Erich Müller (Combine Director)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erich Müller (born October 4, 1921 in Massanei ; † February 16, 1996 in Halle ) was General Director of VEB Kombinat Leuna-Werke »Walter Ulbricht« from 1968 to 1988 . He thus ran one of the most important large chemical companies in the GDR.

Life

Müller was born the son of a machinist and a seamstress in Massenei in Saxony. After attending primary school, he also completed an apprenticeship as a locksmith from April 1936 to September 1939. After completing his apprenticeship, Müller worked as a machine fitter until April 1941. During this time he joined the NSDAP in September 1940 . In May 1941, Müller was called up for military service. He served in the Air Force and experienced the end of the war with the rank of corporal in northern Norway, where he was interned in May 1945, initially until October of the same year. He was then transferred to Germany and was imprisoned as an American prisoner of war in Darmstadt until November 1945 .

Afterwards, Müller initially hired himself out in Heilbronn for the next two months with odd jobs. In February 1946 he succeeded in entering the Soviet occupation zone, within which he returned to his Saxon homeland. There he initially worked for a short time in his old training company as a machine fitter, until in April 1946 he found a job as a machine fitter at the well-known chemist Kurt Schwabe's institute. In 1944 Schwabe founded a research institute for chemical technology in the Meinsberg district of Waldheim and saved it from the war. It was there that Müller first came into contact with chemistry.

In January 1949 Müller joined the SED and in February of the same year switched to the Chemical Industry Union, of which he became full-time local chairman in Döbeln . In 1950 he moved from Schwabe's institute to the central administration of IG Chemie, for which he initially worked as an instructor. As a result, he rose within the industrial union. In 1951 and 1952 he was a member of the board and deputy head of organization at the central board of IG Chemie. Subsequently, until 1953, he was a consultant for Horst Willim , the chairman of the central board of IG Chemie, for a few months . From then until August 1955, Müller worked as head of organization and second secretary of the central board of IG Chemie.

After six years of work within IG Chemie, Müller was delegated in September 1955 by the FDGD federal executive committee to study for three years at the party college "Karl Marx" in order to acquire the theoretical tools for later planned functions within the FDGB. In July 1958 he completed his studies as a social scientist. Contrary to the plans of the FDGB federal board, which provided for Müller's re-employment in the chemical industry union, since Horst Willim was also deposed as chairman of the chemical industry union in July 1958 because of "serious political and ideological deficiencies", Müller was completely renewed in August SED district management in Halle used as secretary for the chemical industry. This secretary position was unique within the SED district management and was due to the special importance of the chemical industry in the so-called chemical district of Halle. In addition, these personnel gave a foretaste of the GDR's chemistry program, which was decided at the end of 1958 . In April of that year, the SED party leadership had dismissed the incumbent 1st Secretary Franz Bruk from his post because of conciliatory tendencies and replaced Bernard Koenen as GDR ambassador in the CSSR and reinstated him as 1st Secretary of the SED district leadership in Halle after 1952. The charismatic politician, who was deputy chairman of the Leuna Works Council as early as 1918, was supposed to implement the ambitious chemistry program in the Halle district together with Müller. It was about no less than six large chemical companies at five locations. In December 1958, Gerhard Frost , who had previously headed the SED district leadership of the Leuna Works, joined the SED district leadership in Halle as 2nd secretary . Furthermore, in June 1958, Hans Bentzien , a few years later GDR Minister of Culture, was appointed a new Secretary of Culture. During Müller's secretary work, the construction of the modern Leuna II production complex began in 1959 and the Buna-Werke became the largest carbide producer in the world. In 1959, the Bitterfeld electrochemical combine was the largest chlorine and chlorine product manufacturer in the GDR, the largest plastic and plastic product manufacturer in the GDR, and the largest graphite manufacturer in the GDR. In addition, there was the Wolfen paint factory as the only dye manufacturer in the GDR, the Wolfen film factory and the Piesteritz nitrogen factory as a major ammonia and urea producer.

After the party leadership was run according to the production principle in the spring of 1963, based on the Soviet model, Müller's position as secretary was dropped. He took over the post of chairman of the Halle District Economic Council. So he continued to be responsible for the further industrial development of the Halle district until November 1968. For example, the construction of the chemical workers city Halle-Neustadt began in 1964 during Müller's tenure.

After the commissioning of the Leunawerk II, there were increasing production difficulties in 1967 and 1968, among other things with the raw material caprolactam . This went so far that Walter Ulbricht addressed specific quality problems in his speech at the 9th plenum of the SED Central Committee on October 24, 1968 and also criticized the lack of integration of the latest research into production. With reference to relevant information from science, this culminated in the sentence: "If this information applies, a dispute with the leading comrades of the Leuna factory is necessary." This led to the incumbent Leuna General Director Heinz Müller, who was not until 1966 had taken over the work, was replaced. At the 59th meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers of the GDR on November 13, 1968, the appointment of Erich Müller as the new General Director was confirmed.

As a result, Müller ran one of the largest companies in the GDR with over 30,000 employees for almost 20 years. In 1971, as one of the leading economic leaders, this position was also taken into account by the SED and Müller was elected as a candidate for the Central Committee of the SED at the 8th Party Congress. In 1976 he was elected a member of the Central Committee and remained so until the resignation of the Central Committee in November 1989. In October 1988, at the age of 67, Müller had to give up his post for health reasons. At that time he was one of the longest serving General Directors in the DDR. In April of that year, the TH Leuna-Merseburg awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Müller died in Halle in 1996.

Honors

* As noted in some sources, Müller was never a national prize winner

literature

  • Mario Niemann , Andreas Herbst : SED squad: The middle level. Biographical encyclopedia of the secretaries of the state and district managements, the prime ministers and the chairmen of the district councils 1946 to 1989 . 1st edition. Ferdinand Schöningh, 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-76977-0 , p. 353 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Neues Deutschland from October 25, 1968 p. 4
  2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of November 12, 1960 p. 2
  3. ^ New Germany of October 4, 1974 p. 2
  4. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of May 2, 1980 p. 4
  5. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of October 8, 1981 p. 4
  6. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of October 2, 1986 p. 4
  7. ↑ Neues Deutschland, October 8, 1988 p. 4
personal data
SURNAME Müller, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German industrial manager, general director of Leunawerke
DATE OF BIRTH October 4, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Massanei
DATE OF DEATH February 16, 1996
Place of death Hall