Karl-Hermann Steinberg

Karl-Hermann Steinberg (born June 22, 1941 in Heiligenstadt ) is a former German professor of chemistry and a former politician ( CDU ). In 1990 he was Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Energy and Nuclear Safety of the German Democratic Republic .

Life

Karl-Hermann Steinberg was born the son of an employee, attended high school and passed the Abitur . From 1954 he was a member of the Free German Youth (FDJ), from 1959 of the GDR CDU and from 1964 of the Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB). From 1959 to 1964 he studied with a degree in chemistry at the Technical University of Chemistry in Leuna .

From 1964 to 1970 he was a research assistant in Leuna; In 1968 he received his doctorate . From 1971 he worked as a scientific lecturer at the University of Leuna. From 1974 to 1977 Steinberg worked as a research chemist at VEB Leuna-Werke. In 1976 he received his habilitation , a year later he became a lecturer and in 1982 professor for technical chemistry at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig .

From 1971 to March 1990 he was a member of the People's Chamber of the GDR . From 1970 he was also a member of the CDU district committee in Merseburg and the CDU district committee in Halle and, from December 1989, deputy chairman of the CDU in the GDR. From November 1989 he was Deputy Minister for Heavy Industry and from April 12 to October 2, 1990 Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Energy and Nuclear Safety of the last GDR government ( Government de Maizière ). In August 1990 Steinberg was also appointed as the state representative for the administrative structure in the newly founded state of Saxony-Anhalt ; he held this office until the first state government of Saxony-Anhalt took office on November 2, 1990.

Steinberg then returned to the University of Leipzig. In 1991 he set up as a management consultant independently . Soon afterwards, Steinberg became Research Director of Preussag AG and was commissioned to develop a technology to counter the Group's excessive CO ₂ emissions . The facility designed in this way used chlorella (microalgae) grown in a large laboratory . When the pilot project was completed after three years of research, it could no longer be used due to the transformation of the Preussag Group into the travel company TUI . Steinberg believed in the project and went into business for himself as managing director with the bioreactor . He found allies in the economy and the state government of Saxony-Anhalt approved and promoted a settlement in Klötze . After a problematic start, the first production of Chlorella products has now turned into a large company under the roof of Roquette Frères , whose products are used for medicine, cosmetics and food.

Awards

In the GDR, Steinberg was awarded the Bronze Patriotic Order of Merit (1985) and the Labor Banner .

literature

• Alexander Schierholz: Karl-Hermann Steinberg - Prince without a country. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of October 13, 2010
• Helmut Müller-Enbergs :  Steinberg, Karl-Hermann . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kathrin Schrader: The Green Steak , In: Berliner Zeitung , July 11, 2013; Retrieved August 27, 2013