Manfred Graetz

Manfred Graetz (born January 9, 1935 in Altmittweida ) is a former German officer. He was Deputy Minister for National Defense of the GDR and Chief of the Main Staff of the National People's Army .

Life

The son of a worker joined the armed organs after graduating from high school on December 29, 1952 . From 1952 to 1954, Grätz attended the officers' school in Erfurt as an officer student .

After graduating from the officers' school, he was Deputy Chief of Staff in the 14th Panzer Regiment.

Manfred Graetz completed his visit to the military academy in the USSR from 1955 to 1959 as a graduate military scientist. From 1961 until his visit to the General Staff Academy of the USSR from 1971 to 1973, he served in the Ministry of National Defense .

After returning from the Soviet Union, Grätz served as deputy commander and chief of staff in the 1st Motorized Rifle Division in Potsdam . This was followed by service as commander of the 8th motorized rifle division in Schwerin from 1976 to 1978.

Manfred Graetz was appointed major general on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the German Democratic Republic on October 7, 1979. From 1982 to 1986 he was chief of Military District III ( Leipzig ). During this time Grätz was promoted to lieutenant general on March 1, 1984 . From 1986 to 1989 he succeeded Colonel General Joachim Goldbach as Deputy Minister for National Defense and as Head of Rear Services . After the dismissal of Colonel General Fritz Streletz on December 31, 1989, Manfred Graetz became Chief of the Main Staff while retaining his position as Deputy Minister for National Defense.

In the Ministry of disarmament and defense he was on 18 April 1990 to 15 September 1990 Chief of the Main Staff of the NVA. His early retirement took place on September 30, 1990.

Condemnation in the wall rifle trials

As a participant in the wall rifle trials, Manfred Grätz was sentenced in 1998 in the same proceedings as Horst Brünner , Wolfgang Herger and Heinz Tappert by the Berlin district court for aiding and abetting manslaughter to one year and 3 months imprisonment on probation.

Awards

• 1985 Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze and 1988 in silver
• Battle medals "For services to people and fatherland" in gold

literature

• Klaus Froh, Rüdiger Wenzke : The generals and admirals of the NVA. A biographical manual. 4th edition. Ch. Links, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-86153-209-3
• Helmut Müller-Enbergs :  Grätz, Manfred . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .