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

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

) of the

National People's Army The National People's Army (, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (DDR) from 1956 until 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) and the (Bord ...

of the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

and brother of Paul Verner. 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 The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

(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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. There he attended the VI World Congress of the Communist Youth International in 1935 and later the International Lenin School. Starting in 1938, Verner was operating for the KPD in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. He returned to Germany at the end of 1945. After the founding of the SED in 1946 he served as acting District Chairman in Hagenow. In May 1947, at the suggestion the National Board of the SED and the District Board of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

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 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Verner ran for the election to the 3rd German People's Congress in May 1949 against Paul Sack ( FDGB), Kurt Krönng ( LDPD) und Hartwig Stender ( CDU) and was elected by 74.9% of the votes cast in the

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...

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 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 (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

honored him in appreciation of his contribution to the development of the city. This honor was withdrawn after the

reunification of Germany German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic and the integration of i ...

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 Military personnel from Chemnitz Military personnel of 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