Werner Mauss

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The reason for this homepage:

With this website, we, Letizia and Werner Mauss, would like to clear up with facts and details the disinformative reporting that has been spread by a handful of journalists for some decades for various, mostly criminal motives.

We kindly ask for your understanding that many exciting stories and operational connec-tions cannot be told an shown by us in the interest of and for the protection of security structures regarding future police work.  Moreover, we do have a responsibility for the innumerable assistants and/or supporters of the measures employed in the undercover fight against criminality and therefore can only report in an abstract manner.

All operations accomplished world-wide for decades in Europe, South America, Asia and the Near East were carried on in co-operation with German government agencies and authorities, they were always led and accompanied in full transparency by them.

If you are interested in learning more about our life, you are invited to go on reading.

Via the menu item CONTACT, you can get in touch with the secretary's office of Werner Mauss.

Werner Mauss, born on 11 February 1940 in Essen
Professional training: Farmer, with diploma
Profession after retraining: expert in criminology
Special ability and most important basis of his professional successes in the opinion of vari-ous specialists within the country and abroad: combination genius.

He has been married to Letizia Mauss since 1983.

Letizia Mauss, born on 30 March 1961 in, Italy
In 1979, Letizia took her high-school diploma in the State of Washington, Vancouver/ USA
In 1980, second A-level/high-school diploma in Cagliari/ Italy
University studies of political science broken off in the interest of the subsequent undercover assignments.
Letizia Mauss speaks four languages in simultaneous translation. 

Highly qualified police-school instructors trained Mauss, during the year of 1961, in a private training as a solo combatent, criminal investigator, in criminal law, strategy and conspiracy. One of his teachers was a retired intelligence service man.

Without an economic background, he had to finance his training at that time with jobs, such as auxiliary journalist, worker and as sales agent for vacuum cleaners.

• He established a private investigation office.
  
• He worked immediately in an inventive and target-related manner and with great success for German industrial enterprises and insurance companies.
  
• He established offices in Germany, England and Switzerland.
  
• He supported police authorities.
  
• He recognized the fact that the police, at that time, was quite helpless with regard to criminal organizations that extended their criminal structures over various countries.
  

In the middle of the sixties, police authorities assigned Mauss as the first undercover agent of Germany to a pilot project that had been proposed by himself. I was the goal of the project to infiltrate criminal organizations down to the persons behind them in order not to cut only one branch, but the whole tree. After talks held, German associations of insurance companies sup-ported the proposed pilot project for economic considerations with the possibility to reduce damages caused by criminals. Based on his many years of pioneer work, empirical values were established and, in the course of the years, laws were adopted for securing the under-cover fight against criminality. What often led to criticism at that time is part of the normal, le-ally regulated everyday life of police work today.

Since the beginning of his assignments, life Mauss had fixed a specific work ethos for himself:  "Be fair and fearless.  Never work with the gun or the fist. Be noiseless and don’t use anything but your brain. Never see yourself as a master, always behave as if you were an apprentice". Mauss has employed these principles until today. In his assignments from 1965 until today (40 years), he made use of the gun only once in 1969 when he, in self-defence and assistance in emergency, stopped a robber at Langenwieder See near Munich in order to save that way the life of two police detectives.

After 1970, Mauss successfully completed a crash course as commercial pilot with instrument flight license, IFR, and turbo-prop authorization. For his logistic support, in order to give him the flexibility to reach his places of investigation throughout Europe day and night, in almost any weather, a twin-engine airplane with pressure cabin was made available to the agent. Until 1985 he completed 3,700 flying hours without co-pilot and without any accident.

Based on his successes in crime prevention, Mauss was employed as a civilian staff member by the Federal Criminal Investigation Office and by other German federal, regional and municipal police authorities in assignments against criminal gangs, murderers, most serious criminal, individual perpetrators and terrorists. Mauss was not paid any success-related bonuses.

At that time, the then long-term President of the Federal Criminal Investigations Office (BKA), Dr. Horst Herold, stated in public and as quoted by the press: "He is my secret weapon".

