Alfred Bentz

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Alfred Bentz (born July 26, 1897 in Heidenheim an der Brenz , † June 11, 1964 in Stratford-upon-Avon ) was a leading German petroleum geologist. He became known for his exploration of the oil deposits in northwest Germany .

Life

Alfred Bentz obtained his general university entrance qualification in Heidenheim in 1916 and then did military service in the Royal Württemberg Mountain Regiment until 1918. From 1918 to 1922 Bentz studied natural sciences, in particular geology, in Tübingen and Munich and obtained his doctorate in 1922 at the University of Tübingen under Edwin Hennig with a dissertation “About Dogger and tectonics in the Bopfinger region”. rer. nat. During his studies in Munich in 1920 he became a member of the Christian student union Munich Wingolf .

In 1923 Bentz joined the Prussian Geological State Institute (PGLA) in Berlin . There he was initially mainly involved in the land survey in West Prussia , in the Rhenish Slate Mountains and in the Emsland. The knowledge gained during mapping prompted him to stimulate and promote the search for oil in the Emsland. In 1924 he became the main consultant for petroleum issues. In 1934, Bentz took over the management of the Institute for Petroleum Geology in the state institute and in this function was instrumental in the implementation of the so-called Reich drilling program , which was the first to conduct a thorough and systematic investigation of Germany's petroleum deposits. In 1936 he was appointed regional geologist and professor. In 1938, Bentz was appointed by Hermann Göring to be "authorized representative for oil production", an office of central importance for the war. It was assigned to the "Commissioner for the Four-Year Plan " with which the Nazi regime's efforts to achieve self-sufficiency and war preparations were promoted. In October 1940 Bentz took over the management of Department IV (Petroleum) of the Reich Office for Soil Research, which later became the Reich Office for Soil Research . During the Second World War , he was also responsible for the European oil regions occupied by German troops.

After the end of the war, Bentz campaigned for the reorganization of the state geological service in Germany and the establishment of the Office for Soil Research (AfB) in Hanover. The initiative for the adoption of the Höchst Agreements , which led to the establishment of the German Geological Research Institute of the State Geological Offices , goes back to him . In 1950 this research institute became the “Soil Research Office” in Hanover, from which the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Raw Materials (BGR) emerged in a number of detours .

From 1945 to 1958, Bentz was at the head of the Reich Office for Soil Research from whose departments the German Geological Research Institute of the Geological State Offices was ultimately formed and which then continued to exist as the "Office for Soil Research". From 1959 until his retirement in 1962 he was simultaneously President of the Lower Saxony State Office for Soil Research (NLfB) and the Federal Institute for Soil Research (BfB), now the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) in Hanover .

From 1939 to 1945 Bentz acted as chairman of the German Society for Mineral Oil Research (DGM) and again from 1958 to 1961 as chairman of the successor institution, the German Society for Mineral Oil Science and Coal Chemistry (DGMK). From 1956 until his death in 1964 he was a member of the German National Committee for the World Oil Congresses.

In 1952 Bentz was elected a member of the Leopoldina Scholars' Academy , and in 1957 he became an honorary member of the Paleontological Society . In 1961 he became an honorary member of the Society for Natural History in Württemberg. Since 1960 he has been a corresponding member of the Braunschweig Scientific Society . The main building of the BGR in Hanover was called Alfred-Bentz-Haus until 2013.

In 1956 he was awarded the Carl Engler Medal for his services to science and the organization of petroleum research in Germany . A public review of his war-promoting activities up to 1945 or a critical reminder of it had not taken place until autumn 2016.

Fonts

  • with Hans-Joachim Martini (Ed.): Textbook of Applied Geology , 3 volumes, Enke, Stuttgart 1961–1969
  • German oil , Enke, Stuttgart 1931

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. August Winkler: Vademekum Wingolfitikum , Wingolfsverlag, Wolfratshausen 1925, p. 59.
  2. a b See Jürgen Döschner , WDR , broadcast: Coming to terms with the Nazi past. Brown geologists. Tagesschau (ARD) , October 6, 2016; citing u. a. to Ilse Seibold . announcement
  3. Michael Bauchmüller, Petroleum for the Führer, Süddeutsche Zeitung, October 8, 2016
  4. ^ Alfred Bentz's member's entry at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on March 14, 2016.
  5. ^ Honorary members of the Society for Natural History in Württemberg