Rectors at the Technische Hochschule / Technische Universität Hannover (1933–1975)

Academic and career details:

Born in Bremen; following graduation from high school he studied mathematics, natural sciences and Sanskrit at the universities of Freiburg, Berlin and Göttingen. 1900–1903, assistant for mathematics at the University of Göttingen; 1903/04, doctoral degree with a dissertation on the history of mathematics, also completed a teaching examination. 1903–1910, various positions in the university libraries in Göttingen and Königsberg. Completed habilitation in mathematics in Göttingen during this period (1908). From 1910, tenured professor of higher mathematics at TH Hannover. Contributed to the Encyclopaedia of Mathematical Sciences edited by Felix Klein. Müller focused intensively on studying India’s mathematics. 1948, professor emeritus.

Selection of additional functions, primarily at TH/TU Hannover, and honours and memberships after 1945 (or before 1933 where applicable):

Rector at TH Hannover, 1919–1923 and 1945–1947. During the Weimar Republic he served numerous times as dean of the Faculty for General Sciences and was simultaneously a member of the university senate. Memberships: German Association of Mathematicians, Berlin Academy of Sciences Commission on the Natural Sciences, Technical and Mathematics Texts of Leibniz.

Memberships in Nazi organisations (excluding simple memberships in the Hitler Youth, the German Labour Front, the German Student Union, the German Lecturers’ Union and similar organisations)

From May 1936, NSV; from May 1937, NSBDT, RKB, NSAHB.

Substantial Nazi ties/Conduct with respect to National Socialism:

Müller served as Ringführer (group leader) of TH Hannover’s NSAHB for one year beginning in 1940. He was acting rector of the university from October 1939 to February 1940 and deputy rector from 1944 to 1945. He served as dean of the Faculty for General Sciences from 1939 to 1945. The offices that Müller held at the university during the Nazi period indicate that the party, the relevant ministry and the university believed he could be relied upon to “act on behalf of the National Socialist state at all times and without reservation” as the common phrase at the time went. Otherwise, it would not have been possible for him to hold these high-ranking positions.

From 1936 to 1941, he served as secretary on the board of the German Association of Mathematicians (DMV). Beginning in 1935, Jewish members of the association were increasingly barred. By the end of 1938 at the latest, the “Jewish question” was also on the agenda of the DMV, possibly due to the decree on academies from the education ministry, “which prescribed changes to the statutes of scientific academies, not societies, and particularly demanded that citizens who were Jewish, ‘related to a Jewish person by marriage’, or ‘mixed’ leave these organisations”. Müller is said to have adopted two tactics. On the one hand, he tried – unsuccessfully – to make it possible that at least highly qualified members of Jewish descent would not be completely expelled from the association. He also suggested “with regard to the list [produced within the DMV], that it be assumed that those who were possibly Jewish were not Jewish if this was not clear” and that they be allowed to remain in the association. On the other hand, he refused to cooperate with his three colleagues from the association on the drafting of a DMV position on the “Jewish question”, thereby delaying its completion. Müller resigned from his position on the board of the DMV in 1941.

In 1933, he kept silent regarding the origins of his colleague Friedrich Quincke, rector of TH Hannover from 1927 to 1929, who had a Jewish mother. Only three people at the university knew this. This silence most likely enabled Quincke, who was in poor health and died in 1934, to be granted regular professor emeritus status.

Academic and career details:

Born in Norden; 1920–1922, degree in geodesy and land development engineering at the Agricultural University of Bonn; subsequent employment at the land register administration office. From 1928, assistant at TH Berlin-Charlottenburg; Dipl.-Ing. (1931) and Dr.-Ing. (1932) there. Employed at the Prussian Geodetic Institute in Potsdam until 1935; subsequent employment as an advisor at the Ministry of the Interior of the German Reich. 1937, habilitation at TH Berlin-Charlottenburg with subsequent teaching contract. 1938–1943, management activities in land surveys. 1943, tenured professor of geodesics and director of the Geodetic Institute at TH Hannover. 1965, professor emeritus; acting professorship until 1968.

