Wilhelm Ehm
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Pula, Austrian Littoral, Austro Hungarian Empire (now Croatia)
Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Nazi Germany
East Germany Wehrmacht
VolksmarineWilhelm Ehm | |
|---|---|
 Wilhelm Ehm, middle, at a Fleet parade for the 30th Anniv of the German Democratic Republic | |
| Born | 30 August 1918 Pula, Austrian Littoral, Austro Hungarian Empire (now Croatia) |
| Died | 9 August 2009 (aged 90) Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany |
| Allegiance | Nazi Germany East Germany |
| Service | Wehrmacht Volksmarine |
| Years of service | 1938–1987 |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Commands | People's Navy (Volksmarine) |
| Awards | Karl-Marx-Orden, Ehrenspangel der Vaterländischer Verdienstorden, Scharnhorst Order |
Wilhelm Ehm (30 August 1918 – 9 August 2009) was an East German admiral who served as a Deputy Minister of National Defense of the German Democratic Republic and the head of the Volksmarine.
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. 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 Karelia. 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 did not have a bicycle.
