Waldemar Verner (27 August 1914 in Chemnitz, Germany – 15 February 1982) was chief of the People's Navy (

Volksmarine The ''Volksmarine'' (VM, ; en, People's Navy) was the naval force of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The ''Volksmarine'' was one of the service branches of the National People's Army and primarily performed a coasta ...

) of the

National People's Army The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) a ...

of the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...

and brother of

Paul Verner Paul Verner (26 April 1911 – 12 December 1986) was a German communist politician. He joined the communist movement at a young age and went into exile during Adolf Hitler's rule. Verner became a prominent political personality in the German ...

. The son of a metalworker he trained as a window decorator. In 1923, Verner joined the Communist Young Spartacus organization and Communist Youth Federation of Germany (KJVD) in 1929. He became a member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in 1930. Verner was arrested and imprisoned by the Nazis because of their accusing him of illegal activities in the KPD, and he went into exile in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. There he attended the VI World Congress of the Communist Youth International in 1935 and later the

International Lenin School The International Lenin School (ILS) was an official training school operated in Moscow, Soviet Union, by the Communist International from May 1926 to 1938. It was resumed after the Second World War and run by the Communist Party of the Soviet Uni ...

. Starting in 1938, Verner was operating for the KPD in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. He returned to Germany at the end of 1945. After the founding of the

SED sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs, and is available today for most operating systems. sed w ...

in 1946 he served as acting District Chairman in

Hagenow Hagenow () is a German town in the southwest of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in the district of Ludwigslust-Parchim, 30 kilometers south of Schwerin. Its population is approximately 11,300 inhabitants (2013). Hagenow is part of the Hamburg Met ...

. In May 1947, at the suggestion the National Board of the SED and the District Board of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

in the Stralsund he was appointed as the District Chairman replacing Ernst Guth. In September 1947 he served as a delegate at the 2nd Congress of the SED, and in December 1947 at the 1st

German People's Congress The German People's Congress (german: Deutscher Volkskongress) were a series of congresses held in Germany. They consisted of members of the Socialist Unity Party, the SED, and other political parties and mass organizations. Delegates from all ov ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. Verner ran for the election to the 3rd German People's Congress in May 1949 against Paul Sack (

FDGB The Free German Trade Union Federation (german: Freier Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund or ''FDGB'') was the sole national trade union centre of the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) which existed from 1946 and 1990. As a mass organis ...

), Kurt Krönng ( LDPD) und Hartwig Stender ( CDU) and was elected by 74.9% of the votes cast in the Stralsund election district. Verner's career as a naval officer began on 15 June 1950. He served as the Inspector General of the

Main Administration Sea Police The Main Administration Sea Police (''Hauptverwaltung Seepolizei (HVS)'') was an East German maritime organization established with support of the Soviet Navy on June 16, 1950. It was an armed organization of the East German Ministry of the Inter ...

until 1952. From 1952 to 1955, Verner held the office of the Chief of the People's Police-Sea located in Stralsund with the rank of

Vizeadmiral (abbreviated VAdm) is a senior naval flag officer rank in several German (language), German-speaking countries, equivalent to Vice admiral. Austria-Hungary In the Austro-Hungarian Navy there were the flag-officer ranks ''Kontreadmiral'' (al ...

(since 1 October 1952). From 1955 to 1956, he studied at the Soviet Naval Academy. From 1957 to 1959 Verner was Chief of the East German Navy (Seestreitkräfte). He was then appointed as Deputy Minister of National Defense of the German Democratic Republic and the head of the political headquarters of the National People's Army. He served in these positions until his retirement from active service on 31 December 1978. On 1 March 1961 he became the first officer to the People's Navy to be promoted to admiral. On 8 May 1980 the city of Stralsund honored him in appreciation of his contribution to the development of the city. This honor was withdrawn after the reunification of Germany.

References

* Klaus Froh, Rüdiger Wenzke: ''Die Generale und Admirale der NVA. Ein biographisches Handbuch.'' 4. Auflage. Ch. Links,

2000,

External links

Wer war wer in der DDR?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verner, Waldemar 1914 births 1982 deaths People from Chemnitz People from the Kingdom of Saxony Communist Party of Germany politicians Members of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany Admirals of the Volksmarine Refugees from Nazi Germany in the Soviet Union International Lenin School alumni Members of the 8th Volkskammer Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit (honor clasp) Recipients of the Banner of Labor N. G. Kuznetsov Naval Academy alumni