Wilhelm Ehm Wilhelm Ehm ( * August 30 , 1918 in Pula , Austro Hungarian Empire ; † August 9 , 2009 in Rostock , Germany ) a World War II Wehrmacht veteran and East German Admiral who was Deputy Minister of National Defense of the German Democratic Republic and head of the People ' s Navy ( Volksmarine ) . Early life . Ehm ' s father was a carpenter who served as an armorer and a bugler in the Austro - Hungarian Navy ( KuK Kriegsmarine ) during World War I . Ehm was born during his father ' s military service at Pula , a major Austro - Hungarian Navy port on the Adriatic near Trieste . He had a brother Hermann , born in 1913 and a younger sister Maria , born in 1921 . After the war ended in 1918 , his family went back to Komotau ( now Chomutov ) , the hometown of his father in Bohemia , which is now part of the Czech Republic . There his father served as a municipal employee . After the death of his mother in 1931 , his father remarried a woman with a daughter and son . After eight years of elementary school , Ehm apprenticed as an electrician from 1932 to 1938 . Later he worked as an electromagnetic radio mechanic . During this period he became a member of the Socialist Workers ' Youth and the International Metalworkers ' Federation . Army service . After the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939 , Ehm was drafted into the German army and remained a soldier until 1945 . He served as a non - commissioned master radioman ( Oberfunkmeister ) in the campaigns in France and Russia , although his assignments being primarily in the rear areas , he did not see actual combat . He married Melitta Capek in September 1942 in his hometown of Komotau . Soviet captivity . When the German 16th Army capitulated in the Courland Pocket ( Kurland - Kessel ) , he was held by the Soviets as a prisoner of war from June 1945 to December 1947 . He was held at Prisoner of War Camp # 7212 in Karelien . In the camp , he demonstrated his skills as a leader as well as an electrician , quickly becoming a foreman of his work brigade . Ehm worked actively to support the camp ' s Antifascist committee . His ability to manage people and his desire to cooperate with his Soviet superiors led to a rapid rise in the prisoner leadership . In the spring of 1947 he received his first postcard from his wife , Melitte , who was living on the island of Rügen , bringing him the first news of his son ' s existence . After his release in December 1947 , he worked as a casual laborer to support his family . He was a skilled craftsman , but he was unsuccessful in finding work as an electrician at the Buna works Berlin or at the post office , because he didn ' t have a bicycle . Socialist Unity Party work . Ehm joined the Socialist Unity Party of Germany ( SED ) in 1948 . He worked for the ( SED ) district leadership in Rügen and later attended the district party school . During this early party work he met Waldemar Verner who was the first district Secretary of the SED in Stralsund who was also later Ehm ' s predecessor as Chief of the People ' s Navy ( Volksmarine ) . People ' s Navy career . Between 1950 and 1958 , this former army NCO ascended quickly in the naval forces of the German Democratic Republic . Ehm was different from other early East German military leaders , in that he lacked their long history as communists or socialists since the Weimar Republic . However he possessed a rare and important combination of military professionalism , innate leadership and political reliability . From 1950 to 1951 , Ehm served as the communications officer for the headquarters of the Sea Police ( Seepolizei ) . From 1954 to 1957 , he was Deputy Chief of Staff and Head of Organizational Administration for the People ' s Police Sea and the Naval Forces . He served as the Deputy Chief of Navy and from 1958 to 1959 , as the head of the Rear Services . With his appointment as rear admiral on August 1 , 1959 , he took command of the People ' s Navy . Ehm was promoted to vice admiral in March 1964 , and commanded the People ' s Navy until his retirement on November 30 , 1987 , with the exception of August 1961 to February 1963 , when he attended the Soviet Naval Academy , graduating with distinction . In 1972 he also became the Deputy Minister of National Defense . Ehm was promoted to admiral on the 28th anniversary of the founding of the German Democratic Republic in 1977 . From 1981 to 1989 , Ehm served as a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party . His many decorations and awards include the Karl Marx Order ( Karl - Marx - Orden ) , Honor Clasp to the Order of Merit for the Fatherland ( Ehrenspange des Vaterländischen Verdienstordens ( VVO ) ) and the Scharnhorst Order ( Scharnhorstorden ) .