Dieter and Ruth Gerhard are detained

Date: 26 Jan 1983
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

The South African government announced at a special press conference that a senior South African naval officer, Commodore Dieter Gerhardt and his second wife, Ruth, had been detained for questioning in connection with alleged espionage. Gerhardt was commanding officer at the strategically important Simonstown naval base. They were jailed in December 1983 after being convicted of spying for the Soviet Union.

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How we know this

01Kalley, J.A.; Schoeman, E. & Andor, L.E. (eds) (1999). Southern African Political History: a chronology of key political events from independence to mid-1997, Westport: Greenwood.
02O'Malley, P., Pre-Transition 1983, from The O'Malley Archives, [online], Available at www.nelsonmandela.org [Accessed: 07 January 2014]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). Dieter and Ruth Gerhard are detained. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012509

South African History Online (2011) 'Dieter and Ruth Gerhard are detained', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012509 (Accessed: 16 August 2026).

South African History Online, Dieter and Ruth Gerhard are detained [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012509, (accessed 16 August 2026).

"Dieter and Ruth Gerhard are detained." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012509. Accessed 16 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "Dieter and Ruth Gerhard are detained." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0012509.