Manfred Volland

Manfred Volland (born March 9, 1933 in Apolda ; † June 21, 2019 in Strausberg ) was a German officer, most recently in the rank of lieutenant general of the GDR's National People's Army . In his last post he was one of the deputies of the head of the political headquarters of the NVA.

Life

Volland was born on March 9, 1933 as the son of a locksmith in Apolda , Thuringia . After attending primary school, he completed an apprenticeship as a toolmaker from 1947 to 1950. After completing his apprenticeship, Volland initially worked as a functionary in the FDJ district leadership in Arnstadt . In the course of the development of armed forces in the GDR and the associated advertising, especially in the FDJ, Volland joined the former head office for training (HVA) on December 28, 1950 at the age of 17 and was then a course student at the Priemerwal site in the 1950/51 training year near Güstrow , where the HVA's only school for armored troops (C school) was located on the site of a former Muna . During this time Volland joined the SED . In the following year of training, 1951/52, Volland completed a political and cultural course as an officer auditor at the Treuenbrietzen site , where one of the HVA / KVP's two political schools was located at the time. He was then briefly transferred to the Mühlhausen site to a mixed national police station. Then Volland was transferred to Eggesin to the staff of the mechanized people's police readiness which had been built up there since 1952. It was a forerunner of the later 9th Panzer Division of the NVA. Volland worked there until 1956 as the deputy commander for political work at company and battalion level. After a further course as an officer auditor at the Polit-Schule Berlin-Treptow in 1957, he was transferred to Burg near Magdeburg, where he was deployed as the deputy battalion commander for political work in the tank training battalion 1 (PzLB-1) until 1959. The PzLB-1, which was set up together with the Panzer Regiment 1 in Burg on April 30, 1956, belonged to the first large association of the NVA, the 1st Mechanized Division of the NVA, the later 1st motorized rifle division based in Potsdam . In 1959 Volland was transferred to Artillery Regiment 1 (AR-1) in Oranienburg , where he was responsible for political work until 1964 as the deputy regimental commander.

He was then delegated to the Lenin Military Political Academy in Moscow to study for five years . On his return from Moscow Volland was transferred to a relatively young branch of the army, the rocket troops. At the Stallberg site near Torgelow , the independent Artillery Brigade 2 was initially set up in 1962 and renamed the 5th Missile Brigade in 1967 . It was the first unit within the NVA with operational-tactical missiles. Volland was there until 1972 as deputy brigade commander and head of the political department. After this station, the 39-year-old was delegated to the Genstaba in Moscow, which he visited until 1974. Then Volland was again transferred to the so-called Panzer Republic, he became deputy division commander of the 9th Panzer Division with staff in Eggesin and head of its political department. In 1976 Volland was transferred to Neubrandenburg , where he was responsible for instruction and organization until 1981 in the command of Military District V as deputy head of the political administration. With effect from December 1, 1981 he was transferred to the southern military district III in Leipzig, where Volland was now active in the military district command as deputy to the chief of the military district and chief of the political administration of the military district. This was followed by the appointment of major general on October 7, 1982 .

After the death of the Minister for National Defense, Army General Heinz Hoffmann , on December 2, 1985, there was a change in occupation in the Political Headquarters at the Ministry of National Defense . The previous head of the main political administration, Colonel General Heinz Keßler , was now defense minister and his previous deputy Horst Brünner was now head of the main political administration at the MfNV. Manfred Volland was entrusted with the vacated deputy post, responsible for organizational and political work in the Political Headquarters, from February 1, 1986, which resulted in a move to Strausberg . Since Volland was now in high political responsibility within the NVA, he was on the XI. SED party congress in April 1986 also elected as a candidate for the SED Central Committee . On March 1, 1988 he was promoted to lieutenant general . On February 28, 1990, Volland was released from service in the NVA at the age of 56.

Volland died on June 21, 2019 after a long and serious illness in Strausberg.

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 , p. 196
• Andreas Herbst, Gerd-Rüdiger Stephan, Jürgen Winkler: The SED History-Organization-Politics A manual 1st edition. dietz berlin 1997 ISBN 3-320-01951-1 p. 1103

Individual evidence

1. ^ Obituary with photo on the website of the Association for the Maintenance of the Traditions of the National People's Army and the Border Troops of the GDR eV