Mauss was involved in smashing more than one hundred criminal groups and in arresting approx. 2,000 persons. Most of these organizations were subject to criminal prosecution on the legal basis of § 129 Criminal Code (criminal associations).

The daily paper “Die Welt” published a cover story on 31 July 1998 entitled: The long way of the investigator Werner Mauss (Der lange Weg des Fahnders Mauss). The article described the special tactics in conspiratorial assignments against crime developed by him as the “Mauss System”.

It was only after 1983, that the press got aware of Mauss. His name is mentioned in connection with the clearing-up of a number of spectacular criminal cases . The exact operational sequences and his respective involvement, however, only became partially known to the public, which has contributed to some myth-making to this day.

That way, the name Mauss is mentioned in connection with

• the arrest of Lecki, the murderer of a policeman, and his criminal companion Dercks accomplished in Alicante and Marbella in 1970. At that time, the Federal Criminal Investigations Office had entrusted Mauss as undercover agent with the search for these most serious criminals who committed their raids, just like Bon-nie and Clyde in the USA. The then Minister of the Interior, Genscher, had put them on top of Interpol search list throughout Europe. That was the first case in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany that, upon request of a Federal State, the Federal Criminal Investigations Office was ordered by the Federal Minis-ter of the Interior to carry on centralized investigations.
  

• the Italian robber Batista* searched throughout Europe in 1974. Mauss, in co-operation with Italian, French, Swiss and German Interpol authorities, by means of  undercover investigations, made him walk into a trap at the cathedral place in Milan. Batista went towards Mauss when he noted two Italian Interpol officers ready to arrest him. He immediately fired two revolvers out of his coat at Mauss and at the police officers. Mauss fell on the ground like a flash and rolled himself be-tween the kerb and his vehicle. Therefore, the  Batista's projectiles only perforated the fuel tank of his car.  Both officials were seriously injured. Batista tried to es-cape still shooting around, but other Italian officers shot him dead. Batista's loot was placed in custody. Mauss saw to it that one of the seriously injured Italian of-ficers received neurological surgery in Austria in order to be able to walk again.
  * for security reasons, the right name was changed to Batista
  

Furthermore, he is mentioned in connection

• with the arrest of the Cologne cathedral robbers in 1976 and the repatriation of the Cologne cathedral treasure;

as well as

• with the arrest of the presumed RAF terrorist Rolf Pohle. In the course of his per-son-related search, using a raster developed by him, Mauss had him arrested by the Greek police when he purchased a daily paper “Süddeutsche Zeitung” in Ath-ens. That was the beginning of computer-aided (raster) search. That operation in-volved more than 200 policemen who were assigned to keep the more than  80 newspaper stands in Athens and Piraeus under surveillance for almost two hours. After only 40 minutes, Pohle walked right into the trap as planned by Mauss.