Selection of additional functions, primarily at TH/TU Hannover, and honours and memberships after 1945 (or before 1933 where applicable):

Medals received for World War I: Iron Cross II (1916), Iron Cross I (1918), Wound Badge (1919). From 1950, member of the Committee for Geodesy at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities; 1955–1960, chair of the same committee; 1953–1963, German representative on the International Gravity Commission; from 1959, member of the Braunschweig Scientific Association; 1960–1963, secretary of the gravimetry section of the International Association of Geodesy; simultaneously chair of the German Union for Geodesy and Geophysics; 1961–1963, president of the Committee for Geodesy and Geophysics at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. 1961, honorary doctorate from TH Stuttgart; 1965, Johann Ritter von Prechtl medal from TH Vienna and Helmert commemorative coin in gold from the German Association of Professional Surveyors; 1967, Great Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Memberships in Nazi organisations (excluding simple memberships in the Hitler Youth, the German Labour Front, the German Student Union, the German Lecturers’ Union and similar organisations)

NSDAP, 1 May, 1937 (4.199.161); NSDDB; SA from 1934; NSV, 1935–1945; NSAHB; NSBDT; RLB, 1934–1945.

Substantial Nazi ties/Conduct with respect to National Socialism:

From 20 April 1935, Großmann was active as an SA storm trooper, and he was also active in the NSDAP (OG Eppendorf-Ost) from 1940/41 as a block helper, responsible for monitoring a city block, though he did not indicate this on his questionnaire. He was awarded the War Merit Cross in 1941.

Academic and career details:

Born in Oschersleben; studied electrical engineering at TH Berlin-Charlottenburg. 1928–1934, employed at the National Postal Service in Berlin, Stendal and Hamburg. 1934–1939, advisor for overall communications technology at the state postal headquarters in the city of Danzig. 1939–1934, tenured professor of telecommunications at TH Danzig; 1943/44, professor of telecommunications at TU Istanbul; 1944/45, return to previous position at TH Danzig. 1946–1949, high-level civil servant at the postal agency for the British Zone. 1949, appointment to professorship for telecommunications and as director of the Institute of Telecommunications at TH Hannover. 1971, professor emeritus.

Selection of additional functions, primarily at TH/TU Hannover, and honours and memberships after 1945 (or before 1933 where applicable):

1952–1954, vice rector; 1964/65 and 1966/67, dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Member of the university senate, 1956-1958, 1961-1964 and 1965/66. 1967, awarded the DIN ring of honour from the German Norms Association (DNA); 1972, awarded the French “Palmes Académiques” medal; 1974, honorary member of the Association for Electrical, Electronic and Information Technologies.

Memberships in Nazi organisations (excluding simple memberships in the Hitler Youth, the German Labour Front, the German Student Union, the German Lecturers’ Union and similar organisations)

NSDAP, 1 May 1936 (3.721.620); SA, 1933–1934; SS, 1934–1945 (241.758); NSV, 1934–1943; NSBDT, 1937–1945; NSAHB, from 1939.

Substantial Nazi ties/Conduct with respect to National Socialism:

By the end of 1937, Schönfeld had risen within the SS ranks to the position of SS-Oberscharführer (a lower-level officer). He participated in the second-last NSDAP party convention in 1937 and received the Julleuchter, an award bestowed by the Freundeskreis Reichsführer SS (Friends of the SS Commander),  on 21 December 1938. On 13 January 1939, he officially changed his religion from Protestant to gottgläubig (“believing in God”, a non-denominational Nazi term). This term was introduced in 1936 and entered into formal state records for those people who left the church, primarily for ideological reasons. Being gottgläubig was considered “evidence of a particular ideological connection to Nazism”.

Academic and career details:

Born in Leipzig; studied civil engineering at TH Dresden and graduated with Dipl.-Ing. degree (1926); employed as assistant from 1927–1929; awarded doctoral degree in 1929. Subsequently employed as head of construction and, from 1930 to 1934, government head of construction and master at Saxony’s administrative office for roadway and waterway engineering; subsequent positions as government building officer, chair of the government building authority and area advisor for the Mark Brandenburg region. 1939, habilitation; 1 September 1939, tenured professor and director of the Institute of Road Construction and Traffic Engineering at TH Berlin-Charlottenburg. 1949–1961, tenured professor of transport economics, road construction and urban planning at TH Hannover; from 1961 to retirement in 1972, tenured professor of road and transportation engineering and director of the Institute of Traffic Engineering at TH/University of Stuttgart.

