Hermann Bunte (shipbuilder)

Hermann Friedrich Bunte (born April 20, 1889 in Holm ; † September 20, 1977 in Lübeck ) was a German shipbuilding engineer and shipyard director.

Life

Hermann Bunte was a son of the mill farmer and carpenter Hermann Friedrich Bunte (* October 24, 1859 in Großenmarpe ; † April 16, 1902 in Holm) and his wife Elisabeth, née Berg (* May 21, 1866 in Holm; † September 7, 1951 ibid). His parents' house was a rural family of craftsmen.

Bunte attended elementary school in Holm and from 1904 completed an apprenticeship as a boat builder at the Jürgen Schuldt boatyard in Blankenes . He then worked for a few months as a journeyman and in February 1908 he switched to a schooner in Bremen as a ship carpenter . From February 1909 he received training in shipbuilding drawing and as a shipbuilding technician with shipbuilding engineer Johannes Heitmann in Hamburg . In the meantime, he completed a two-year military service in the mining department of the Imperial Navy in Cuxhaven . In December 1912 he completed his training at Heitmann and then worked in the technical office of Actien-Gesellschaft Neptun, shipyard and machine factory .

From 1915 to 1917, Bunte worked as a production engineer at Bremer Werft AG "Weser" . In October 1917 he switched to his previous employer, where he was promoted to production engineer in 1921 and to senior engineer in September 1923. In 1925 he followed a call to the board of directors of the Neptun shipyard , where he worked as shipbuilding director. In March 1929 he switched to the Flender works in Lübeck as director and was appointed to the board on April 10, 1929. As technical director he managed the shipyard until the end of March 1961 when he retired due to old age.

Act

When Bunte moved to Lübeck, he had to stabilize the shipyard economically and ensure technical progress. The shipyard then carried out repairs, built smaller barges and barges and took over steel construction work. This averted bankruptcy. In the early 1930s, the company also built freight motor sailers, cargo ships and buoy layers, which expanded the product portfolio. From the mid-1930s, the shipyard increasingly took on orders as part of the German Reich's armaments program . Bunte joined the NSDAP in 1933 and was appointed military economic leader in April . He was not considered a staunch National Socialist and instead positioned himself rather conservative-socialist. In World War II, Bunte was responsible for the design and construction of small submarines of the type beaver .

Since he had remained passive during the Nazi era , the Allies tolerated Bunte after the end of the war as director of the Flender-Werke. Together with Mayor Otto Passarge , he tried to protect factory facilities from being dismantled and regularly modernized the shipyard's facilities, which had remained undamaged during the war. In the early 1950s, he rationalized and expanded the company in response to increasing customer demands. The productivity of the shipyard, which also built larger and more sophisticated ships, increased. Bunte created the conditions for Flender-Werke to be able to build moderate large ships from the mid-1960s and to be one of the leading German shipyards.

Bunte was particularly interested in the design of boats and ships and was considered an expert who tried new things. He also dealt with propulsion systems for ships. He devoted himself to aspects of the vocational training of engineers in Schleswig-Holstein and was a member of the trade in the Lübeck Chamber of Commerce , the Industry Committee and the plenary assembly of the Lübeck Chamber of Commerce and Industry . He was also involved in the board of directors of the Shipbuilding Society , in the Schleswig-Holstein regional board of the Federation of German Industry , in the Association of German Engineers , in the Lübeck Yacht Club and on the board of the Association of German Shipyards .

Honors

In 1954, Bunte received the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1954 and 1961 the Lübeck Chamber of Commerce and Industry awarded him certificates of honor. On his 70th birthday in 1959 he received the plaque of honor from the VDI district associations. In 1976 the Shipbuilding Society presented him with the Golden Badge of Honor.

family

Bunte's first marriage was Bertha Meta Ewers (born October 24, 1889 in Glückstadt ; † March 19, 1917 in Bremen ), whose father was the customs officer Johann Hinrich Ewers. In his second marriage he married Käthe Wilma Marianne Dora Albrand on February 3, 1919 in Rostock (* December 8, 1899 in Rostock ; † November 22, 1985 in Lübeck). Her father Hans Albrand worked as a captain in Rostock.

Bunte had two daughters and the son Horst-Hermann (born December 18, 1923 in Rostock; † June 30, 1980 in Flensburg ). He worked as a mechanical engineer and director of the Flensburger Schiffbaugesellschaft AG .

literature

• Heinz Haaker: Bunte, Hermann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 11 - 2000. ISBN 3-529-02640-9 , pages 71-73.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c d} Heinz Haaker: Bunte, Hermann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 11 - 2000. ISBN 3-529-02640-9 , page 71.
2. ^ Heinz Haaker: Bunte, Hermann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 11 - 2000. ISBN 3-529-02640-9 , pages 71-72.
3. ^ ^{A b} Heinz Haaker: Bunte, Hermann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 11 - 2000. ISBN 3-529-02640-9 , page 72.
4. ^ Heinz Haaker: Bunte, Hermann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 11 - 2000. ISBN 3-529-02640-9 , pages 72-73.
5. ^ Heinz Haaker: Bunte, Hermann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 11 - 2000. ISBN 3-529-02640-9 , page 73.