Heinz Gerling

Heinz Gerling (born October 8, 1922 in Magdeburg ; † May 19, 2001 there ) was a German civil engineer and preservationist. He was an honorary citizen of the city of Magdeburg.

Life

Gerling was born the son of the architect Hermann Gerling . From 1928 to 1932 he attended the 1st Wilhelmstädter Volksschule in Magdeburg and from 1933 the Wilhelm Raabe Realgymnasium, where he graduated from high school in 1941 and was then drafted into military service. After the end of the war, he completed an apprenticeship as a bricklayer, passed the journeyman's examination and obtained his master craftsman's certificate in 1951 . At the same time he studied from 1947 to 1949 at the State Engineering School for Construction in Magdeburg, where he graduated as an engineer for structural engineering.

From 1949 he worked as a structural engineer in his father's company, Gerling & Rausch KG , and was professionally involved in the reconstruction of the city of Magdeburg after the severe destruction of the Second World War . During this time he became involved with the company for the repair of many damaged in the war in Wilhelminian Wilhelmstadt he thus saved from demolition and also the living room created especially for employees of the company. In 1951 he married Inge Müller (* 1927) from Langenweddingen . In 1953 he moved to the VULKAN company in Berlin and worked there as a specialist engineer for industrial furnace construction. In 1954, however, he returned to Magdeburg and initially headed the Magdeburg office of the VULKAN company at Wilhelm-Külz-Strasse 5, which was also his parents' house. He then went into business for a short time as a craftsman, but soon took over his father's business. In 1959, his operation as an industrial furnace and furnace construction in Magdeburg became a general partner in the limited partnership of his father's company, which was now partially state-owned under pressure from the state. In 1968 he led the construction of the Hypar shell . In 1972 the company was completely nationalized. Gerling, however, remained director of the company now operating as VEB Industrieofen- und Feuerungsbau in VE Bau- und Montagekombinat Magdeburg (BMK). From 1982 he was in charge of a production area in the combine plant assembly and expansion of the BMK. In 1987 he retired.

In addition to his professional activity, he was heavily involved in the monument protection of his hometown. In 1964 he was one of the founders of the Interest Group for the Preservation of Monuments in the Kulturbund of the GDR , whose chairman was from 1977. From 1970 he was a non-party member for the Kulturbund of the city ​​council of Magdeburg for 15 years . Here, too, he was particularly committed to monument conservation issues. In 1978 he was appointed honorary representative for the preservation of monuments of the Magdeburgs. He held the office until the end of his life. Until 1988 he was active on the board of the community, especially as chairman. He was committed to the preservation and reconstruction of the Johanniskirche , the renovation of the Lukasklause and the Wilhelminian style houses on Hegelstraße and the southern part of Magdeburg's old town. He also campaigned for the Victoria School and the remains of Magdeburg's Romanesque city wall. He was also significantly involved in the reconstruction of the monastery of Our Lady and the conversion of the church of the monastery into a concert hall. He also campaigned for the establishment of the bells in this church. In 1974 he installed the glockenspiel in Magdeburg Town Hall . Another important project was the renovation of St. Thomas Church in Pretzien , for which his company built the roof structure in 1977. He was busy with the excavation of the imperial palace in Magdeburg and the erection of monuments, fountains and sculptures in his hometown. In addition, he was also active in setting up show mines , in particular the Büchenberg ore mine . He was also head of the Glockenspiel working group in the GDR and founder of the Magdeburg interest group Glockenspiel .

From 1968 to 1987 he compiled a memorial index for the city of Magdeburg, which he was able to publish in 1991 and which was to serve as the basis for a monument register for the city. For the first time he listed the settlements from the 1920s as worthy of monuments.

After the political turning point in 1989 , he became involved in the project living in the monument and worked from 1989 to 1991 on the concept for the Romanesque Road . He was committed to the preservation of the chain steamer Gustav Zeuner and was a member of the cultural and historical building work group of the city of Magdeburg and from 1990 to 1999 managing director of the Magdeburg Society of 1990 eV for the promotion of the arts, sciences and commerce . He initiated the company's annual Christmas concerts in the Telemann concert hall. In the 1990s he was also a member of the Cathedral Building Commission of Magdeburg Cathedral and the Board of Trustees for the reconstruction of St. John's Church . He was a member of Magdeburg's architectural advisory board , the Inner City Development Forum and the 1200 Years Magdeburg Board of Trustees. He was also a member of the Federal Horticultural Show in Magdeburg in 1999 . Gerling was also on the board of the German Glockenspielvereinigung eV in Hanover .

Awards

In 1995 Gerling was awarded the Silver Hemisphere . In 1997 he received the German Prize for Monument Protection . In the same year the city of Magdeburg made him an honorary citizen of the city . Gerling also signed the city's golden book .

Works

• Monuments of the City of Magdeburg , ISBN 3-910173-04-4 , 1991
• Possibilities and problems of using mining facilities as visitor facilities , in: Reports on the preservation of monuments in Lower Saxony 4, 1992
• Westernplan Garden City Estate , 1995
• The council and parish church of St. Johannis in Magdeburg on the occasion of its fifth reconstruction , 1999

Web links

• Heinz Gerling in the Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon
• Maren Ballerstedt, Heinz Gerling at www.magdeburg.de