Hopmann, Albert

Naval officer, Vice Admiral

Born: 30.04.1865 in Olpe (Westphalia)

Died: 14.03.1942 in Berlin

The son of the Wiesbaden district court president Emil Hopmann spent his childhood and youth in Wiesbaden and graduated from the Humanistische Gymnasium in 1884.

After joining the Imperial Navy in April 1884, he served on the admiral's staff from 1901-05 and was military attaché to the Russian fleet in East Asia in 1904. He was promoted to frigate captain in 1907 and captain in 1908. As commander of the small cruiser "SMS Bremen", he was deployed in the Caribbean in 1908/09. From 1911-15, as head of the central department in the Imperial Navy Office, he was Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz's right-hand man. Between April 1915 and December 1917, he was promoted to rear admiral and commanded the reconnaissance forces in the Baltic Sea. At times he also acted as advisor to the Turkish Navy Ministry (January-May 1916) and as head of the Operations Department in the Admiral's Staff.

On October 14, 1917, he was appointed vice admiral. Shortly afterwards, Hopmann took over the chairmanship of an inter-allied commission to regulate traffic conditions in the Black Sea. After the end of the war, he served as Armistice Commissioner for the Black and Mediterranean Seas and, after his return, as a member of a peace commission in the Baltic States.

Hopmann was regarded as the Admiral's staff's specialist on Russia and was at times under discussion as Tirpitz's successor. He left the service on 09.03.1920. His diaries are an important source for understanding the political and military structure of the German Empire.