- Son of dramatican Friedrich Wolf, brother of director Konrad Wolf
- Head of East Germany's General Reconnaissance Administration, which made him chief executive of 4000 spies in foreign countries, from 1953 to 1986 and number two of the Ministry for State Security from 1956 to 1986.
- Author John le Carré repeatedly denied that the character of spy-master "Karla" in some of his novels is based on Wolf.
- As his father was a member of the Communist Party, the family fled Germany after the Nazi takeover and finally emigrated to Russia. He lived there from 1934 to 1945 and was called "Mischa".
- He claimed that, shortly before the reunification of Germany, the CIA asked him to defect to the USA, offering him a large salary and a house in California. He said he refused because he would never betray his own agents.
- He succeeded in keeping such a low profile that Western intelligence agencies did not have a photo of him.
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