Again, he was mentioned in connection with the clearing-up 

• of the pretended armed robbery (D-mark 13 million) reported by jeweller Düe in 1981. As undercover investigator, Mauss managed to receive from Düe 15 pieces of the jewellery Düe had reported as stolen before. After being arrested, Düe was sentenced by the Regional Court of Hanover (Landgericht Hannover) to seven and a half years imprisonment. Due to the fact that a witness had not been heard, the Federal Supreme Court (BHG) vacated the judgement. In the 2nd instance,  acquit-tal on account of insufficiency of proof; the public prosecutor's office faded out evidence that had been obtained by conspiratorial means. Düe received an amount of several million D-mark of compensation for wrongful imprisonment.  In spite of the acquittal, the civil division of the Regional Court of Hanover sentenced Düe for fraudulent misrepresentation and gross negligence on the basis of the evidence disregarded in the appellate proceedings and also rejected his request for legal aid. AZ 130192/91; Sentence of 26 February 1992, p. 17, 18 and 19. Con-firmed by BGH decision, the insurance company was released from the payment of damages for the pretended Düe robbery. In criminal cooperation with Düe and his accomplices, a group of journalists whose names meanwhile have been identi-fied had allowed themselves to be instrumentalized. The aim of those persons was their own enrichment by criminalizing Mauss and making him untrustworthy in the interest of Düe. They tried to have him eliminated as a witness for the prosecution. According to information available to Mauss, the above-mentioned accomplices of Düe collected the compensation for wrongful imprisonment paid for Düe by the State of Lower Saxony to its full extent. In retrospect, it is rather alarming that Düe and his accomplices managed to turn even renowned politicians into instruments, to deceive them and to rope them in as unknowing helpers for his criminal activities. 
  Suddenly, in June 2000, 19 years later - prosecution had fallen under the statute of limitations - there were found, during renovation work in the former business premises of the father Friedrich Due in Hanover at the Ballhaus, approx. 400 me-ters from the scene of crime Am Kröpcke, 10.8 kilos of the jewellery formerly re-ported as stolen by Düe, still originally labelled. The new owner had found  the al-leged loot of robbery in the father's business premises, hidden between walls and ceilings. The father, Friedrich Düe, had sold his business while Rene Düe had been in detention awaiting trial from the autumn of 1982 on. That was the reason why the criminal son "fortunately" had been prevented from evacuating the hiding place of the alleged loot until it was found in June 2000. Thus, it should be finally certain that Düe had pretended the crime. In any case, it would be ridiculous to assume that the robbers hid their loot in the business premises of the father of Düe after the robbery on 31 October 1981. Seen in retrospect, Düe's statement be-fore the appellate court that he had found the incriminating 15 pieces of jewellery handed over to Mauss again by chance at his father's business is correct. How-ever, Düe had "only" forgotten at that time to tell the criminal court that 10.8 kilos of 40 kilos still had been hidden in ceilings and walls of the former business premises.
   
  Sources: HAZ, 27/02/1992 [LINK], 29/06/2000 [LINK]; Der Spiegel,#28/2000, p.72; Bild, 24/06/2000; WamS, 18/06/2000 [LINK]; Wochenspiegel, 12/06/2000 [LINK]; dpa, 28/06/2000; order to cease and desist against Rene Düe, sentence of the Regional Court of Stuttgart of 28 September 2000, AZ 17O406/400

• In 1983, Mauss found the 41 Seveso toxic barrels filled with dioxin that were searched throughout Europe and that way prevented an environmental disaster. Criminals had hidden the barrels in a shut-down butcher's shop in North France. The offenders intended to dispose of the toxic barrels in the Atlantic Ocean and/or in the Mediterranean Sea due to strong pressure during investigations. With Mauss' help, the offenders were exposed and arrested and the Seveso poison was taken into custody early enough. In connection with the detention of the above-mentioned persons, the police got onto environmental criminals all over Europe who were specialized in disposing of environmental pollutants by criminal means.

• In 1987, Mauss and his wife were entrusted with a special assignment in cooperation with the German crisis staff of the Federal Government of Germany for the liberation of the hostages Rudolf Cordes and Alfred Schmidt, kidnapped by Hez-bollah in Lebanon. The operation was successful.
  

In 1981 Mauss got to know Letizia, a young quadrilingual student of political science from Italy. They got married at the San Marco Cathedral of Venice/ Italy in 1983. The marriage produced three children. Since then, she has accompanied and supported him in all of his assignments worldwide.

From 1984 on, Mauss and his wife became more and more active in South America, particularly in Colombia. Here - first by order of Mannesmann AG - they were assigned to enforce the construction of a pipeline project against the resistance of the guerrilla.

Despite of kidnapped technicians, force of arms and innumerable attacks, the couple, by means of a humanitarian programme, managed to give the more than poor population in the territory covered by the project new courage for life and to get them interested in the project.

Supported by the Catholic Church of Colombia, the couple introduced in part life-saving measures by building small kindergartens, emergency hospitals and transporting urgently needed medicaments, such as antibiotics, for the population living under subsistence level.

The Bishop von Arauca, Monsignor Jesus Emilio Jaramillo Monsalve, wrote in a letter of thank on behalf of the population his Diocese on 9th of September 1985 to the Mauss couple:

Quote: "You helped me to understand my people who are of a poor family. I know exis-tentially that it is the tragedy of those who do not possess anything that they suffer a lack of future. Therefore, I do understand that the greatest thing one can give us is hope or a reason to live ...... In the sky, stained with human blood, there is radiating, just like a star, your heart. I praise God because He chose you to bring a relief program for the third world. In my Diocese, you write the best page of your life’s book."

