My Daddy the Spy

Linda Goldfarb grew up with a spy. At the peak of the Cold War Linda’s father Samuel Markovitz z”l conducted undercover work for the CIA sometimes running out in the middle of the night or jetting off to mysterious locations. Nevertheless he was noJamesBond. “My father was the person you’d least expect to be a spy!” exclaimsLinda today a grandmother who lives in an Upper West Side apartment with her husbandRichard a physician. “He was a humble man who shunned the limelight a real intellectual who loved Yiddishkeit and reading.”Mr.Markovitz was working for the Army at an arsenal when World War II broke out. When he was drafted his command of languages led to a placement in the Armed Services Training Program (ASTP). It was followed by an assignment to the Foreign Documents Division (FDD) later the Office of Special Services (OSS) a precursor of the CIA. After working in Korea and Washington D.C. Mr. Markovitz was stationed with his family in Frankfurt am Main in a divided Germany from 1959 to 1961 and 1963 to 1968.