Statement from the Ministry of National Defense of of the GDR

22 June 2022

By order of the State Council of the German Democratic Republic, the Ministry of National Defense announces that Admiral Markus Dönitz, the commander-in-chief of the Volksmarine, has been promoted to the new OF-10 rank of Großadmiral der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik.

Furthermore, General of the Army Franz Heinrich Richter, Minister of National Defense of the GDR, has also been promoted to the rank of Marschall der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik at the direction of the State Council. These promotions in rank will take immediate effect.

Comrades Dönitz and Richter are both Full Members of the 19th Politburo of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany; and both sit as members of the State Council, and the National Defense Council of the German Democratic Republic.