The Guerilla respected that and responded in a humane manner. Instead of force, conversa-tions took place. Enemies turned into helpers and protectors of the project. Mannesmann was able to complete the pipeline in 1986 without further dangers to its staff.

Already at the beginning of the project, Mauss and his wife summarized: Pressure pro-duces counter-pressure. In order to neutralize violence, not the guerrilla, but rather the poverty of the population has to be relieved and fought.

In a television talk, presented by Mr. Rupprecht Eser, ZDF (Second Channel of German Televi-sion), with the military leader of ELN, Pablo Beltran, as well as with Mrs. and Mr. Mauss in the ZDF programme “Eser and Guests” (Eser und Gäste) on 19 July 1998, Mr. Mauss spoke, among other things, about that experience.


From 1995 on, the Mauss couple used their contacts established during the Mannesmann as-signment for taking up, within the scope of a special mission headed by the then Chancel-lery Minister Bernd Schmidbauer (http://www.bernd-schmidbauer.de/), Member of the Bundestag (MdB), negotiations with the commander in chief of the Comando Central (COCE) of the ELN for the Office of the German Chancellor. It was the goal to win the ELN for a process of peace.


For documentation reasons, the couple was to be accompanied by a team of journalists dur-ing the dangerous trip to the central camp of the ELN. Therefore various talks were held with different publishing houses and journalists.

The Office of the German Chancellor agreed to the proposal of the agents couple that editors of the news magazine “Der Spiegel” as well as members of the news editors' office of “Spiegel TV” including a camera team as well as a legal counsel of the couple should ac-company the Mauss couple on their trip to Colombia.

For reasons of legal security, the management of the publishing house “Der Spiegel” signed a non-disclosure agreement with the then legal counsel of the Mauss couple, Mr. Dr. Prof. Wenzel of Stuttgart, in order to protect the joint visit to the camp. In the text of the contract of November 1995, “Der Spiegel” obliged itself that, in case of film shots made by accident of the activities of the Mauss couple, such shots or the negatives were to be destructed, if necessary by cutting the respective negatives out of the film. It was agreed that, in case of contravention, a contractual fine of D-mark 50,000.00 would have to be paid in every individual case.

In Catholic church vehicles, accompanied by a priest, the group headed by Mauss and his wife was taken to the peripheral region of the Guerrilla. Then an ELN commando unit took over the escort. Before arriving at the ELN camp, the group had to cross a minefield on mule donkeys. About that very special danger, Mauss only got informed by ELN at a later time.

During their four-day stay at the camp, the Mauss couple got aware of the readiness of the ELN for peace negotiations; they also got it confirmed. And also the staff of “Der Spiegel” and “Spiegel TV” had an opportunity for intense discussions with the guerrillas. The camera team filmed whatever happened in the camp, including the interviews. Often up to eight hours. This also applies to the talks with the commander in chief of the Comando Central.

Since, at that time, two Italian citizens still were held hostages by the ELN, negotiations were held with the ELN about setting the Italians free under humanitarian conditions and without ransom.

At the camp: The Spiegel team filmed; Mr. Mauss supported the action with nearly 1,800 pho-tographs.

After four days at the camp, the travellers returned to Bogotá by various, changing small air-planes. The Spiegel team remained in Bogotá. The Mauss couple flew back to Germany for two days for talks at the chancellor's office. On that occasion, the couple handed over the film material taken at the camp to the editorial office of Der Spiegel in Frankfurt/ Main. Spiegel TV intended to broadcast the material on RTL on 19 November 1995 already, which was done that way. As stipulated in the contract of 3 November 1995, the couple was not mentioned in that TV report.

The German authorities, coordinated by Chancellery Minister Schmidbauer MdB, supported the invitation of the ELN to Germany proposed by the agents as well as the proposed mode of procedure for the release of the Italian hostages. The Italian as well as the Colombian governments were informed.

