Hans Birnbaum

Hans Birnbaum on a visit to the Howaldtswerke (1972)

Hans Birnbaum (born February 14, 1912 in Schwetz an der Weichsel , † November 18, 1980 in Salzgitter ) was a German lawyer , ministerial official and manager . From 1968 to 1979 he was Chairman of the Board of Management of Salzgitter AG , from 1974 to 1979 Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG and from 1976 to 1979 Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Ruhrkohle AG .

Life

The son of the doctor and chief medical officer Hans Hugo Birnbaum and Erika, b. Boege, attended the humanistic grammar school in Landsberg an der Warthe after the First World War , where he graduated from high school in 1931. He then studied law at the universities in Freiburg im Breisgau , Leipzig and Königsberg . After passing the two state examinations in law, he worked briefly in 1939 as an assistant judge at the Brandenburg an der Havel district court . During the Second World War he worked in the Reich Ministry of Economics before he was taken prisoner in 1945, from which he was released in 1947.

Birnbaum returned to the administrative service in 1947 and worked until 1949 as an employee for the British military government in Hanover . He then worked for a year as a consultant in the Lower Saxony Ministry of Finance . In 1950 he switched to the federal service and became an auxiliary officer in Section II B 1 (Financial Aid Measures for the Economy) in the Federal Ministry of Finance , where from 1952 to 1958 he was in charge of Section II B 2 (Federal Government's participation in economic ventures). From April 1958 he was head of sub-department II B (federal participations in commercial enterprises and ERP special funds) in the Federal Ministry for economic property of the federal government . In 1959 he was promoted to ministerial director.

Birnbaum retired from civil service in April 1961 and moved to the state-owned Salzgitter AG, where he took over commercial management as director and member of the board. From 1966 he was deputy chairman of the board of the company, which got into financial difficulties in the 1960s and had to take out large amounts of credit. On January 1, 1968, he took over the post of General Director as the successor to Paul Rheinländer . During his tenure as CEO, which lasted until he retired in 1979, he restructured the group's finances. At the same time he was Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagenwerk AG from 1974 to 1979 and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Ruhrkohle AG from 1976 to 1979. He was also a member of numerous supervisory boards, including VEBA AG , Preußische Elektrizitäts-AG , Dresdner Bank AG , Dornier GmbH and Preussag AG .

Birnbaum was a member of the CDU and was active on the CDU Economic Council . He was also a member of the Society's Board of Trustees in preparation for the Nicolaus Copernicus Year 1973 .

Hans Birnbaum was married to Ingeborg, b. from Lettow. The couple had three sons and a daughter. The actress Paula Birnbaum is his granddaughter.

honors and awards

Birnbaum was awarded the Great Cross of Merit (1972) with a star (1977) and shoulder ribbon (1980) from the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1975 the city of Salzgitter made him an honorary citizen. Hans-Birnbaum-Straße was later named in honor of him in Salzgitter .

literature

Rudolf Vierhaus (Ed.): German Biographical Encyclopedia . Volume 1: Aachen - Braniss. 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Saur, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-598-25031-2 , p. 676.

Web links

Hans Birnbaum , Internationales Biographisches Archiv 09/1981 of February 16, 1981, in the Munzinger Archive , accessed on June 27, 2016 ( beginning of the article freely available)
Hans-Jürgen Schuch: Birnbaum, Hans . In: East German Biography (Kulturportal West-Ost)

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Birnbaum, Hans. In: Cabinet Minutes Online. Federal Archives , accessed on June 27, 2016 .
^ Salzgitter loans. German solution . In: Der Spiegel . No. 43 , 1968, p. 50-52 ( Online - Oct. 21, 1968 ).
^ Heinz-Günter Kemmer: Portrait: Hans Birnbaum. Ideas instead of ideology. In: The time . March 8, 1968, p. 31f. , accessed June 27, 2016 .
↑ Died . In: Der Spiegel . No. 48 , 1980, pp. 284 ( Online - Nov. 24, 1980 ).
↑ Walter Habel (Ed.): Who is who? The German who's who. 15th edition. Arani, Berlin 1967, p. 143.
^ Honorary citizen of the city of Salzgitter. City of Salzgitter, accessed on February 27, 2020 .

personal data
SURNAME	Birnbaum, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German lawyer, ministerial official and manager
DATE OF BIRTH	February 14, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH	Schwetz on the Vistula
DATE OF DEATH	November 18, 1980
Place of death	Salzgitter

[Kabinettsprotokolle-1] Birnbaum, Hans. In: Cabinet Minutes Online. Federal Archives , accessed on June 27, 2016 .

[2] Salzgitter loans. German solution . In: Der Spiegel . No. 43 , 1968, p. 50-52 ( Online - Oct. 21, 1968 ).

[3] Heinz-Günter Kemmer: Portrait: Hans Birnbaum. Ideas instead of ideology. In: The time . March 8, 1968, p. 31f. , accessed June 27, 2016 .

[4] Died . In: Der Spiegel . No. 48 , 1980, pp. 284 ( Online - Nov. 24, 1980 ).

[5] Walter Habel (Ed.): Who is who? The German who's who. 15th edition. Arani, Berlin 1967, p. 143.

[6] Honorary citizen of the city of Salzgitter. City of Salzgitter, accessed on February 27, 2020 .