Espionage in words and actions (1st half of 20th century) This graduate thesis researches the impact of intelligence activities on the society during the first half of the 20th century. In the beginning I briefly present the development of intelligence activities from their beginnings to their institutionalisation in the 20th century. This is followed by a brief presentation of how intelligence activities affected the modern international and social relationships. I used propaganda and censorship measures to research the impact of intelligence activities on the society in the period between WWI and WWII, while also highlighting the potential conflict between human rights and intelligence techniques. I tried to prove that the development of intelligence activities significantly affected science and technology of the time, which resulted in the development of encryption machines and early computers. The impact of intelligence activities on the society is furthermore illustrated in the literary perception of the spy character, which is why the thesis presents three novels on the topic of espionage, in order to demonstrate how specific authors (and consequently their readers; i.e. the broader society) perceived the position and role of spies. For this purpose I selected an espionage novel The Spy Who came in from the Cold (1963) written by John le Carré, a historical novel Die letzte Karte spielt der Tod (1955), written by Hans Hellmut Kirst, and a postmodernist novel The Public Burning (1977), written by Robert Lowell Coover.
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