After the couple had returned to Bogotá, they flew again to the jungle zone of ELN together with the Spiegel team. “Der Spiegel” formally received the Italian hostages from ELN, as it was stated and shown in an RTL TV report later. The agents couple flew to Bogotá with the freed Italians and instantly delivered them to the waiting Staff of the Italian Embassy.

During the night from 16 to 17 November 1996, the couple got arrested at Medellin Rio Negro airport – an unjustified detention, as it was found later in the judgment of the criminal court.

A few days after the Mauss couple had been arrested, “Der Spiegel” published on television, parts of the film material that had been taken at the camp. The cut of the film broadcasted showed in a misleading manner how the Mauss couple welcomed the ELN guerrillas and said goodbye to them embracing them as it is usual in South America. “Der Spiegel” of course re-frained from showing its own staff in that film who, in the same manner as the Mauss couple, embraced the ELN members when they welcomed them and said goodbye.

Every outsider and in particular the Colombian military had to conclude from film material that there existed a special relationship between the ELN and the couple. The prosecuting au-thorities of Colombia had supposed that “Der Spiegel” had made the film shots in a conspira-torial manner without the knowledge of the couple and not in the course of a cooperation based on contracts. That film material caused a serious life-threatening danger to the couple with regard to military and paramilitary attacks.

Upon the request of Prof. Dr. Wenzel (Lawyer of Mauss) of 15 September 1997, the man-agement of “Der Spiegel” wrote on 19 September 1997 to Prof. Dr. Wenzel in Stuttgart for submission to the General of the DAS (Columbian counterpart of the Federal Criminal Investigation Office), Henrique Montenegro Rinco, in Colombia:

COPY OF THE LETTER:

Dear Prof. Wenzel,

On behalf of Mr. X ( “Der Spiegel” management) I herewith confirm that the filming that was done in November 1995 by a Spiegel-TV team on the occasion of the visit of Mr. and Mrs. Mauss to the ELN camp was made in agreement with the Mauss couple - and not in a conspiratorial manner -. Spiegel-TV made use of these sequences only after the Mauss couple had been arrested. That is why Mr. and Mrs. Mauss had no influence on the con-tents and design of the later Spiegel-TV programmes.

… signed the Legal Adviser of “Der Spiegel”


Additional criminal proceedings against the Mauss couple pending at Colombian police au-thorities on the basis of the “Der Spiegel” broadcasting were dismissed by the director of the DAS by Order No. 20598 on 5 November 1997  after submission of the above-mentioned letter of “Der Spiegel”. That letter rehabilitated the couple with regard to irritations of the Colombian authorities caused by the Spiegel film.


In agreement with the Office of the German Chancellor, the couple also had intermediary talks with the then President of Colombia, Ernesto Samper, and the Minister of the Interior, Horacio Serpa.

In October 1996, the President of Colombia, Chancellery Minister Schmidbauer MdB and the Mauss couple met in New York at the Colombian Embassy at the United Nations (UN). The talks were about measures for a Peace Table in Germany under the patronage of the Bishops' Conferences of Germany and Colombia.

On the basis of the four-day stay at the ELN camp together with the Spiegel team, Mauss man-aged early in 1996, for the first time in the Colombian history, to obtain the agreement of the five commanders in chief of the Comando Central (COCE) to turn themselves without arms into his hands for a trip to Germany.

Immediately after the arrival of the ELN commanders in Germany, the Chancellery Minister Schmidbauer MdB, demanded that, before the beginning of peace talks with the ELN, all European hostages held by the ELN were to be released. The commanders immediately declared their readiness to basically follow the will of the German authority. Since the ELN is organized in a confederative manner, it became necessary from that moment on that the Frente leaders (regional leaders) of the guerrilla gave their agreement to the COCE, too.

The Mauss couple therefore had to convince each individual Frente leader in the jungle of Co-lombia to immediately release the hostages.

Until November 1996, Mauss and his wife, risking their own lives, were able to bring about the release of ten European hostages and to lead then out of combat regions into their well-deserved liberty. Before and during these operations, the Office of the German Chancellor maintained permanent personal and cooperative contacts with the governments affected. All governments were informed about the assignment of the couple and supported the activities.

