Heinrich Dollwetzel

Heinrich Dollwetzel ( 30 March 1912 – 23 April 1966) was a Major general in East Germany's National People's Army. Prior to the army's foundation, he held several successive high ranks in the country's Kasernierte Volkspolizei (quasi-military police battalion).

Life Born into a working-class family, Dollwetzel began an industrial training as a fitter in 1926. His training was concluded in 1930. Between 1930 and 1933 he was unemployed: he joined the Communist Party in 1932. In January 1933 the NSDAP ("Nazi Party") took power in Germany. Later that year Dollwetzel emigrated via Denmark to the Soviet Union where he remained till 1937. He then, during 1937 and 1938, participated with the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War as a tank commander on the Republican side. He returned to the Soviet Union in 1939, taking work as a fitter, and later working for the Soviet Interior Ministry.