Heinz Keßler

Army General
Heinz Keßler
Army General Heinz Keßler
	Keßler in 1988
Minister of National Defense
	In office; 3 December 1985 – 18 November 1989
Chairman of the; Council of Ministers	Willi Stoph; Hans Modrow;
Appointed by	Erich Honecker;
Preceded by	Heinz Hoffmann
Succeeded by	Theodor Hoffmann
Minister
National People's Army
Chief of the; Political Administration
	In office; 10 January 1979 – 2 December 1985
Minister	Heinz Hoffmann;
Preceded by	Waldemar Verner
Succeeded by	Horst Brünner
Chief of Staff of the; National People's Army
	In office; 15 March 1967 – 10 January 1979
Minister	Heinz Hoffmann;
Preceded by	Sigfrid Riedel
Succeeded by	Fritz Streletz
Chief of the; Air Forces/Air Defence Command
	In office; 1 September 1956 – 14 March 1967
Minister	Willi Stoph; Heinz Hoffmann;
Preceded by	Heinz-Bernhard Zorn
Succeeded by	Herbert Scheibe
Preceded by
Parliamentary constituencies
Member of the Volkskammer ; for Bernau, Fürstenwald, Strausberg
	In office; 30 May 1949 – 11 January 1990
Preceded by	Multi-member district
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	26 January 1920; Lauban, Province of Lower Silesia, Free State of Prussia, Weimar Republic (now Lubań, Poland)
Died	2 May 2017 (aged 97); Berlin, Germany
Party	KPD (1945–1946); SED (1946–1989); PDS (1989–1990); KPD (1990) (2009–2017)
Spouse	Ruth
Children	1
Occupation	Politician; Machinist; Soldier;
Military service
Allegiance	Nazi Germany; Soviet Union; East Germany
Branch/service	Wehrmacht; Red Army; National People's Army
Years of service	1940–1941; 1941–1945; 1950–1989
Rank	Armeegeneral
Commands	Commander-in-chief of the Kommando LSK/LV; Ministry of National Defence
Battles/wars	World War II Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa; ; ; Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia; Angolan Civil War;
Criminal information
Known for	Incitement to kill German civilians fleeing East Germany
Criminal status	Served prison sentence 24 January 1990 – April 1990; 26 July 1991 – 29 October 1998, released on parole in 1998 due to poor health
Conviction	Incitement of Manslaughter (7 counts)
Criminal penalty	7½ years imprisonment
	Central institution membership 1986–1989: Full member,; Politburo of the Central Committee ; 1946–1989: Full member,; Central Committee ; Other offices held 1967–1989: Member,; National Defence Council ; 1950–1954: Chairman,; Free German Youth in the Volkskammer ;

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Heinz Keßler (26 January 1920 – 2 May 2017) was a German communist politician and military officer in East Germany.

His career in the military started when he was conscripted into the Wehrmacht, the armed forces of Nazi Germany, in World War II. Due to his communist convictions, he deserted the Wehrmacht and fought for the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front. Upon his return to East Germany, he entered service in the National People's Army (Nationale Volksarmee) upon its establishment in 1956. Later, he was Minister of Defense of the GDR with the rank of Armeegeneral, a member of the Politbüro of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), and a deputy of the GDR's Volkskammer (parliament).

Convicted for his role in the deaths of defectors along the Berlin wall, he was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison after German reunification, and served his sentence in Hakenfelde Prison. He was released from prison in 1998 after serving only two years.