Heinrich Homann

Heinrich Homann (6 March 1911 – 4 May 1994) was a German communist politician and former Wehrmacht officer who held a number of offices in the German Democratic Republic.

Biography

Heinrich Homann was born on 6 March 1911, the son of a shipping company director in Bremerhaven. He studied law at the universities of Tübingen, Jena, Göttingen, and Hamburg. In 1933, he joined the Nazi Party, and the following year entered the military. He eventually rose to the rank of Major in the Heer and fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. In 1943, he was taken prisoner by the Soviets at the Battle of Stalingrad. During his time as a prisoner of war, Homann became a member of the anti-Nazi National Committee for a Free Germany.

After the war, Homann returned to Soviet-occupied Germany and embarked on a political career. He joined the National Democratic Party (NDPD), which largely represented former members of the Nazi Party and helped bind them to the state ideology of the German Democratic Republic. He was first elected to the Volkskammer in 1949, where he served continuously throughout his career. In 1960, he became a Deputy Chairman in the State Council, and in 1972 he succeeded Lothar Bolz as Chairman of the NDPD. Homann's political career ended during the Peaceful Revolution of 1989. He was removed from the State Council in November 1989 and expelled from the NDPD the following month.