General Denies Being Gay (Press, 9 January 1984)
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Summary: General Denies Being Gay (Press, 9 January 1984)
On 9 January 1984, General Guenther Kiessling, a West German officer dismissed from his position as NATO's Deputy Supreme Commander in Europe, claimed that evidence alleging his active homosexuality had been falsified. The 58-year-old general was told to retire in October 1983 after Defence Minister Manfred Woerner expressed a breakdown of trust between them. This dismissal was ostensibly linked to surveillance conducted by police and counter-intelligence, which reportedly tracked Kiessling's visits to homosexual nightclubs in major cities including Cologne, Berlin, Essen, and Duesseldorf, thereby branding him a security risk. Reports from the West German press indicated that the general had faced a comprehensive 50-page dossier outlining the allegations in Woerner's office. Despite this, Kiessling firmly denied the accusations of homosexuality, suggesting that the evidence presented to him might have been either fabricated or based on mistaken identity. His situation underscores the complexities of personal conduct and trust at high levels of military command, particularly during a period marked by Cold War tensions.
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