,Luckau andCottbus. There in the late 1950s he undertook to cooperate with the East GermanMain Directorate for Reconnaissance, and was released early from prison on 28 August 1959.
From 1960 to 1969 he was state chairman of the Berlin FDP, and Honorary Chairman from 1972 to 1982. He was a Member of the FDP's Federal Executive Committee from 1960 to 1982, and from 1963 to 1967 a Member of theBerlin House of Representatives. From 1965 to 1972 he was member of the Bundestag. On 20 October 1969, asAlterspräsident (oldest member, or "honorary president"), he opened the first meeting of the sixth Bundestag.[3] In 1967 he was co-founder of theRepublican Clubs. After the breakup of theSocial Democratic (SPD) - FDP coalition in 1982 he left the FDP and participated in the founding of theLiberal Democrats (LD). Soon after, he retired from active politics.
In 1970 Borm was awarded the GermanGreat Cross of Merit and in 1975 this was upgraded to the Knight Commander's Cross. His further awards included theErnst Reuter Medal of Berlin in silver in 1975, and theCarl-von-Ossietzky-Medal in 1982. In 1980 he was town elder of Berlin, and in September 1985 he received an honorary doctorate from theKarl Marx University ofLeipzig.[4]
During all this time Borm maintained close contact with the Stasi, as aninformal collaborator using the pseudonym "Olaf".[4] He met regularly with the head of the Foreign IntelligenceMarkus Wolf andcase officers in East Germany.[5] According to Stasi Lieutenant ColonelGünter Bohnsack, the GDR's intelligence services wrote many of Borm's parliamentary speeches and articles in the 1960s. His speech as interim president of the German Bundestag on 20 October 1969 was edited by Wolf. After Stasi agentJohanna Olbrich alias Sonja Lüneburg[6] already had been placed as a secretary at Borm's side in 1969, the Stasi foreign espionage ("Main Intelligence" - HV A) in 1978 installed the political scientistJürgen-Bernd Runge as personal secretary in Borm's Bonn office.[7] The participants knew nothing of each other's cooperation with the Stasi.
Politically Borm began to push for an agreement with the GDR, and in 1963 he published a controversial plan called "Germany". In 1966, he suggested negotiating with the GDR on the readmission of the KPD, in exchange for more freedom of movement for West Berliners. In 1979 he called for the recognition of GDR citizenship. In 1981 he became involved in public for the peace movement against theNATO Double-Track Decision, and on 10 October he spoke in front of 250,000 people in Bonner Hofgarten. In the same year he opposed foreign ministerHans-Dietrich Genscher, accusing him of working towards the final goal ofGerman reunification, undermining the policy of European détente.
Publicly, Borm advocatedpolitical liberalism. However, in 1979, Borm explained in a secret conversation with the head of the Western Department of the Central Committee of the SEDHerbert Häber that the idea of socialism was correct. Although the manifestation of socialism in the GDR was not yet sufficiently attractive, that should not be taken as criticism.
Borm was married and has a son and a daughter. He was a member of the BerlinMasonic lodgeAm Berge der Schönheit ("On mountains of beauty"). His gentlemanly appearance earned him the nickname "Sir William" from friends and from the head of the East German foreign espionage.
He died inBonn on 2 September 1987, and received an honorary grave in themunicipal cemetery inZehlendorf, Berlin. After the revelation of his collaboration with the Stasi, the honorary grave status was abolished by a resolution of theBerlin Senate on 8 September 2009.[2]
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