Selection of additional functions, primarily at TH/TU Hannover, and honours and memberships after 1945 (or before 1933 where applicable):

1951/52, dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering; 1955–1958, member of the university senate. From 1930, member of the German Academy for Urban and Land Use Planning; from 1950, member of the research council and various committees of the Association for Roadways Research; from 1953, member of the academic council of the Federal Ministry of Transportation; from 1964, member of the expert committee for the study of traffic conditions in the municipal districts; 1966, “golden diesel ring” of the Association of Motor Journalists; 1979, honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the University of Hannover.

Memberships in Nazi organisations (excluding simple memberships in the Hitler Youth, the German Labour Front, the German Student Union, the German Lecturers’ Union and similar organisations)

NSDAP, 1 May 1937 (4.509.174); SA, 1 November 1933–February 1936; NSDDB, approx. 1940–1945; NSBDT, 1939–1945; NSV, 1 October 1934–1945; RLB, 4 October 1933–1945.

Substantial Nazi ties/Conduct with respect to National Socialism:

During the de-Nazification process, Schlums stated that after moving for work-related reasons from Saxony to Brandenburg on 1 November 1934, he no longer served with the SA and thus viewed this as the date he had left the organisation. Academically, however, Schlums’s publications on roadway construction in the “newly integrated eastern areas” supported the policy envisioned in the General Plan for the East of violent ethnic cleansing of the occupied territories (known euphemistically as “Germanisation”), which was in some cases already underway.

Academic and career details:

Born in Heidenheim; studied chemistry at the University of Tübingen; assistant there from 1926 to 1929, and completion of doctoral degree in natural sciences during that time; 1930, assistant at TH Karlsruhe; 1934, habilitation at University of Tübingen and teaching duties there until 1935. 1940, professor and (from 1940 to 1943) acting professorship for chemistry at the Agricultural University of Hohenheim; 1943–1944, acting professorship for chemistry at University of Tübingen. 1944, professor of structural chemistry in Tübingen. 1949, tenured professor of organic chemistry at TH Hannover.

Selection of additional functions, primarily at TH/TU Hannover, and honours and memberships after 1945 (or before 1933 where applicable):

1951–1952, dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Humanities.

Memberships in Nazi organisations (excluding simple memberships in the Hitler Youth, the German Labour Front, the German Student Union, the German Lecturers’ Union and similar organisations)

NSDAP, 1 May 1937; SA, 1934; NSDDB, 1934–1945, RLB.

Substantial Nazi ties/Conduct with respect to National Socialism:

From 1934, cell representative in NSDDB; 1942–1944, acting head of lecturers in same organisation. Within the RLB, acting head of the Tübingen district group.

Academic and career details:

Born in Flensburg; studied agricultural science at the University of Halle following agricultural vocational training; 1924–1933, employed as an assistant at the universities of Kiel and Halle; doctoral degree (1927) and habilitation in crop production and plant breeding at the University of Halle. 1934, acting professorship at the University of Kiel; 1935, institute director and professor at the Prussian experimental facility for dairy farming in Kiel, with accompanying teaching activities at the university. 1942–1945, tenured professor at the University of Königsberg; 1945–1949, management of various seed-breeding operations. From 1949, tenured professor of vegetable cultivation and director of the institute of the same name at the Hannover College of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, which became Faculty IV at TH Hannover in 1952.

Selection of additional functions, primarily at TH/TU Hannover, and honours and memberships after 1945 (or before 1933 where applicable):

1954–1956, dean of Faculty IV at TH Hannover. 1966, honorary doctorate from TH München.

Memberships in Nazi organisations (excluding simple memberships in the Hitler Youth, the German Labour Front, the German Student Union, the German Lecturers’ Union and similar organisations)

NSDAP, 1 May 1933 (2.261.197); NSV, from 1935; SA, until the end of 1934; NSKK, 1933/34; NSDDB; from 1922, Association of German Agriculturalists (later: National Socialist Association of Academically Trained Agriculturalists).

