Erich Mende (28 October 1916 – 6 May 1998) was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the leader of FDP from 1960 to 1968 and the vice-chancellor of West Germany from 1963 to 1966. Early life Mende was born on 28 October 1916 in Groß Strehlitz, in the Province of Silesia, a province in the Kingdom of Prussia. Today it is Strzelce Opolskie, part of Opole Voivodeship in Poland. He was the third of four children of Max Mende (1885–1943) and his wife Anna (1889–1968), née Krawietz, of Polish descent. He had a seven-year-older brother Walter and a five-year-older sister Amalie. His father was the director of a secondary school (Volksschule) and, as was usual among Catholics, a supporter of the Centre Party. He grew up in region of Silesia heavily fought over during the Silesian Uprisings of 1919 to 1921 that culminated in the Battle of Annaberg (21–26 May 1921). He also experienced the Upper Silesia occupation by British, French and Italian forces, and being governed by an Inter-Allied Committee headed by a French general, Henri Le Rond. On graduating from the Königliches Johanneum Gymnasium in Groß Strehlitz in 1936 he decided to become a professional soldier and enlisted in the Wehrmacht's 84th Infantry Regiment, then subordinated to the 8th Infantry Division, at Gleiwitz, on the German-Polish frontier. Military career As a lieutenant of infantry he was badly wounded on the third day of the German invasion of Poland in 1939. He was wounded on two further occasions. In January 1945 as a major, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) for holding the front and thereby helping 10,000 East Prussian civilians and wounded escape the advancing Red Army. A little later he managed to get the survivors of the Silesian 102. Infanterie-Division (102nd Infantry Division), about 4,000 men, to the relative safety of being prisoners of war of the British. According to his own account, Mende shared a very trusted relationship with the commanding general of the 102nd Infantry Division, Werner von Bercken. In April 1944, Von Bercken introduced him to Generalmajor Henning von Tresckow, who organized the German resistance against Adolf Hitler. In this brief meeting Von Bercken encouraged Mende to openly share his pessimistic view on the outcome of the war. In this account, Mende expressed to Von Bercken