# Wilhelm Adam
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{{Short description|German military officer and politician (1893–1978)}}
{{For|the German Wehrmacht general in World War II|Wilhelm Adam (general)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Wilhelm Adam
| image = Wilhelm Adam (cropped).jpg
| caption = Adam in captivity at [Stalingrad](/source/Stalingrad) (4 February 1943)
| nickname =
| office = Minister of Finance
[State of Saxony](/source/State_of_Saxony_(1945%E2%80%931952))
| term_start = 24 November 1950
| term_end = 23 July 1952
| prime_minister= [Max Seydewitz](/source/Max_Seydewitz)
| predecessor = {{ill|Carl Ulbricht|de}}
| successor = ''Position abolished''
| office2 = ''[Volkskammer](/source/Volkskammer)'' Deputy
| term_start2 = 19 April 1950
| term_end2 = 20 October 1963
| birth_date = {{birth date|1893|3|28|df=y}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1978|11|24|1893|3|28|df=y}}
| birth_place = [Eichen](/source/Nidderau), [Hesse-Nassau](/source/Hesse-Nassau), [Kingdom of Prussia](/source/Kingdom_of_Prussia), [German Empire](/source/German_Empire)
| death_place = [Dresden](/source/Dresden), [East Germany](/source/East_Germany)
| party = [National Democratic Party of Germany](/source/National_Democratic_Party_of_Germany_(East_Germany))
| other_party = [Young German Order](/source/Young_German_Order)
[Nazi Party](/source/Nazi_Party)
[German People's Party](/source/German_People's_Party)
[National Committee for a Free Germany](/source/National_Committee_for_a_Free_Germany)
| awards = [Blood Order](/source/Blood_Order)
| known_for = Member of the NKFD
| allegiance = {{flag|German Empire}}
{{flag|Weimar Republic}}
{{flag|Nazi Germany}}
{{flag|East Germany}}
| branch = [Imperial German Army](/source/Imperial_German_Army)
''[Reichswehr](/source/Reichswehr)''
''[Wehrmacht](/source/German_Army_(Wehrmacht))''
[National People's Army](/source/National_People's_Army) (NVA)
| service_years = 1913–1919
1934–1945
1952–1958
| rank = ''[Leutnant](/source/Leutnant)'' (Imperial German Army)
''[Hauptmann](/source/Hauptmann)'' (''Reichswehr'')
''[Oberst](/source/Oberst)'' (''Wehrmacht'')
''[Generalmajor](/source/Generalmajor)'' (NVA)
| commands =
| unit = [6th Army](/source/6th_Army_(Wehrmacht))
| battles = [World War I](/source/World_War_I)
[World War II](/source/World_War_II)
* [Battle of Stalingrad](/source/Battle_of_Stalingrad){{POW}}
| mawards = [Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross](/source/Knight's_Cross_of_the_Iron_Cross)
| laterwork =
}}
'''Wilhelm Adam''' (28 March 1893 – 24 November 1978) was a German schoolteacher who fought as an officer in both world wars, in the [Imperial German Army](/source/Imperial_German_Army) of the [German Empire](/source/German_Empire) and in the ''[Wehrmacht](/source/Wehrmacht)'' of [Nazi Germany](/source/Nazi_Germany). Following the German defeat at the [Battle of Stalingrad](/source/Battle_of_Stalingrad) in [World War II](/source/World_War_II), he was taken prisoner by the [Red Army](/source/Red_Army) and became a member of the [National Committee for a Free Germany](/source/National_Committee_for_a_Free_Germany). Adam later served in the [National People's Army](/source/National_People's_Army) of [East Germany](/source/East_Germany). Also active in politics, he served as the finance minister in the [state of Saxony](/source/State_of_Saxony_(1945%E2%80%931952)) and as a deputy in the East German ''[Volkskammer](/source/Volkskammer)''.
== Early life and World War I ==
Adam was born in 1893 in Eichen (today, part of [Nidderau](/source/Nidderau)), the son of a farmer. After completing his secondary education, he attended the teacher training school in [Schlüchtern](/source/Schl%C3%BCchtern) from 1908 to 1913. In October 1913, he entered military service as a [one-year volunteer](/source/one-year_volunteer) with the 88th (2nd Nassau) Infantry Regiment. At the outbreak of the [First World War](/source/First_World_War), he was deployed to the [western front](/source/Western_Front_(World_War_I)) as a ''[Gefreiter](/source/Gefreiter)'' in August 1914. He was wounded on 16 September and treated at a military hospital in [Düsseldorf](/source/D%C3%BCsseldorf). He was reassigned to his regiment's reserve battalion and, in April 1915, was promoted to ''[Feldwebel](/source/Feldwebel)''. From April to May 1915, he participated in an officer training course and received his commission as a ''[Leutnant](/source/Leutnant)'' on 22 May. He was made a platoon leader in the [XVI Army Corps](/source/XVI_Corps_(German_Empire)) and he served with the 30th (4th Rhenish) Infantry Regiment from October 1915. In July 1916, he was transferred back to 88th Infantry Regiment and, in September 1916, he became the commander of a machine-gun company in Infantry Regiment 424. From October onward, Adam served as an [orderly officer](/source/Batman_(military)) with the 70th ''[Landwehr](/source/Landwehr)'' Infantry Brigade. Following the end of the war, he was discharged from the army in January 1919, having earned the [Iron Cross](/source/Iron_Cross), 1st and 2nd class.