The last hostage picked up by the couple had not been kidnapped by the ELN, but by crimi-nals. With the help of their Frente,  the ELN delegates working at the Peace Table in Germany unmasked these kidnappers. The hostage was freed by the ELN and handed over to the cou-ple in the Colombian jungle. The criminal kidnappers were arrested later by the police, ac-cused by Fiscalia (public prosecutor's office) and sentenced to long-term imprisonment. The facts explained here were documented in every detail in the acquitting judgment of 20 May 1998.

Due to intrigues and corruption, Mauss and his wife, when they picked up the hostage, were arrested for "alleged kidnapping" of that hostage in Medellin on 17 November 1996. That arrest was only possible by taking criminal advantage of the autonomous juridical system of Colombia.

In the beginning of 1997, the Federal Government of Germany responded to the arrest of the couple with a government declaration several pages long that was delivered by the German Ambassador, together with a verbal note of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bogotá issued on 25 January 1997, to the Fiscal General (prosecutor general). In the government declaration, the activities of the Mauss couple for the peace process in trans-parent interaction with governmental authorities was described in details and supported by facts.


Already before the delivery of the government declaration, the Procurador General (general prosecutor), Jaime Bernal Cuellar, responsible for corruption among the authorities, started se-cret investigations against the Fiscales (public prosecutors) and policemen involved in the Mauss case. His public prosecutors very soon discovered manipulation and influencing of witnesses who dad been forced to make false statements against the couple. Otherwise they would suffer punishment, imprisonment and torture. The officials held out the prospect of re-duced punishment if they incriminated the Mauss couple with false statements. The false state-ments of these imprisoned persons were crucial for the warrant of arrest issued against the Mauss couple.

In August 1997, after 9 months, the Mauss couple was finally released from detention awaiting trial.


On 20 May 1998, final acquittal on Werner [LINK] and Letizia Mauss [LINK]. All seized ar-ticles that they carried with them for the execution of their missions were released.


The 78-page acquittal judgment found:
 
that the detention of the couple in Medellin on 17 November 1996 had been illegal and referred to manipulated false statements individually detailed in the judgment;
that, during all stays in Colombia and related assignments, the Mauss couple had never violated Colombian law;
that their assignment had only been related to the Colombian peace process;
that the arrest had been initiated by intrigues of a group of identified persons mo-tivated by their own personal advantages.

The judgment relied on the eighteen months lasting investigations of the Fiscal General (public prosecutor of the criminal  justice) and of the Procurador General (public prosecutor re-sponsible, among other things, for corruption among authorities) and on the investigation and interrogation records comprising more than 6000 sheets prepared by these two authorities.


Immediately after their release from detention awaiting trial, the Colombian authorities asked the agents couple to enter into contacts with the ELN again in order to revive the Colombian peace process.

After the acquittal of 20 May 1998, Mauss and his wife were officially assigned in writing by the Presidencia de la República, Alto Comisionado de la Paz, Consejo Nacional de Paz, (Presidency of the Republic, High Commission for the Peace,  National Peace Council). It was the aim of that special mission of the Mauss couple to obtain the readiness of the command-ers of the COCE to follow the Mauss couple once again to Germany for new peace talks.

That document was signed by:

The National Peace Council represented by:

Professor Dr. Sabas Pretelt de la Vega, today's Minister of the Interior and of Justice of Colombia

Dr. Jaime Bernal Cuellar, at that time Procurador General (general prosecutor)

as well as further delegates.


The National Peace Council also informed, on 11 June 1998, the then Federal Chancellor, Dr. Helmut Kohl, and the President of the German Bishops' Conference, today Cardinal Dr. Karl D. Lehmann, in writing about their intentions in connection with the Mauss couple.


In an airplane made available by the Colombian security authorities, the agents again were flown to the margin of the guerrilla area. In a five-day ride on donkeys, using secret ways through the jungle and guided by a commando unit of the ELN, the couple finally arrived at the central camp of the Comando Central, COCE, in May 1998. After negotiations lasting several days and the exchange of information through a satellite phone with Colombian authorities and the Office of the German Federal Chancellor, the commanders in chief finally agreed to the wish of the Colombian Peace Commission. The military leader of the ELN as well as five persons ranking among the echelon of command accompanied the couple from the Colom-bian jungle to the Peace Table in Mainz.


