Mende, Erich, born 28-10-1916, in Opole, Miasto Opole, Opolskie, 
Poland. the third of four children of Max Mende (1885–1943) and his wife Anna (1889–1968), born 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. 
officer of the Deuxième Bureau and Head of the Inter-Allied Administrative and Plebiscite Commission in Upper Silesia. He was married with Margot, born Hattje, Mende (1921–2019).
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, 
under command of Gruppenführer Seidel, Wilhelm 
then subordinated to the 8th Infantry Division, 
under commant of Generalleutnant Rudolf Fedor Albet Koch-Erpach at Gleiwitz, 
on the German-Polish frontier.
As a lieutenant of infantry he was badly wounded 
on the third day of the German invasion of Poland 
in 1939. Mende 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 Josef Stalin‘s 
Red Army. 
A little later he managed to get the survivors of the Silesian 102. Infanterie-Division (102nd Infantry Division), 
under command of Lieutenant-General Werner von Bercken, 
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 Hermann Karl Robert “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 and Von Tresckow his view that the German leadership needed to find a political solution, negotiating peace, since the war could not be won by military means
On his release from British custody, Mende took up the study of law and political science at Cologne University, gaining his doctorate in 1949. He also helped to found the Free Democratic Party (FDP) 
in 1945.
The FDP lost office in 1966 with the fall of chancellor Ludwig Erhard. 
His successor at the head of the Christian Democrats, Kurt Georg Kiesinger, 
decided on a coalition with the main opposition party, the Social Democrats of Willy Brandt. 
In opposition Mende turned his attention to his finances and worked as representative of the American international investment bank, IOS. His party veered to the left and he was replaced in January 1968 by Walter Scheel. 
He left the Bundestag in 1969.
Erich Mende was married twice. His second wife, the young war widow Margot Hansen, he met in 1947 at an FDP meeting. They married a year later. Margot Mende played an active role in her husband’s career. His son Walter Rainer Mende (born 14-07-1944 in Oels) 
was the Oberbürgermeister (Lord Mayor) of Leverkusen from 1994 to 1999.
Death and burial ground of Mende, Erich.
Erich Mende passed away on 06-05-1998 (age 81) in Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany and is buried at the Burgfriedhof Bad Godesberg, Am Burgfriedhof 2. Bad Godesberg, Stadtkreis Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen 53177 Germany. Bad Godesberg, Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen.
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