Career
He was the East German ambassador to Finland from 1981 to 1987. Doernberg was born the son of an official of the KPD. In 1939, he joined the KJVD and received his Abitur in Moscow. On the day of Operation Barbarossa, he joined the Red Army.
He was temporarily interned in a work camp in the Urals because of his German origins but he returned from his stay there to the front after schooling in the Communist International.
As a Lieutenant in the 8th Guards Army he participated in the battles in the Ukraine, Poland, and Berlin.