On 15 July 1998, all Columbian conflicting parties met for peace talks under the patronage of the Colombian and German Bishops' Conferences and with the participation of the Mauss couple at the Carmelite Monastery (Karmeliterkloster) in Würzburg. The participants signed a five-page agreement that was presented to the public after four days of negotiations. It was the objective of that agreement to convoke a national convention for working out proposals for a comprehensive pacification and democratization of the Colombian society.
One of the most important initiators of the assignment of the couple within the then National Peace Commission was the co-publisher of the largest Colombian daily newspaper "El Tiempo", Francisco Santos. At that time, he was also present at the talks at Carmelite Monas-tery Himmelspforten and described the meeting as the first historic step for his country to-wards peace. Today, Santos is Vice-President of the Colombian government.



With this report, Mr. and Mr. Mauss want to oppose, clear up and correct by means of facts the disinfomative reports spread by a handful of journalists during decades for various reasons.
 
This includes also a letter of the former Minister of State at the Office of the Federal Chancellor, Mr. Bernd Schmidbauer MdB, dated 22 May 2001, addressed to a Western government.

The former Minister of State writes:  (see also the Link)

Bernd Schmidbauer MdB
Former Minister of State

Date:  22.  May 2001

Dear................

I hereby gladly confirm that the couple Ida and Werner Mauss, in close coordination with the Federal Government under Federal Chancellor Dr. Helmut Kohl, have entered into contact with the ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional) in Colombia and kept in contact with them.

As Minister of State of the Federal Chancellor and co-coordinator of the intelligence services during the years of 1991 to 1998, I initiated and accomplished various activities together with Mr. and Mrs. Mauss.

That included also meetings in Europe that aimed at promoting the peace process in Colombia; discussions and negotiations with the Catholic Church led to positive negotiations in Germany.

In order to maintain the contacts, technical means were used for not interrupting the dialogue. For that reason, Mrs. Ida Mauss maintained that contact via satellite telephone.
For the Federal Government, the activities of the Mauss family in the above-mentioned context were transparent and coordinated.

As result of these activities, it can be stated that several humanitarian campaigns were completed and a dialogue between the parties in Colombia was initiated.

For further discussions, I will be at your disposal.

Yours sincerely
SIGNATURE
Bernd Schmidbauer MdB
Former Minister of State

Finally, Letizia and Werner Mauss would like to make the following clear:

All of the operations carried on world-wide in the course of several decades in Asia, South America, Europe and in the Near East always took place in co-operation with Ger-man government agencies and authorities in full transparency and were directed and accompanied by them.

In the Colombia complex, the Federal Government, right from the beginning, made it clear to the ELN commanders in chief who came to Germany in January 1996 that all European citizens held as hostages by ELN were to be released before establishing and commencing a Peace Table in Germany. In the context of that condition of the Office of the Federal Chancellor, we negotiated the release of ten hostages and received them in combat areas in the Colombian jungle. Then, we brought these persons back to their well-deserved liberty.

For none of these hostages, there was paid any ransom.

The financial means available were used to procure humanitarian goods that, subject to authorization, were handed over to the guerrilla, such as field hospitals, surgical instru-ment kits, sterile equipment, including the appropriate logistics required for using all of these devices under most difficult conditions in the jungle. It was also seen to it that se-riously injured persons were flown out of combat areas in order to safe their life from imminent death.

Under the Title “The Top Agent, the secret live of Werner Mauss", the Corporation of Re-gional German TV Stations (ARD) produced a documentary film (by Stephan Lamby). That film was broadcasted on 17 February 1999 on ARD, on 4 September 2000 on NDR and on 12 Feb-ruary 2002 on Phoenix. That Film, among other things, also documents the activities of the Mauss couple in the Colombian peace process.

Sources: Die Zeit, 14 May 1998 [LINK] article by Stephan Lamby