Dieter Zinke
Dieter Zinke (b. 1 June 1939 in Saarbrücken, German Reich; d. 7 April 2021 in Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Federal Republic of Germany) was a German physician, military doctor (Sanitätsoffizier) of the Bundeswehr and author. He was very interested in German military history as well as nature and environmental protection, especially ornithology.
Life
- I was born in Saarbrücken in 1939 before the outbreak of war and attended primary school and secondary school in Völklingen, where I spent most of my youth. After graduating with Abitur from the Black Forest School in Triberg, I studied human medicine at the venerable Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis and received my doctorate in medicine (Dr. med.) in 1968. I completed my nine clinical years in hospitals in Völklingen and, as a soldier (SAZ 4 years), in Department I (Internal Medicine) of the Central Bundeswehr Hospital (Bundeswehrzentralkrankenhauses ) in Koblenz, where I served until the end of 1975 as a Oberstabsarzt (= Major) and head of the specialist internal medicine examination office. From the end of 1975 to 1997, I had my own practice in Koblenz as a general practitioner specializing in internal medicine. Since my school days, I have been fascinated by German military history. My passion began with the well-known Landser stories, which soon, however, no longer met my requirements. Through research into general doctors of the Luftwaffe, I became an assistant to Karl-Friedrich Hildebrand with his series “The Generals of the Luftwaffe” and “The Generals of the Heer” at Biblio-Verlag Osnabrück, later Bissendorf. There I was involved in his manuscript for the never-published “Generals of the Heer, letters M - Z”. After completely redesigning the concept of “Germany’s Admirals and Generals”, I then published six volumes of “The Generals of the Waffen-SS and the Police” as co-author with Andreas Schulz at Biblio-Verlag, creating a standard work that had not previously existed in such a compact form in the German-speaking world, and which will be followed by further supplementary volumes, supplemented by corrections and new material.[1]
Family
Zinke was married to Dr. med. Heide Zinke (1938–2023). He was father of a son and a daughter as well as a proud grandfather.
Writings (excerpt)
- NS-Machtergreifung: Korrektur, 2008
- Deutschlands Admirale und Generale (with Andreas Schulz and Günter Wegmann)
- Die Generale der Waffen-SS und der Polizei (with Andreas Schulz), 6 Volumes, Biblio Verlag
- Die Militärverwaltungsbeamten der deutschen Wehrmacht im Generalsrang (with Andreas Schulz), Verlag Veit Scherzer, Bayreuth 2015
