Alter, Manfred Die Seefahrt in der DDR bis 1970 – mein Lebenstraum

Manfred Alter, born in 1943, grew up in a rural area in eastern Germany during the post-war period. He was interested in technology and was able to start an apprenticeship as an engine mechanic in Märkische Schweiz, which included boarding school accommodation and everything else that was important for a young man growing up. After qualifying as a skilled worker, Manfred dreams of going to sea. There is only one option: enlisting in the National People's Army naval forces! In 1961, he is called up for military service and soon finds himself at the Parow naval academy in Stralsund, where he is surprised by the construction of the Berlin Wall around West Berlin. He learns about and how to maintain torpedo speedboats of the GDR Navy, among other things in the standby port of Gager on Rügen. After three years, Manfred applies for a job with the Deutsche Seereederei Rostock (DSR). His dream came true, because over the following years, his sea voyages on the ships MS Dornbusch, MS John Brinkmann, MS Weisseritz, MS Lieselotte Herrmann, MS Sellin and MS Albin Köbis took him take him to many countries, including Egypt, Bangladesh, Belgium, West Germany, Burma/Myanmar, Denmark, Ivory Coast, England, Finland, France, Gran Canaria, Greece, Guinea, India, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Zanzibar, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Senegal, the Soviet Union, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey, Cyprus and back again and again to their home ports in Rostock, Wismar and Stralsund in the GDR.