Tell HN: Agent 24

Twenty years ago, I read about soviet agent "24" in Germany, which was mentioned by former soviet spy in his memories. I spent 20 years trying to find him.

I had very few hints, collected over years:

  * Soviet spy wrote that he was very proud, and we will very surprised when we will found the spy.

  * Germans tried to find agent "24", they found some soviet agents, but they were unable to find agent 24, search is stopped.

  * Russians told that spy memories contains nothing that will compromise agent, so don't bother to search it.

  * I made assumption that "24" is not a name, but age of a (young) woman.

  * In post-war Germany, scarcity of food forced German woman to exchange sex for food. In some cases, children are born. I knew about 1 case, at least, when such children was moved by father to USSR, and raised by KGB.

  * Agent 24 can be daughter of a woman, born by mother at age of 24, so her _brother_ is agent of KGB in USSR then, while sister is his contact in Germany. Thus "24" is not a name of the agent (match).

With last hint in mind, I stuck at photo of two politics. I looked at their ears, their faces, their age, etc. and realized that they are brother and sister. I looked at dates of birth: 1952, 1954 (match). I looked at date of birth of their mother: 1928 (match). I was shocked (match).

So, I found her. Unfortunately, she died in 2011. However, their children are still alive.

The only problem left to solve is: why Germany stopped looking for this agent? Germans are pedantic. Maybe, they found her and used her for their own play.