Frederic's Girlfriend sub plot question
So in real life did he ever got her and her family out? Or is that just a thing for the movie?
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MovieChat Forums > Bridge of Spies (2015) Discussion > Frederic's Girlfriend sub plot question
His age, the details of his arrest/release and his activities in East Germany were all changed for the movie. According to the East Germans Pryor was indeed spying as he did not have authorization to perform the research he conducted. While in most countries a person is normally told that they can't have access to certain information, in East Germany a person needed permission to perform the research Pryor was involved in.
According to the book, decades later Pryor actually met the Stazi Agent who investigated him; he was convinced Pryor was guilty and had no regrets about his actions.
Ranb
His age, the details of his arrest/release and his activities in East Germany were all changed for the movie. According to the East Germans Pryor was indeed spying as he did not have authorization to perform the research he conducted
LOL! Well by all means let's take the word and judgment of the East Germans. share
Quite right. I think we all know the US Government and CIA would never lie.
shareRead what Pryor himself has to say about this, unless you want to call a respected academic a liar too.
Pryor seems like a nice guy, but you can be a nice guy and a respected academic and still do work for the CIA. And while a spy is hardly likely to ever admit being a spy, it's possible that while he was a student he was used by the CIA without even knowing it.
As I've mentioned elsewhere, the book Patriotic Betrayal explains how "the CIA turned the National Students Association into an intelligence asset during the Cold War, with students used — sometimes wittingly but usually unwittingly — as undercover CIA agents inside America and abroad".[1]
Just look at Pryor's actions at the time. He was not in Germany when they built the wall, but rushed back after it went up. While most people (not involved in espionage) were trying to flee East Berlin, Pryor somehow managed to enter that part of the city (something very unusual and difficult for any American to do at that time, let alone a student), and once in East Berlin headed straight for the home of someone significant enough to be under surveillance by East German intelligence (Stasi). That is how and why he was arrested.
Then consider his Stasi file, which shows he was identified by another American as working for the CIA.
Perhaps it's not surprising then, as stated above, that the Stasi officer who investigated Pryor remained convinced of his guilt.
[1] https://journalism.berkeley.edu/events/details/830/
Many, many US citizens who travel or live abroad get visits by US intelligence and law enforcement agencies and asked questions about their observations abroad. These "debriefings" may be as simple as who they saw and talked to at a cocktail party or school event and what was said or info gained about that person of interest to more detailed info.
Those persons questioned or debriefed are no more intelligence agents than you would be considered an FBI agent cause you were questioned by the bureau cause you were at a bank when it was robbed or your neighbor arrested for blowing up something.
Here's an interesting interview with the real Frederic Pryor about his his portrayal in the movie:
http://www.swarthmore.edu/news-events/economist-frederic-pryor-recounts-life-a-spy
Very interesting, hage-1. Thanks for the link!
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