The Champagne Spy: Israel's Man in Egypt

Wolfgang Lotz, Shlomo Shpiro, "The Champagne Spy: Israel’s Man in Egypt"

The true story of Wolfgang Lotz, nicknamed The Champagne Spy by his handler. His story bears a striking similarity to that of Eli Cohen, portrayed by Sasha Baron Cohen in Netflix’s The Spy.

As a top Israeli agent operating in Egypt, Wolfgang Lotz lived the charmed and extravagant life of a James Bond. Adopting the cover of a wealthy German horse-breeder, he mixed in the highest and most glittering circles of Egyptian society, the valued friend and confidant of generals, cabinet ministers, and senior intelligence officers. Convinced he was an ex-SS Officer hiding from his war crimes, Cairo’s German colony in particular welcomed the handsome Lotz and his wife Waltrud to their midst, and it was from the German military experts then advising the Egyptians that Lotz discovered vital political and military secrets (including details of rocket installations) which he broadcast regularly to Israel for nearly 5 years.

Arrested suddenly in 1965, Lotz and his wife became the centre of a sensational public show trial which involved many leading personalities. He was saved from execution by Mossad persuading the BND (Germany’s foreign intelligence agency) to tell the Egyptians he was one of theirs, not an Israeli.

Here, in Lotz’s own words, is the inside story of those dramatic years—an unbelievable spy story that happens to be true.