Manfred Bochmann (15 March 1928 – 18 November 2011) was an East German politician who served as his country's Minister for Geology for fifteen years.
[1] Bochmann was born into a working-class family in a mining region of Saxony, in a small town some 5 km (3 miles) outside Aue.
In 1945 he was called up for national service and joined the army, before being captured and interned as a prisoner of war by the Americans in May/June of that year.
[1] He then undertook further education at the local Technical College, and at the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology.
[1] He obtained a degree in Economics and became a full-time functionary of the country's ruling SED (party) which he had joined in 1946.