Horst Stechbarth

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Stechbarth and Erich Honecker during a troop visit to the land forces of the NVA (1984)

Horst Stechbarth (born April 13, 1925 in Tzschecheln ; † June 8, 2016 in the community of Schwielowsee ) was Deputy Minister for National Defense in the GDR's Council of Ministers and head of the NVA's land forces from 1972 to 1989 .

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Colonel-General Horst Stechbarth, Chief of the Land Forces, visiting the troops with Erich Honecker (1984)
Generals Stechbarth (left) and Keßler (right) in their GAZ-13 Tschaika parade vehicles at the NVA parade on the 39th anniversary of the GDR (1988)

The son of a farmer, he was born in Tzschecheln, Sorau district, and learned the trade of an agricultural assistant. Stechbarth worked in this profession from 1939 to 1943. He was drafted into the Reich Labor Service in 1943 and became a candidate for the NSDAP. In 1943 he became a member of the NSDAP and served from 1943 to 1945 as a tank grenadier in the 3rd Panzer Division ; he went as a sergeant from 1945 to 1948 in Soviet captivity . After his release, Horst Stechbarth worked as a farm worker.

On March 1, 1949, he joined the barracked readiness of the "Main Department Border Police and Readiness" (HA GP / B) of the "German Administration of the Interior" (DVdI). In the same year he became a member of the FDJ , in 1951 a member of the SED . Stechbarth served himself up from the group leader to the commander of the CIP readiness Eggesin. From 1954 to 1955 he was an officer auditor at the College for Officers and then deputy and then commander of the 1st Motorized Rifle Division in Potsdam . From 1959 to 1961 Stechbarth studied at the General Staff Academy of the USSR . As a major general , he was chief of the military district V ( Neubrandenburg ) of the land forces from 1964 to 1967 . After being promoted to Lieutenant General on November 2, 1970, Stechbarth was Deputy Minister and Chief Command Land Forces of the NVA from 1972 to 1989 . On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the NPA on March 1, 1976, he was appointed Colonel-General conveyed. From 1976 to 1989 Stechbarth was a member of the Central Committee of the SED, initially as a candidate and from 1978 as a member.

Horst Stechbarth retired on December 31, 1989, as did Wolfgang Reinhold and Horst Brünner .

As chief of the land forces, Stechbarth commanded the annual honorary parade on Karl-Marx-Allee in Berlin until 1989 on the occasion of the holiday of the founding of the German Democratic Republic on October 7th.

Stechbarth died on June 8, 2016 in Schwielowsee, where he lived in Brandenburg. His grave is on the south-west cemetery in Stahnsdorf .

Awards

Publications

  • Horst Stechbarth: Soldier in the East. Memories and experiences from five decades. Edition Stadt und Buch, Hüllhorst 2006, ISBN 3-92062-110-7 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Olaf Kappelt: Brown Book GDR. Nazis in the GDR. Reichmann Verlag, Berlin (West) 1981, ISBN 3-923137-00-1 .
  2. ^ New day of February 20, 1986
  3. ^ New Germany of May 26, 1978
  4. ↑ Colonel General a. D. Horst Stechbarth died , Junge Welt , June 11, 2016, accessed on June 11, 2016
  5. ^ High GDR military: Vice Minister Horst Stechbarth is dead. In: lvz.de. June 18, 2016, accessed September 11, 2019 .
  6. ↑ 200 mourners in Stahnsdorf , in: Märkische Allgemeine , June 24, 2016, page 28
personal data
SURNAME Stechbarth, Horst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, Deputy Minister for National Defense in the Council of Ministers of the GDR
DATE OF BIRTH April 13, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Tzschecheln
DATE OF DEATH June 8, 2016
Place of death Schwielowsee (municipality)