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Volksmarine
The ''Volksmarine'' (VM, ; en, People's Navy) was the naval force of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The ''Volksmarine'' was one of the service branches of the National People's Army and primarily performed a coastal defence role along the GDR's Baltic Sea coastline and territorial waters. History Soon after the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War, the Soviet Union initiated the rearming of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which had been founded in October 1949 as a satellite state from the Soviet Zone of Occupation. Beginning in 1950, Soviet Navy officers helped to establish the ''Hauptverwaltung Seepolizei'' (Main Administration Sea Police), which was renamed ''Volkspolizei–See (VP–See)'' (People's Police – Sea) on 1 July 1952. At the same time parts of the erstwhile maritime police were reorganized into the new '' Grenzpolizei–See'' (Border Police –– Sea), to guard the sea frontiers, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felix Scheffler
Felix Scheffler (9 February 1915, in Hamburg, Germany – 13 March 1986, in Rostock, Germany) was a World War II Wehrmacht veteran, Konteradmiral, and first Chief of the East German People's Navy (Volksmarine). Life Felix Scheffler was born into a working family. His father was employed as a clerk and his mother worked as a cleaner. After leaving school, between 1930 and 1933 Felix Schaeffler undertook an apprenticeship as a pharmacist in Altona, which at this time was still administratively separate from nearby Hamburg. In 1932/33 Scheffler was a member of the Nazi Sturmabteilung. From 1933 to 1937, Scheffler was a seafarer. From 1937 to 1941, he served as a Sergeant in the German Wehrmacht. Captured by the Soviet Army he was held in captivity from 1941 to 1947. Scheffler joined the National Committee Free Germany (NKFD) in 1943. From 1944 to 1945, he participated in the partisan movement in Belarus. He was part of a special intelligence unit of the German anti-fascists under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hendrik Born
Hendrik Born (5 July 1944 – 2 August 2021) was a ''Vizeadmiral'' (vice admiral) of the East German Navy (Volksmarine) and the last chief of the People's Navy and its youngest Vizeadmiral. Childhood Born's parents had eight children. His father worked for the railway after returning in 1950 from captivity as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union. His family moved to Stralsund, where Hendrik Born attended school at the Hansa Gymnasium. His career goal was to be a teacher. After joining the Society for Sport and Technology (GST), he sailed on the type K-10 Cutter and participated in training courses at the People's Navy "Karl Liebknecht" university. This exposure helped him decide to become a professional sailor. Naval career Born entered into military school and began training on 29 August 1963. He was appointed to the rank of ''Leutnant zur See'' (Ensign) upon graduation on 1 October 1967. During this time, Born joined the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). He se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heinz Neukirchen
Heinz Neukirchen (13 January 1915 – 8 December 1986) was an officer of the Kriegsmarine in World War II, and a ''Vizeadmiral'' in the People's Navy (Volksmarine) of the German Democratic Republic as well as President of the East German Directorate of Maritime and Port Industries. He was the author of several maritime books. Neukirchen was born in Duisburg, Germany, the son of a small farmer and vegetable dealer. After graduation from high school he worked an internship from 1931 to 1932, then one year as a freelancer for the Düsseldorfer News. Neukirchen began service in Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'' in 1935. As a crewmember of the German cruiser Köln Neukirchen served in the Spanish Civil War and received the Spanish Cross. From 1939 to 1940, holding the rank of a boatswain, he was a harbor protection commander. Following several warrant officer courses, Neukirchen served from 1943 to 1944 as a watch officer on a mine ship. In the last year of World War II, he was a Lieuten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National People's Army
The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) and the (Border Troops). The NVA belonged to the Ministry of National Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ... and commanded by the National Defense Council of East Germany, headquartered in Strausberg east of East Berlin. From 1962, conscription was mandatory for all GDR males aged between 18 and 60 requiring an 18-month service, and it was the only Warsaw Pact military to offer non-combat roles to conscientious objectors, known as "construction soldiers" (). The NVA reached 175,300 personnel at its peak in 1987. The NVA ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ministry Of National Defence (East Germany)
The Ministry of National Defense (German: ''Ministerium für Nationale Verteidigung - MfNV'') was the chief administrative arm of the East German National People's Army. The MND was modeled on the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union. The headquarters of the Ministry was in Strausberg near East Berlin. The Guard Regiment Hugo Eberlein provided security and guard services to the Ministry. The Ministry also had its own publishing house, . Minister of Defence The NVA was administered through the Ministry of National Defense, one of the principal branches of the national government. The ministers of National Defense were: Hierarchy The Minister of National Defence was assisted by a colloquium of deputy ministers who were also chiefs of certain key administrations within the ministry. In 1987 the deputy ministers and their assignments were as follows: * Chief of the Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic; * Chief of the Volksmarine (People's Navy); * Chief of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilhelm Ehm
