Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, invited Huguenots to settle in his realms, and a number of their descendants rose to positions of prominence in Prussia. Several prominent German military, cultural and political figures were ethnic Huguenot, including the poet Theodor Fontane, General Hermann von François, the hero of the First World War's Battle of Tannenberg, Luftwaffe General and fighter ace Adolf Galland, the Luftwaffe flying ace Hans-Joachim Marseille and the famed U-boat Captains Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière and Wilhelm Souchon. The last prime minister of East Germany, Lothar de Maizière, is also a descendant of a Huguenot family, as is the German Federal Minister of the Interior, Thomas de Maizière.