Substantial Nazi ties/Conduct with respect to National Socialism:

In June 1936, Nicolaisen took on the role of a block leader within the NSDAP, supervising activities for a city block; from 1939 he was active at a higher level as the head of local groups for the NSDAP, as well as in a leading position as propaganda and press representative of the NSV. From 1922, he was active in the Association of German Agriculturalists, including as state leader, and from June 1933 as district representative; from December of the same year he was representative of the larger district (Halle-Merseburg) for the successor organisation to the national association: the National Socialist Association of Academically Trained Agriculturalists. He evidently proved his service to National Socialism in this role. As the head of the Nazi farmers’ organisation wrote to the REM in a political evaluation from 26 February 1935 regarding the intended appointment of Nicolaisen as head of the Prussian experimental facility for dairy farming in Kiel, Nicolaisen “demonstrated his organisational ability in his various roles as district representative for the National Socialist Association of Academically Trained Agriculturalists. During his time carrying out these functions, he was successful in developing the Nazi organisation in a model way.” For this reason, he was “well-suited in every way politically and in terms of character” for the post. At the least, this assessment – as well as other similar ones – contributed to Nicolaisen’s ultimate success in being hired for the position in Kiel. It was during this period that he made the acquaintance of the high-ranking SS member and author of the General Plan for the East, Konrad Meyer, who would became Nicolaisen’s colleague at TH Hannover’s Faculty IV after 1945. In the university realm, he took on the role of “acting head of the Dozentenschaft (lecturers)” during a guest stay at the University of Kiel in summer semester 1934. After he was appointed to the University of Königsberg in 1942, he continued to hold this office (probably until the end of Nazi rule) but no longer in an acting capacity. In 1938, Nicolaisen attended the Rally of Greater Germany (Reichsparteitag Großdeutschland), and during World War II he was awarded the War Merit Cross 2nd class.

Academic and career details:

Born in Seehausen (Altmark); degree in mechanical engineering at TH Hannover, 1924–1929. 1929–1932, assistant at TH Aachen (water turbines and general mechanical engineering); 1932, awarded doctoral degree; subsequent employment until 1936 as development engineer at a pump and fittings company in Pfalz; then as acting technical director at a dairy and refrigeration factory in Hildesheim until 1938. 1 April 1938, tenured professor of machine components, water turbines and centrifugal pumps at TH Danzig; 21 November 1941–1945, rector. 1945–1948, employed as technical expert for industrial appraisals; from 1 January 1949, tenured professor of machine components and hydraulic current machines at TH Hannover; 1971, professor emeritus.

Selection of additional functions, primarily at TH/TU Hannover, and honours and memberships after 1945 (or before 1933 where applicable):

1950–1952, chair of the VDI for the Hannover district; 1952–1954, chair of the student assistance network for Hannover’s universities; 1955–1959, chair of the DFG’s mechanical engineering committee; from 1959, member of the VDI executive board; 1960–1962, chair of the VDI executive board; 1960–1969 and 1971–1975, chair of the Association of the Friends of TH Danzig; 1963–1968, member of the founding committee of the University of Dortmund; 1970, awarded VDI’s golden coin of honour; 1971, awarded VDI’s golden pin of honour; 1971, Lower Saxony’s medal of merit with the large cross of merit; 1971, Karmarsch commemorative coin.

Memberships in Nazi organisations (excluding simple memberships in the Hitler Youth, the German Labour Front, the German Student Union, the German Lecturers’ Union and similar organisations)

NSDAP, 1 May 1937 (4.378.597); NSKK, 1933–1945; NSDDB, 1938–1945; NSV; NSBDT; NSAHB; TN.

Substantial Nazi ties/Conduct with respect to National Socialism:

Martryer was active as a unit leader in the NSKK. As the group leader of the Technische Nothilfe (a civil defence organisation) in Danzig, he was situated high up in the hierarchy of the organisation, which was under the purview of the SS commander. He also served as acting chair of the VDI within the NSBDT. From the end of 1939 he held the office of vice rector at TH Danzig. When he took up his office as rector (in Jan. 1942), the Danziger Neueste Nachrichten newspaper wrote: “The new rector will most certainly be able to master the activities that will arise at the Reich university in the context of the greater German universities.” Following the introduction of the “Führer principle” at universities in 1934 (which stated that the word of the Führer was above all written law), only those individuals who demonstrated that they had particularly close ties to Nazism could be appointed rector. In 1939, Martyrer was awarded the Iron Cross II.

