The Need to Know

First edition of The Need to Know by Michael S. Honegger (2023)

Numbered and signed by Michael S. Honegger

Print run of 800

Hardcover clothbound & embossed

In new condition

Published by BLOW UP PRESS

About

Michael Honegger’s father was a spy during the Cold War. Bilingual in German and English, he worked for the U.S. Air Force and sent agents into East Germany and elsewhere behind the Iron Curtain.

The Honeggers lived in West Germany between 1959 and 1963 during the height of the Cold War. None of the family members had any idea about the father’s work life and all questions about it were answered with the same, predictable response, “Do you have the need to know?”, followed by a smile and silence. It was not until long after he retired that he finally shared a few details of his career as a counterintelligence special agent.

This project is an exploration of the meagre details that emerged from those brief conversations and Michael’s curiosity about Cold War espionage and its impact upon his family at the time. His father led two lives that rarely intersected. His family members were often the unwitting participants in indecipherable events that left them with many more questions than answers.