Heinz Hoffmann (General)

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Heinz Hoffmann (1982)

Heinz Hoffmann (* 28. November 1910 in Mannheim , † 2. December 1985 in Strausberg , actually Karl-Heinz Hoffmann ) was Army General , a member of the Council of Ministers of the GDR , Minister of National Defense , member of the National Defense Council and a deputy of the parliament of the GDR. Since October 2, 1973 he was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED .

Life

youth

Hoffmann came from a working class family . After attending school in Mannheim, he completed an apprenticeship as an engine fitter at the Mannheim engine works from 1925 to 1930 . From 1926 to 1930 he was a member of the Communist Youth Association of Germany , then the KPD . During this time Hoffmann served several short sentences for participating in demonstrations and fights.

emigration

In 1933 he went into hiding after the NSDAP came to power. In 1935 he first emigrated to Switzerland , but in the same year he went to the Soviet Union , where he attended the International Lenin School in Moscow . 1936–1937 he was trained as an officer at the officers' school in Ryazan and made a lieutenant . In the years 1937–1938 he fought in the 11th International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War . There he was political commissioner and battery commissioner of the Hans Beimler battalion under the code name "Heinz Roth". After being wounded, Hoffmann was first taken to a Madrid hospital before he spent a few months in 1938 and 1939 in the Eaubonne internment camp in France. From April 1939 to November 1940 he was in a convalescent home in the Soviet Union. From March 1941, Hoffmann attended a special Comintern course in Pushkino near Moscow. To this day it is controversial which exact training purpose this course served. In addition to extensive social science training, military subjects were also taught. It is presumed that the graduates will be working in the areas of Europe that were already occupied by Germany at the time. At the same time he was an employee of the NKVD until 1944 . 1942–1944 Hoffmann was a teacher at an Antifa school , first in the Gorky region and later in Krasnogorsk. He also joined the NKFD there . In 1945, Hoffmann headed Party School No. 12 near Moscow.

Party functionary in the Soviet Zone and the GDR

In January 1946 Hoffmann returned to Berlin and was initially a personal assistant to Wilhelm Pieck , and later to Walter Ulbricht . From 1950 until his death he was a member of the People's Chamber , from 1952 a member of the Central Committee of the SED and from 1973 a member of the SED Politburo .

From head of the main administration training to army general of the NVA

Hoffmann in September 1969
On October 27, 1980, graduates of the NVA military academy welcomed Erich Honecker and Heinz Hoffmann

From 1949 Hoffmann was entrusted with building up armed forces in the GDR. He was initially Vice-President of the German Administration of the Interior and head of the Political Culture Department with the rank of General Inspector. In 1950 Hoffmann was appointed head of the main training administration and thereby also became Deputy Minister of the Interior. During the establishment of the Barracked People's Police (KVP), he was promoted to chief on July 1, 1952 and promoted to lieutenant general on October 1, 1952 . From 1955 to 1957 Hoffmann studied at the General Staff Academy of the USSR . So he was not in the GDR when the National People's Army was founded.

After his return from the Soviet Union, he served 1957-1960 as first deputy minister for national defense and 1958-1960 additionally as chief of the main staff . In 1959 he was appointed Colonel-General and 1961. Army General transported and thus to succeed Willi Stoph Minister of National Defense of the GDR. When the minister took over the office, he also became a member of the National Defense Council .

Order to shoot

Since October 6, 1961, there was an order from the then GDR Defense Minister, Army General Hoffmann, which obliged the GDR border troops to immediately use firearms after shouting and warning shots if refugees could not be arrested in any other way. In a speech that was recorded on film, Hoffmann said:

Anyone who doesn't respect our limit will feel the bullet. "

- Heinz Hoffmann

Personal

Heinz Hoffmann gets in close contact with a unit during an air force visit in 1981. Right - General Michail Saizew
Heinz Hoffmann visiting troops in 1982

After the end of the Second World War , he dropped his first name. He also published his book under the name Heinz Hoffmann.

During a vacation stay in 1977 with Raúl Castro not far from Havana
Heinz Hoffmann's urn grave, Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery

Hoffmann married Klawdija "Klawa" Ivanovna Knjasewa , whom he had met in 1940 when he was living in Peredelkino . She died on March 28, 1952. They had two sons, Juri and Alexander ("Sascha"). The younger, Sascha, had a fatal accident in a traffic accident twenty years later, shortly after he had completed his officer training as a lieutenant in the NVA.

In 1954 Hoffmann married Halina , a nurse who worked in the government hospital . They had two children and divorced in 1964.

In 1964 he married his chief secretary, Sergeant Gisela Sauer . They had three children and remained married until his death in 1985.

Heinz Hoffmann had his residence on Fontanestrasse in Strausberg . For recreational purposes and often on weekends , he used his weekend property at Karl-Marx-Damm 77 in Bad Saarow, located directly on the Scharmützelsee . The property was next to the friendship guest house of the Ministry of National Defense, which ensured supplies during his stays in Bad Saarow .

The cause of his death on December 2, 1985 is unclear. Rumors of alcohol poisoning in connection with the celebrations for their 75th birthday a few days earlier were circulating among the population of the GDR. This alleged cause of death has neither been confirmed nor denied. It was officially reported that Heinz Hoffmann was bleeding to death from an aortic aneurysm .

Honors

Fonts

literature

Web links

Commons : Heinz Hoffmann  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Berliner Morgenpost (August 12, 2007)