Wilhelm Ehm (30 August 1918 – 9 August 2009) a World War II Wehrmacht veteran and East German Admiral who was Deputy Minister of National Defense of the German Democratic Republic and head of the People's Navy (Volksmarine). Early life Ehm's father was a carpenter who served as an armorer and a bugler in the Austro-Hungarian Navy (KuK Kriegsmarine) during World War I. Ehm was born during his father's military service at Pula, a major Austro-Hungarian Navy port on the Adriatic near Trieste. He had a brother Hermann, born in 1913 and a younger sister Maria, born in 1921. After the war ended in 1918, his family went back to Komotau (now Chomutov), the hometown of his father in Bohemia, which is now part of the Czech Republic. There his father served as a municipal employee. After the death of his mother in 1931, his father remarried a woman with a daughter and son. After eight years of elementary school, Ehm apprenticed as an electrician from 1932 to 1938. Later he worked as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state was a part of the Eastern Bloc in the Cold War. Commonly described as a communist state, it described itself as a socialist "workers' and peasants' state".Patrick Major, Jonathan Osmond, ''The Workers' and Peasants' State: Communism and Society in East Germany Under Ulbricht 1945–71'', Manchester University Press, 2002, Its territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces following the end of World War II—the Soviet occupation zone of the Potsdam Agreement, bounded on the east by the Oder–Neisse line. The Soviet zone surrounded West Berlin but did not include it and West Berlin remained outside the jurisdiction of the GDR. Most scholars and academics describe the GDR as a totalitarian dictatorship. The GDR was establish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theodor Hoffmann (admiral)
Theodor Hoffmann (27 February 1935 – 1 November 2018) was an East German Admiral who served as the head of the People's Navy (Volksmarine) and as the last Minister of National Defense of the German Democratic Republic and head of the National People's Army. Early life Hoffmann worked from 1949 to 1951 in agriculture. From 1951 to 1952, Hoffmann was a Pioneer Leader in the Wismar District Free German Youth (FDJ). Military career In 1952, Hoffmann became a sailor in the Sea Police (Seepolizei), which would later become the East German People's Navy (Volksmarine). He attended the Officers School of the People's Police at Stralsund and joined the Socialist Unity Party of Germany in 1956. From 1960 to 1963, he attended the Soviet Naval War Academy in Leningrad and earned a diploma in military science, which he subsequently used to hold various senior positions in the 6th Fleet of the People's Navy. From 1971 to 1974, he was chief of the 6th Fleet with the rank of frigate captain. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hauptverwaltung Seepolizei
The Main Administration Sea Police (''Hauptverwaltung Seepolizei (HVS)'') was an East German maritime organization established with support of the Soviet Navy on June 16, 1950. It was an armed organization of the East German Ministry of the Interior designed to protect the German Democratic Republic’s (GDR) maritime border and coastal areas. The HVS was established to organize, train and operate naval forces during a period in which East Germany officially had no military. The Sea Police initially were responsible for protection of fisheries and for anti-smuggling activities. At the same time it was intended from the beginning to use the force as the core of a future East German navy. One of the first tasks of the Sea Police was the clearance of mines in the coastal waters of the GDR. Organization Headquartered at Berlin-Niederschöneweide, the Sea Police was led by Waldemar Verner and his Chief of Staff was Heinz Neukirchen. Assigned to the HVS were a minesweeper division, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waldemar Verner
Waldemar Verner (27 August 1914 in Chemnitz, Germany – 15 February 1982) was chief of the People's Navy (Volksmarine) of the National People's Army of the German Democratic Republic and brother of Paul Verner. The son of a metalworker he trained as a window decorator. In 1923, Verner joined the Communist Young Spartacus organization and Communist Youth Federation of Germany (KJVD) in 1929. He became a member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in 1930. Verner was arrested and imprisoned by the Nazis because of their accusing him of illegal activities in the KPD, and he went into exile in the Soviet Union. There he attended the VI World Congress of the Communist Youth International in 1935 and later the International Lenin School. Starting in 1938, Verner was operating for the KPD in Denmark. He returned to Germany at the end of 1945. After the founding of the SED in 1946 he served as acting District Chairman in Hagenow. In May 1947, at the suggestion the National Boar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flag Of The German Democratic Republic
Like the flags of the Weimar Republic, West Germany, and present-day Germany, the flag of East Germany, the German Democratic Republic, showed the colours black, red and gold. The coat of arms, which, from 1959, was a hammer, compass and wreath of wheat, was located in the middle of the colour red. It was the official national flag of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) during its existence from 1959 to 1990. The flag's design and symbolism are derived from the flag of the Weimar Republic and communist symbolism. The flag was outlawed as an unconstitutional and criminal symbol in West Germany and West Berlin, where it was referred to as the ('secessionist flag') until the late 1960s. Symbolism and design With relations deteriorating between the Soviet Union and the United States, the three western Allies met in March 1948 to merge their zones of occupation and allow the formation of what became the Federal Republic of Germany, commonly known as West Germany. Meanwh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Border Troops Of The German Democratic Republic
The Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic (german: Grenztruppen der DDR) was the border guard of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1946 to 1990. The were the primary force guarding the Berlin Wall and the Inner German border, the GDR's international borders between West Berlin and West Germany respectively. The force belonged to the Ministry of National Defence (MfNV) from 1961, and was a service branch of the National People's Army until 1971 when it became directly subordinate to the MfNV. The Border Troops numbered approximately 47,000 personnel at its peak, consisting of volunteers and conscripts, the third-largest Warsaw Pact border guard after the Soviet Border Troops and Poland's Border Protection Troops. The 's main role was preventing , the illegal migration from the GDR, and were controversially responsible for many deaths at the Berlin Wall. History By December 1945, within six months of the end of the Second World War, each of the five sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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