Academic and career details:

Born in Bremen; following completion of high school there, studied architecture at TH München. 1916–1917, fought in World War I; then held by the British as prisoner of war until 1919. From 1920, continuation of architecture studies at TH Dresden; 1924, Diplom examination. Subsequent employment at architecture office; 1926, moved to municipal building office in Halle and then to Hamburg’s city planning office under the direction of Fritz Schumacher. 1928–1930, Bremen city planning office; subsequently worked as a freelance architect for two years.  Employed at the Bremen city planning office until he was dismissed; promoted there to buildings superintendent and then, on 26 January 1945, to director of buildings. After World War II, Wortman was employed from 1946 to 1949 as technical head of the Bremen Society for Rebuilding, then as a freelance architect until 1956. In this year he was appointed to the professorship for urban, apartment and land-use planning at TH Hannover; from 1963 to 1965 he was also director of the institute of the same name. He retired in 1965.

Selection of additional functions, primarily at TH/TU Hannover, and honours and memberships after 1945 (or before 1933 where applicable):

1960/61, rector at TH Hannover; 1958–1960 and 1964/65, dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering. 1962, founded the Institute of Development Planning and Structural Research, which he led from 1965 to 1973, in addition to the working group on location research. Wortmann was also a partner and member of the supervisory board of the Institute for Regional Education Planning from 1973; a member of the German Academy of Urban Planning (from 1931, vice president from 1964 to 1969, honorary member from 1979); from 1938, Braunschweig Scientific Association; from 1965, corresponding member of the Academy for Regional Studies and Land-Use Planning. 1969, honorary doctorate from TH Aachen and Fritz Schumacher Foundation prize for urban planning; 1972, Great Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Cornelius commemorative coin from the German Academy of Urban and Land-Use Planning; 1977, Bremen’s Senate medal for Arts and Sciences.

Memberships in Nazi organisations (excluding simple memberships in the Hitler Youth, the German Labour Front, the German Student Union, the German Lecturers’ Union and similar organisations)

NSDAP, 1 July 1937 (4.673.685); SS and SA, from 1933 (sustaining member); NSBDT, NSKOV, NSV, RLB (all in 1935); VDA, 1936.

Substantial Nazi ties/Conduct with respect to National Socialism:

Sustaining member of SS and SA; head of the NSBDT working group on urban and land-use planning. Following Friedrich Lindau, he also worked on the SS commander’s General Plan for the East beginning in 1940. In addition, he was part of “Dr. Wolter’s work unit” (work unit for the reconstruction of bombed cities within the Speer ministry) and other working groups which dealt with Nazi plans for the post-war period. From 1942, head of the office for apartments and settlements in the race-policy unit of the NSDAP. Wortmann also contributed to the spread of racist Nazi ideology through presentations and speeches during the Nazi period.

Academic and career details:

Born in Berlin; degree in English, German, theology and philosophy at the University of Breslau; doctoral degree (1929) and habilitation (1932) in English. 1930/31, research stay at the University of Birmingham. Following Privatdozent (lecturer) position in Breslau, the transfer of his habilitation to the University of Berlin and an acting professorship in Königsberg, Wilde was appointed tenured professor of English at the University of Göttingen. 1941, appointment at the University of Posen at his request. Following participation in World War II and imprisonment, university advisor and assistant in Lower Saxony’s Ministry of Culture from 1949 to 1954; tenured professor of foreign studies and English at TH Hannover from 1955 until his retirement in 1975.

Selection of additional functions, primarily at TH/TU Hannover, and honours and memberships after 1945 (or before 1933 where applicable):

Vice rector, 1960–1961.

Memberships in Nazi organisations (excluding simple memberships in the Hitler Youth, the German Labour Front, the German Student Union, the German Lecturers’ Union and similar organisations)

NSDAP, 1 May 1937 (4.610.645); SA from November 1933; NSDDB from 1937; NSV.