== Career in the inter-war years ==
Returning to civilian life, Adam worked as an elementary school teacher from 1919 to 1929 in [Langenselbold](/source/Langenselbold).[Gabriele Baumgartner & Dieter Hebig (eds.): ''Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ/DDR 1945-1990'', Vol. 1 (A-L), Munich 1995, p. 30.] Concurrently, from 1922 to 1924, he studied at the [University of Frankfurt am Main](/source/Goethe_University_Frankfurt) and, in 1927, passed the state examination to qualify as a middle school teacher. He joined the Langenselbold ''Militärverein'' (military association) in 1919 and was a member of the [Young German Order](/source/Young_German_Order) from 1920 to 1923. In 1923, Adam joined the [Nazi Party](/source/Nazi_Party) and participated in the failed [Beer Hall Putsch](/source/Beer_Hall_Putsch) in November of the same year, for which he later would be awarded the [Blood Order](/source/Blood_Order). After the Party was banned, he did not rejoin it following its re-establishment in 1925. In 1926, he joined the [German People's Party](/source/German_People's_Party), remaining a member until 1929. From 1929 to 1934, he taught mathematics at the Army Technical School in [Weimar](/source/Weimar).[Gerald Kolditz: [https://saebi.isgv.de/biografie/Wilhelm_Adam_(1893-1978) Wilhelm Adam] in [https://saebi.isgv.de/ Sächsische Biografie]]
In 1933, Adam became a member of ''[Der Stahlhelm](/source/Der_Stahlhelm)'', the militant German veterans' association and, following its incorporation into the Nazi ''[Sturmabteilung](/source/Sturmabteilung)''(SA) in February 1934, he joined the newly formed SA-Reserve I, composed of former ''Stahlhelm'' members. He held the rank of SA-''[Oberscharführer](/source/Oberscharf%C3%BChrer)'' and was assigned to the department for ideological training on the staff of SA-''[Standarte](/source/Standarte)'' 94 in Weimar. In 1934, Adam was recalled to active military service in the ''[Reichswehr](/source/Reichswehr)'' with the rank of ''[Hauptmann](/source/Hauptmann)''. Following courses at a ''[Kriegsschule](/source/Kriegsschule_(Germany))'' (war school), he was promoted to ''[Major](/source/Major_(Germany))'' on 1 January 1938. Until 1939, he served as an instructor at the [Döberitz military training area](/source/D%C3%B6beritz_military_training_area), and subsequently at the ''Kriegsschule'' in [Dresden](/source/Dresden).[Fellgiebel 2000, p. 113.] On 31 January 1943, Adam was made a [prisoner of war](/source/prisoner_of_war) by the [Red Army](/source/Red_Army) after the surrender of the 6th Army in [Stalingrad](/source/Stalingrad). He was interrogated by [Nikolay Dyatlenko](/source/Nikolay_Dyatlenko).[{{cite book |author-last=Beevor |author-first=Antony |author-link=Antony Beevor |title=Stalingrad |location=London |publisher=[Penguin](/source/Penguin_(publisher)) |date=1999 |pages=378–9}}] While in captivity, he went to the Central Anti-Fascist School at [Krasnogorsk](/source/Krasnogorsk%2C_Moscow_Oblast). He became a member of the [National Committee for a Free Germany](/source/National_Committee_for_a_Free_Germany) in 1944.[{{cite book |last=Stockhorst |first=Erich |title=5000 Köpfe: Wer War Was im 3. Reich |location= |publisher=Arndt |year=1985 |isbn=978-3-887-41116-9 |page=29}}] A Nazi court sentenced him to death ''[in absentia](/source/trial_in_absentia)''.
Concerning the war, Adam stated, "That the Second World War started by Hitler's Germany was a crime not only against the peoples attacked by us, but also against the German nation, did not occur to us. And because of this, we did not recognize the deeper reasons for the defeat on the Volga, superiority of the socialist state and social system, whose sharp sword was the Soviet army."[{{Cite book |last1=Adam |first1=Wilhelm |first2=Otto |last2=Ruhle |translator=Tony Le Tissier |title=With Paulus at Stalingrad |publisher=[Pen and Sword Books](/source/Pen_and_Sword_Books) |year=2015 |isbn=9781473833869 |page=153}}]
== Post-war life in East Germany ==
In September 1948, Adam returned to Germany, settling in Dresden in what had become the [Soviet occupation zone in Germany](/source/Soviet_occupation_zone_in_Germany). He was among the co-founders of the [National Democratic Party of Germany](/source/National_Democratic_Party_of_Germany_(East_Germany)), an East German political party that acted as an organization for former members of the Nazi Party and the ''Wehrmacht''. He became the chairman of the NDPD's state chapter in [Saxony](/source/State_of_Saxony_(1945%E2%80%931952)) from 1949 to 1952. From 1948 to 1949, he worked as a consultant for the Saxon state government in its Ministry of Public Education. From 1950 to 1952, he was Saxony's finance minister and, from 1950 to 1963, a member of [East Germany](/source/East_Germany)'s ''[Volkskammer](/source/Volkskammer)''.[Thomas & Wegmann 1987, p. 17.]
* [Clasp to the Iron Cross](/source/Clasp_to_the_Iron_Cross) (1939) 2nd Class (26 May 1940) & 1st Class (10 October 1941)