Walter Herkner

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Walter Herkner (born October 28, 1928 in Alt-Habendorf ; † January 16, 1989 ) was an officer in the National People's Army of the German Democratic Republic . Most recently he held the rank of major general .

Military career

After attending school for eight years, Herkner trained as an industrial clerk from 1942 to 1944 . Subsequently he was employed in the Reich Labor Service and was a mountain trooper in the Wehrmacht for the last months of the war . After his release from American captivity, Herkner moved to the Soviet occupation zone , became a member of the KPD , and later the SED . He initially worked as a buyer until 1948, then from 1948 to 1949 as a shipyard worker and FDJ secretary in Boizenburg, and from 1950 as a department head of the FDJ state management in Schwerin . From 1951 to 1952 Herkner attended the party college of the SED . Then he joined the armed organs of the GDR on January 1, 1953 . First as a member of the KVP, from 1956 of the NVA, he was employed until 1957 as an instructor in the security department of the SED Central Committee. From 1957 to 1958, Herkner was an officer auditor at the College for Officers. Subsequently, he rose to the position of sector head of the security department in the Central Committee of the SED. He held this position until 1962. After that he was deputy city commandant of East Berlin and head of the political department until 1970. In this capacity, Herkner was appointed major general on October 7, 1969. From 1970 to 1973 he was deputy chief of the border troops and head of political administration in the command of the border troops. In 1973 he rose to head of the Army Sports Association Committee Forward . He held this post until his death on January 16, 1989. His urn was on the Central Cemetery in Berlin-Friedrichsfelde in the graves plant for the victims and persecuted by the Nazi regime buried.

Herkner was also the holder of the Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold (1988) as well as various other orders and decorations .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andreas Herbst , Winfried Ranke, Jürgen Winkler: This is how the GDR worked. Volume 3, 1994, p. 138.
personal data
SURNAME Herkner, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German officer, most recently major general
DATE OF BIRTH October 28, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Alt-Habendorf
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 1989