Substantial Nazi ties/Conduct with respect to National Socialism:

Wilde was a member of the SA group Maikowski Ehrensturm, which was named after a supposed National Socialist victim of conflict who was stylised into a Nazi hero. He held the rank of Rottenführer. Even after his move to Göttingen he continued to “regularly” complete his SA service. He was a dean at the University of Göttingen from 1935 to 1937. Wilde was not without his opponents in Göttingen’s Nazi scene. He was nevertheless assessed by someone from the local NSDDB as an individual who had performed “great service” for the NSDDB but who was unlikely to “develop into an active fighter for the movement”. However, the doubts about his reliability do not appear to have damaged him, as is apparent from the fulfilment of his wish to be appointed in Posen.

Academic and career details:

Born in Straubing; studied mechanical engineering at TH München and graduated with Dipl.-Ing. degree in 1922. Employed as designer until 1925. Assistant (1925–1930) and full-time lecturer (1930–1935) at the Bergakademie Clausthal (Technical University of Clausthal); Dr.-Ing. degree in 1929 and habilitation in machine engineering in 1932, both at the Bergakademie. 1935–1945, tenured professor of materials handling at TH Hannover; 1945–1949, “civil engineer” because he was fired by the British military government; 1949 until retirement in 1967, resumption of previous professorship at TH Hannover; acting professorship until 1969.

Selection of additional functions, primarily at TH/TU Hannover, and honours and memberships after 1945 (or before 1933 where applicable):

1953/54, dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. 1973, honorary doctorate from the University of Karlsruhe (TH); 1977, honorary VDI coin in gold.

Memberships in Nazi organisations (excluding simple memberships in the Hitler Youth, the German Labour Front, the German Student Union, the German Lecturers’ Union and similar organisations)

NSDAP, 1 May 1933 (2.377.186); SA from 1933; NSDDB; NSBDT; NSAHB; NSV; RLB.

Substantial Nazi ties/Conduct with respect to National Socialism:

The British military’s firing of Vierling on 6 August 1945 was due in large part to the diverse functions he carried out during the NS period: He was a squad leader in the SA (from 1934), was head of the district film office within the NSDAP until he left Clausthal, and was head of the lecturer’s league at TH Hannover from 1937 until the end of 1938 (and subsequently acting head until October 1939). He also served as dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering from summer semester 1939 until 30 April 1943. 1937, awarded badge of the Epp free corps for taking part in combat from May to December 1919; 1934, cross of honour for frontline combatants for participating in World War I.

Academic and career details:

Born in Chemnitz; studied mechanical engineering at TH Dresden and received Dipl.-Ing. in 1929; 1929–1935, assistant at the University of Leipzig Institute of Agricultural Machinery and simultaneous studies in agriculture. 1936–1937, employment as manager at the State Food Society. 1937–1945, professor of agricultural technology in Leipzig; subsequently (until 1949) prisoner of war and head of his own engineering office. From 1950, tenured professor of horticulture and director of the institute of the same name at the Hannover College of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, which became Faculty IV at TH Hannover in 1952. 1972, professor emeritus.

Selection of additional functions, primarily at TH/TU Hannover, and honours and memberships after 1945 (or before 1933 where applicable):

From 1966, member of the Braunschweig Scientific Association.

Memberships in Nazi organisations (excluding simple memberships in the Hitler Youth, the German Labour Front, the German Student Union, the German Lecturers’ Union and similar organisations)

NSBO; NSV; NSBDT; NSAHB, 1936–1945, RLB, 1936–1945.

Substantial Nazi ties/Conduct with respect to National Socialism:

Served as a public service employee within the NSBO and the DAF. In his de-Nazification questionnaire he did not disclose these memberships and activities. His appointment to the professorship in Leipzig took place without him having completed a doctoral degree or habilitation. It can be assumed that positive political evaluations played a role here. Renard worked part time from December 1939 until at least mid-1941 (“approx. 8–10 days/month”) in the occupied territories in Poland (“General Government”) “in the area of agricultural machinery production and application”. He therefore participated in the unjust measures of the Nazi regime. During World War II, Renard received the War Merit Cross.

Academic and career details:

Born in Hildesheim; after vocational training as mason, university studies in Hildesheim, at TH Hannover, and (with a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (USA). Graduated with a Master of Civil Engineering (1939). Subsequent employment at German organisations and companies in Mexico, Washington and Kobe (Japan). 1942–1947, management activities at technical companies in Osaka (Japan). 1947, awarded Dr.-Ing. degree at TH Hannover; subsequently employed as assistant at the Institute of Mechanics. 1950, habilitation in this subject area; subsequently lecturer and professor (1953). 1957–1977, tenured professor and director of the Institute of Mechanics at TH/TU Hannover.

