Werner Grossmann

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Werner Großmann was born in Ober-Ebenheit on 6 March 1929. He started his career as a brick-layer, but joined the Ministry for State Security in 1952 where he studied political and military espionage, rapidly rising in the ranks of the East German secret police. In 1956 he was promoted to deputy division leader of military espionage, becoming division leader in 1962. In 1983 he was promoted to deputy head of the "Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung" (HVA) or General Reconnaissance Administration, the foreign espionage arm of the Stasi. In 1986 when Markus Wolf retired, he was promoted to head of the HVA and deputy minister of state security. In 1989 he was awarded the rank of senior general. When the Stasi was dissolved in 1990, Großmann, like all other members, lost his position.