Erich Dirwelis
Erich Dirwelis (born March 12, 1921 in Galwoszen, Pillkallen district (East Prussia) ; † February 6, 2001 ) was major general of the National People's Army (NVA) of the German Democratic Republic .
Life
The son of a forest worker completed an apprenticeship as a machine fitter after attending school from 1936 to 1938, which he had to break off after being called up for the Reich Labor Service . He then worked as a forest worker like his father for almost a year before he was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1940 . As a sergeant in the tank troops , he was taken prisoner by the Soviets in 1944 , from which he was only released in 1949.
On May 17, 1949 he joined the German People's Police (DVP) as a trainee and within a short time rose to group leader at the Rostock State Police School and at the Eggesin People's Police School . Between 1949 and 1951 he was a specialist teacher and company commander at the VP Primerwald office and in 1951 a member of the SED . After a one-year special course in the USSR , he returned in 1952 as a subject teacher and main subject teacher to the Primerwald VP office and at the same time to the Panzerschule Grossenhain , where he was deputy commander and head of training from 1953 to 1959. From 1959 to 1961 he was a graduate of the General Staff Academy of the USSR , from which he graduated with the academic degree of a graduate military scientist.
After his return from the USSR, he was first deputy commander of the 7th Panzer Division in Dresden until 1965 . On September 1, 1965, he was appointed commander of the 11th motorized rifle division in Halle with the rank of colonel . Subsequently, on July 1, 1969, he became commander of the military technical school "Erich Habersaath" in Prora , the technical non-commissioned officer school of the land forces. He remained in this post until his discharge on November 30, 1984. At the same time, on March 1, 1972, the 16th anniversary of the NVA's founding , he was appointed major general .
Dirwelis was married and had one son. He last lived in Binz .
Awards
- 1968 Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze and 1974 in gold
- 1978 battle request "For services to the people and fatherland"
- Scharnhorst Order
literature
- Günther Buch: Names and dates of important people in the GDR. 3rd, revised and expanded edition. Dietz, Berlin (West) / Bonn 1982, ISBN 3-8012-0081-7 , p. 48.
- Klaus Froh, Rüdiger Wenzke : The Generals and Admirals of the NVA: A biographical manual. 5th edition. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-86153-438-9 , p. 85.
Web links
- They became brothers in arms of their distributors in the Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung of April 11, 2009, p. 11 (accessed December 2, 2017).
- Contemporary witness report on the deployment of the 11th Motorized Rifle Division during the crisis in the CSSR by Joachim Kampe (accessed on December 2, 2017).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Structure of the 11th MSD ( Memento of the original dated August 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Currently on the move . In: Der Spiegel . No. 38 , 1968 ( online ).
- ^ The military technical school "Erich Habersaath" (accessed on December 2, 2017).
- ↑ Overview of the Federal Archives (accessed on December 2, 2017).
- ↑ Telephone book for Germany from 1997.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Dirwelis, Erich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German major general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 12, 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Galwoszen, Pillkallen district (East Prussia) |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 6, 2001 |