Selection of additional functions, primarily at TH/TU Hannover, and honours and memberships after 1945 (or before 1933 where applicable):

1961–1962, dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. 1953–1955 and 1959–1961, member of the university senate. From 1959, member of the Braunschweig Scientific Association; 1965–1971, member of the German Research Foundation (DFG) senate and central committee; 1971–1977, DFG vice president; from 1966, member of the NATO Science Committee; from 1969; member of the Volkswagen Foundation board of trustees (1977–1979, chairperson); from 1969, member of the executive committee of the Club of Rome; from 1974, chairperson of the Fraunhofer Society senate; 1977–1981, Lower Saxony minister of science and culture; 1982, central role in the re-establishment of the German Technion Society, originally founded by Albert Einstein, to support Technion University in Haifa, Israel, and strengthen relations with Israel.

Memberships in Nazi organisations (excluding simple memberships in the Hitler Youth, the German Labour Front, the German Student Union, the German Lecturers’ Union and similar organisations)

NSDStB, 1 October 1933; SA, 1 October 1933; NSDAP membership candidate beginning in 1941.

Substantial Nazi ties/Conduct with respect to National Socialism:

In the NSDStB, Pestel served as head of a working group until August 1935, and in the SA he held the rank of Rottenführer in Nachrichtensturm, Regiment 79 in Hildesheim. In November 1936, the leader of this SA unit described him as a “good, reliable SA man and comrade”. From the beginning of 1944 he served as acting block manager (in Japan) within the NSDAP. On 4 November 1938 he wrote a report from the USA to the management of TH Hannover in which he provided information about his situation at the American university and the political aspects of his new academic setting. In one sentence, he exhibited a clearly anti-Semitic perspective: “In contrast, [in the USA] a growing aversion to Jews is noticeable, though nobody is currently in any way capable of stopping or working against the overwhelming influence of the Jews in the eastern states. The enclosed paper may demonstrate to you that efforts to this end are nevertheless being undertaken.” The “enclosed paper” (a small pamphlet) was an excerpt from the so-called “Journal of James Pinckney”, which disseminated the very worst kind of anti-Semitic propaganda. After 1945, Pestel did not publicly explain or declare his Nazi past. He most likely did not do so within his professional environment either.

Academic and career details:

Born in Hannover; following studies at the engineering school in Hamburg, employed from 1927 to 1946 at the Continental rubber plant and Voigtländer. Deputy member of the Voigtländer executive board from 1941. Following acquisition of his higher education entrance qualification through a special exam and further studies, awarded Dr. rer. nat. at TH Braunschweig in 1941; habilitation at TH Braunschweig in 1949. 1947–1953, managing director at the Association for Work Studies (REFA); until 1951, lecturer in business administration at TH Braunschweig; 1952–1956, same function at TH Darmstadt. Between 1953 and 1956, his main income came from freelance work as an industrial consultant specialising in organisation and performance-based remuneration. In this year, appointed to professorship for business administration at St. Gallen Business College. 1960, tenured professor of business administration at TH Hannover. 1973, professor emeritus.

Selection of additional functions, primarily at TH/TU Hannover, and honours and memberships after 1945 (or before 1933 where applicable):

1970/71 rector; 1964/65, dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Humanities.

Memberships in Nazi organisations (excluding simple memberships in the Hitler Youth, the German Labour Front, the German Student Union, the German Lecturers’ Union and similar organisations)

NSDAP, 1 May 1933 (2.312.742); NSV; NSBDT; RLB.

Substantial Nazi ties/Conduct with respect to National Socialism:

Böhrs did not carry out any functions within Nazi organisations. This led him to claim after 1945 that shortly after joining the NSDAP he had turned away from it internally. This claim was demonstrably false: He incorporated Nazi propaganda in many of his academic publications up until 1944. For example, drawing on Goebbels’s proclamation of “total war”, he called for the “total rationalisation” of the German economy. He did not mention the contents of these publications at all during his de-Nazification process.

