Siegfried Graefe

Siegfried Graefe (born January 12, 1928 in Koenigsbrück ( Saxony ), † May 28, 2004 in Koenigsbrück) is a former officer of the National People's Army of the German Democratic Republic . Most recently he held the rank of major general .

Life

As the son of a worker, Gräfe learned the job of a company railroader at the Deutsche Reichsbahn after attending eight years of school . From 1942 to 1944 he was Reichsbahn youth helper in Königsbrück and then a grenadier in the Wehrmacht during the last months of the war .

After the end of the war, Gräfe first joined the SPD and later the SED and was dispatcher and personnel clerk at the Deutsche Reichsbahn until 1950 . He then held the position of station master until 1951, before being promoted to chief adviser in the general management of the Deutsche Reichsbahn based in Berlin in 1952 .

Graefes entry into the Kasernierte Volkspolizei (KVP), the forerunner of the NVA, took place on January 1st, 1953. Here he became senior officer and department head of the railway transport in the staff of the KVP. In 1956 he rose to the position of Deputy Head of Transport and was also head of the department for operational work and training in the transport administration in the Ministry of National Defense . Gräfe held this position until 1957. Then he attended the College for Officers until 1958. Subsequently, he was head of transport from 1958 to 1972 and then head of military transport until 1988. He had received his appointment as major general on November 2, 1970. Gräfe attended the Friedrich Engels military academy and received his doctorate as Dr. rer. oec. and later appointed professor. He was adopted into retirement on February 29, 1988.

Awards

• 1974 battle medal "For services to people and fatherland" in bronze and 1977 in silver
• 1974 Honorary title of Honored Railway Worker of the German Democratic Republic
• 1976 Artur Becker Gold Medal
• 1980 Ernst Schneller Medal in gold
• 1980 Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze and 1984 in silver
• 1982 Friedrich Engels Prize
• 1988 Scharnhorst Order

literature

• Günther Buch: Names and dates of important people in the GDR. 4th, revised and expanded edition. Dietz, Berlin (West) / Bonn 1987, ISBN 3-8012-0121-X , p. 91.
• Klaus Froh, Rüdiger Wenzke : The generals and admirals of the NVA. A biographical manual. Christoph-Links Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-86153-209-3 , p. 103.