Heinz Schmeißner

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Heinz Schmeißner (born March 15, 1905 in Nuremberg ; † September 25, 1997 ibid) was a German architect , town planner and construction officer . He was stylistically based on traditionalism and played a key role in the reconstruction of the city of Nuremberg.

Life

Heinz Schmeißner was born on March 15, 1905 as the son of the Nuremberg architect Jakob Schmeissner and his wife Luise, née. Balmberger, was born. He came from a dynasty of master builders and carpenters who can be traced back to the 17th century in Marktleuthen in the Wunsiedel district .

Study and University

Heinz Schmeißner was a student of the "Munich School", he studied from 1923 to 1927 with Theodor Fischer and German Bestelmeyer and from 1927 to 1930 he was a construction trainee at the Oberpostdirektion in Munich. From 1930 to 1933 he was Robert Vorhoelzer's assistant at the Technical University of Munich ( Post Building School ). Vorhölzer represented “modern building”, his teaching permit was withdrawn in 1933, and with it his assistant Schmeißner.

Professional career

As an employee, he worked for Fritz Norkauer in Weimar from 1933-34 (residential construction), then in 1934 at the Munich City Planning Office (reconstruction of the Ludwigsbrücke ). There he was released after six months on the grounds that “he is not suitable for the capital of the movement”. In 1936 a probationary position at the city of Nuremberg followed, with a hint from his superior Walter Brugmann , building construction consultant in Nuremberg: "If he can do something, then he can stay." Brugmann, who then turned himself primarily to the Nazi party rally grounds, transferred the municipal sector to Schmeißner of the building construction department, Schmeißner also became Brugmann's deputy. OB Liebel asked him the final question of now having to become a party member, so that he joined the NSDAP on May 1, 1937 , but did not hold any party function. In 1937 Schmeißner won second prize in the architecture competition for the Gauforum in Frankfurt an der Oder , which earned him the recognition of Albert Speer .

After Brugmann had been called to Berlin by Speer, Schmeißner was his successor as building construction advisor and in the National Socialist-directed city administration councilor for the building industry. Among other things, he was the representative of the city of Nuremberg in the special purpose association of the Nazi party rally grounds and the responsible official of the city administration for this. Together with the architect Wilhelm Schlegtendal , he built the school in Nuremberg from 1938–1940, which was then named after Hermann-Göring and today after Konrad-Groß . Together with Kurt Schneckendorf and Wilhelm Schlegtendal, he planned the high-rise buildings of the Nuremberg zoo, which was newly created as a landscape park in an abandoned quarry. In 1940 Schmeißner became head of the building construction department, and after his sponsor Brugmann was appointed general construction manager of Berlin, Schmeißner succeeded him as construction advisor in 1941.

Albert Speer commissioned Schmeißner and Schlegtendal in 1941/42 with the preparatory planning of the reconstruction of the city of Nuremberg after the war. Until 1945, Heinz Schmeißner was also the department head responsible for air raid protection and artificial air protection in Nuremberg.

post war period

In June 1945, Schmeißner was dismissed from the city's service by the US military administration. In September 1945 he was sentenced by a US military tribunal to several years in prison for hiding the imperial regalia in the panier bunker from the US occupation authorities , which he served until June 1947.

From 1947 Schmeißner worked as a freelance architect and, together with Wilhelm Schlegtendal, won the competition for the reconstruction of Nuremberg in 1947 (in the competition that won first prize, the plot of the synagogue, which had been demolished nine years earlier, was planned elsewhere).

In 1949, Schmeißner, who had meanwhile been rehabilitated, was re-elected as building consultant for the city of Nuremberg. He held this office until his retirement in 1970. The circle around Heinz Schmeißner in the building department during the years 1937-45 ( Schlegtendal , Seegy , Schneckendorf ) was able to continue uninterrupted architectural careers in the post-war period and significantly shaped the reconstruction and construction activities in Nuremberg in the post-war decades. In addition to the three aforementioned Nuremberg architects, Sep Ruf (Munich) was particularly important for the period of reconstruction , who built the Bayerische Staatsbank, the Heuss building of the Germanic National Museum and the Academy of Fine Arts.

Schmeißner also actively opposed the return of the Neptune Fountain , which was removed in 1934, to the main market.

As far as possible, Schmeißner pushed through his ideas (which had already been developed before 1945) for a moderately traditional reconstruction. The rebuilt city should - with adaptation to the "modern" traffic requirements - have the appearance of the Nuremberg before the destruction. The reconstruction of Nuremberg is to a decisive extent the life's work of Schmeißner; Large buildings that broke with Nuremberg's building tradition were only realized in the city center after the end of his term of office. Schmeißer also pushed through his plan to build a classic subway in Nuremberg ; the network that exists today corresponds almost entirely to his design. The traffic and structural concept ("Jansenplan") developed by Hermann Jansen on behalf of Mayor Hermann Luppe as early as 1928 was implemented in the essential elements, especially the large ring road, the new port and the city highways on the periphery.

Awards

literature

  • Nuremberg City Archives / Nuremberg City Museums: Reconstruction in Nuremberg. Exhibition catalog, Nuremberg 2010.
  • On the life's work of Heinz Schmeißner - former building consultant for the city of Nuremberg. Exhibition opening at the Supreme Building Authority, 2005.
  • Academy for Urban Development and Regional Planning (Ed.): Heinz Schmeißner - Architect and City Planning Officer - 80 years. Festschrift, Munich / Nuremberg 1985.
  • Martin Schieber: Nuremberg. An illustrated history of the city. Beck, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-406-46126-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "... it couldn't be any other way ..." according to Werner Durth : Reconstruction or new beginning? Questions for the post-war period. In: Festschrift for Schmeißner's 80th birthday.
  2. ^ Werner Durth: Reconstruction or a new beginning? Questions for the post-war period. In: Festschrift for Schmeißner's 80th birthday.
  3. ↑ Rihoko Ueno: Recovering Gold and Regalia: a monument Man investigates ., Archives of American Art Smithsonian Institution. April 11, 2014
  4. ↑ Clemens Wachter: Setting the course for construction planning. The architectural competition for the reconstruction of the old town in 1947. In: Reconstruction in Nuremberg. Exhibition catalog, Nuremberg 2010.
  5. ↑ Ibid .: Reconstruction in Nuremberg. Exhibition catalog, Nuremberg 2010, Fig. "Basic plan for the reconstruction of the old town"
  6. ↑ Short Minutes No. 22 Speakers' meeting of June 23, 1935 Section 34 / Nuremberg City Archives C29 No. 1547
personal data
SURNAME Schmeißner, Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German architect and construction officer
DATE OF BIRTH March 15, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH September 25, 1997
Place of death Nuremberg