Academic and career details:

Born in Stettin; following agricultural vocational training from 1945 to 1947, degree in agricultural studies at the Hohenheim Agricultural College and the University of Kiel, received Diplom degree in 1950. Subsequently an academic staff member at the University of Kiel; awarded doctoral degree in 1953; 1954–1965, academic staff member at the Forestry Research Facility of Munich. 1959, habilitation at University of Munich; 1963–1965, professor at the University of Addis Ababa. 1965, professor at University of Munich and director of the Institute of Humus Science at the Braunschweig Agricultural Research Facility (1965–1967). From 1967, tenured professor and director of the Institute of Plant Nutrition at TH Hannover. 1987, professor emeritus.

Selection of additional functions, primarily at TH/TU Hannover, and honours and memberships after 1945 (or before 1933 where applicable):

1969/70, dean of the Faculty of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture; 1968/69, member of the university senate. 1978, Schultz-Lupitz medal from the German Agricultural Society.

Substantial Nazi ties/Conduct with respect to National Socialism:

After completing high school, Wehrmann joined the army, where he pursued the officers’ career track. He was not a member of the NSDAP or any of its branches. He would have had to pause his membership during active military service anyhow. Wehrmann rose quickly through the army ranks, becoming an officer in the General Staff with the rank of major (in August 1944 at the age of 26; his membership in the General Staff is central to his categorisation as having had “substantial” ties). From October 1943 he was a member of the Führer Reserve of the Army High Command. In his evaluations, there are several references to the fact that his superiors viewed him as a “good National Socialist” who stood “on the foundation of the National Socialist world view”. Together with his very positively rated military capabilities, this led to the assessment that Wehrmann would be “highly suited as a trainer and teacher of junior officers”. Wehrmann’s last military position was in the General Staff of the 547th Volksgrenadier Division, which he took up at the end of March 1945. This division, which was formed at the end of 1944, reported to the commander of the SS. Wehrmann was awarded the following medals and honours: Iron Cross I, 1940; Iron Cross II, 1941; General Assault Badge, 1941; Wound Badge in black (injured one or two times), 1941; Eastern Medal, 1942; War Merit Cross 2nd class, 1943; Demjansk Shield, 1943.

The rectors and presidents pictured in this gallery represent the history of Leibniz University Hannover from its founding as the Higher Trade School in 1831 and over the course of its development to the Polytechnic College in 1847, the Technische Hochschule in 1879, the Technical University in 1968, and today’s university in 1978. Leibniz University Hannover looks back with pride at the achievements of many of its rectors and presidents, as well as those of many of its members. At the same time, it regrets the erroneous course of events at TH Hannover during the Nazi dictatorship (1933–1945). The intellectual origins of the unjust actions during this period in many cases stretched further back in time and often left significant marks even after 1945.

The rectors Ludwig Klein, Otto Franzius, Horst von Sanden, Hanns Simons, Alexander Matting and Helmut Pfannmüller carry responsibility for racist and politically motivated injustice at this university and for supporting the Nazi regime until the end of the Second World War. Their actions and behaviours during that time reflected neither the generally accepted academic standards nor those of a civilised society. Leibniz University Hannover asks all those impacted by the injustices of that time, and their descendants, for forgiveness.

Even after 8 May 1945, individuals who had contributed in various ways to the smooth functioning of the unjust regime through their membership or functions within Nazi organisations, through propaganda activities or through the assumption of high-ranking positions within the Nazi state, academic or military apparatus still served as rectors. There is no evidence that any of them later took responsibility for their activities during the Nazi period, nor was there a critical appraisal of the past during the time that they were active at the university. The following rectors fall within this group (in chronological order): Conrad Müller, Walter Großmann, Hans Schönfeldt, Johannes Schlums, Walter Theilacker, Wilhelm Nicolaisen, Egon Martyrer, Wilhelm Wortmann, Hans Oskar Wilde, Albert Vierling, Walter Renard, Eduard Pestel, Hermann Böhrs and Jürgen Wehrmann. Two of the rectors stand apart from this group: Conrad Müller because of his non-compliance with Nazi policy in relation to a Jewish colleague, and Eduard Pestel because of his later efforts to establish intensive scientific relations with Israel.