Career
Later he served as Deputy Minister for heavy machinery and equipment of the German Democratic Republic. Rentzsch was trained and worked as a carpenter. He became a soldier in the German Reichswehr in 1934, serving in the Smoke Mortar department (Nebelwerfer-Abteilung) and was promoted to sergeant. During the Second World War he was nominated for an officer"s career.
Rentzsch became a lieutenant in 1940 and a first lieutenant in 1942.
He was captured at Stalingrad in 1943 and taken into Soviet captivity. According to the memoirs of Marshal I. Bagramyan, his German anti-fascists activities were instrumental in organizing the operations of Koenigsberg"s liberation from Nazi forces.
Rentzsch served as the mayor of the city of Stollberg / Erzgeb. from 1945 to 1947 and from 1947 to 1948 he was the chief administrator of the district Stollberg. In 1948, Rentzsch was involved as one of the early leaders in the development of the garrisoned People"s Police, which later became the nucleus for the National People's Army.
In 1948/49 he was the Chief Inspector and head of the border alert police of the German Administration of the Interior.
After appropriate further military training in the Soviet Union from 1949 to 1950, he became a Major General of the People"s Police in 1952. He served as commander of the Territorial Department North. After the founding of the National People"s Army, he was commander of the Military District V. In 1957 he was Director of Training at the Ministry of National Defense.
In 1959 he was the Director of Administration at the headquarters of the National People's Army Artillery.
In 1959, the German Democratic Republic started dismissing former Wehrmacht soldiers from active duty and Rentzsch was transferred in the reserves. He became principal director of the state owned industry UNIMAK (Universalmaschinen Koppatsch) which coordinated all armament industries.
He was thus responsible for oversight of various munitions factories and chemical plants. Between 1961 and 1965 he was Deputy Chairman of the Economic Council of the German Democratic Republic and 1966/67 Deputy Minister of heavy machinery and plant construction.
Between 1967 and 1972, Rentzsch was the first Director of Administration for Defense Economics to the chairman of the Council of Ministers.
Finally, from 1972 to 1976 he was deputy chief of weapons and equipment at the Ministry of National Defense. 1963 Banner of Laborold (de: Orden Banner der Arbeit).
