Klaus-Dieter Lehmann

Klaus-Dieter Lehmann (2014)

Klaus-Dieter Lehmann (born February 29, 1940 in Breslau ) is a German librarian , graduated physicist and mathematician and the President of the Goethe Institute (since April 2008).

Life

In 1945 the family managed to flee Breslau on the last train. Lehmann grew up first in the small town of Rehau in Upper Franconia and later in Düsseldorf . He studied mathematics and physics at the Universities of Cologne and Mainz and graduated in 1967. In addition to working at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz , he then devoted himself to studying library science , which he completed in 1970 with the second state examination. After completing his studies, he was initially a state university librarian in Darmstadt . From 1973 he was director of the city ​​and university library in Frankfurt am Main and in 1978 became its chief director.

In 1988 he became General Director of the German Library in Frankfurt. After reunification , he merged the two national libraries in Frankfurt and Leipzig ( Deutsche Bücherei ) as well as the German Music Archive in Berlin under the name “Die Deutsche Bibliothek” (today the German National Library ) while retaining all three locations .

In 1998 he was called to Berlin as President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation . In February 2008 he resigned from this office; Hermann Parzinger was his successor . Lehmann, who had been Vice President of the Goethe-Institut since 2002, was elected as the new President of the Goethe-Institut on September 11, 2007, succeeding Jutta Limbach ; his election was immediately confirmed by Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier . Lehmann took office on April 1, 2008. At the beginning of 2013, the executive committee of the Goethe-Institut confirmed Lehmann for another four years in his office. One year before the end of his second term of office, he was unanimously confirmed in the meeting of the Presidium for a further four-year term in November 2015.

Lehmann has repeatedly advocated the restitution of German cultural assets ( looted art ) from the successor states of the Soviet Union and provenance research . He was heavily involved in the restoration of Berlin's Museum Island and was able to celebrate the reopening of the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Bode Museum during his tenure as President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation . He also initiated other plans such as the reconstruction of the Unter den Linden State Library, the reopening of the Old and New Museum and the redesign of Berlin's Schlossplatz.

As President of the Goethe-Institut, Klaus-Dieter Lehmann is committed to the successful anchoring of the institute in Germany and around the world. He sees the cultural dialogue, the exchange of experience and knowledge and the structure of a learning community as the decisive elements of Germany's foreign cultural and educational policy. For him, the most important unique selling point of the Goethe-Institut is its global network. He understands networking not only as an organizational structure, but also as a programmatic approach that the Goethe-Institut implements under the maxims of partnership, discourse ability and willingness to enter into dialogue. In his view, success factors are the basic principles of intercultural dialogue: appreciation of diversity, equality of others and intercultural competence of the actors.

For Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, promoting talent, developing the cultural infrastructure and strengthening civil societies are central elements of the work of the Goethe-Institut. In Europe, he sees the Goethe-Institut as a leading actor in the process of cultural understanding, especially in times of growing European skepticism. At home, he sees strengthening a “culture of participation”, especially in times of increased mobility and migration, as an important task for the Goethe-Institut. During his presidency, a. the founding of the Goethe Institutes in Dar es Salaam, Kinshasa, Luanda and Novosibirsk.

Lehmann is a member of the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz and the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Science and an honorary member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts . He is an honorary member of the Association of German Librarians and the Stock Exchange Association of the German Book Trade . In addition to numerous other honorary positions, he is on the Board of Trustees of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade , Chairman of the Administrative Board of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum and a member of the Administrative Board of the Deutsches Museum. He has been a member of the Senate of the German National Foundation since 2007 . The Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2001 . In 2010 he became Honorary Senator of the Humboldt University in Berlin .

From 2005 to 2010 Lehmann was a member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung's Board of Trustees . Since July 2016 he has been chairman of the board of trustees of the Frankfurt RheinMain cultural fund .

Awards

• 1990: Chevalier de l'Ordre Palmes Academiques
• 1996: Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class
• 2004: Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana Grande Ufficiale
• 2006: Order of Merit of the State of Berlin
• 2007: Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, 1st class
• 2008: Culture penny of the German Culture Council
• 2011: Large Federal Cross of Merit
• 2015: Order of the Rising Sun on the ribbon
• 2016: Gutenberg Prize of the City of Mainz and the Gutenberg Society
• 2017: Gold Medal of the Humboldt Society for Science, Art and Education

Publications (selection)

• Make the world more readable. Portrait of the Goethe Institute (ed. Together with Olaf Zimmermann). Berlin: Dt. Kulturrat - Munich: Goethe-Inst., 2013, ISBN 978-3-939670-92-6 .
• (Ed.) "My Favorite Book." Story (s) of a friendship. Hueber, Ismaning 2010, ISBN 978-3-19-507891-7 .

literature

• Barbara Schneider-Kempf (Ed.): Science and culture in libraries, museums and archives. Festschrift for Klaus-Dieter Lehmann on his 65th birthday . Saur Verlag, Munich 2005. ISBN 3-598-11729-9

Web links

Commons : Klaus-Dieter Lehmann  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Klaus-Dieter Lehmann in the catalog of the German National Library
• CV, interviews and speeches by Klaus-Dieter Lehmann , website of the Goethe-Institut
• Portrait: Klaus-Dieter Lehmann ( Memento from May 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Goethe-Institut China, June 2010

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The new President Carola Lentz , elected on September 27, 2019 , will take up office on November 19, 2020 ( September 30 , 2019 : new President elected )
2. ↑ Klaus-Dieter Lehmann re-elected as President of the Goethe Institute. Retrieved January 29, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Klaus-Dieter Lehmann re-elected as President of the Goethe Institute. Retrieved January 29, 2020 . 
4. ^ Klaus-Dieter Lehmann. Academy of Sciences and Literature , accessed October 27, 2017 . 
5. ^ Members. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, accessed on May 18, 2020 . 
6. ↑ New member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Board of Trustees. Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, Sony BMG, replaces Dr. Klaus-Dieter Lehmann exits. Bertelsmann Foundation, November 18, 2010, accessed on May 18, 2020 (press release). 
7. ↑ Birgitta Loehr: Frankfurt RheinMain Cultural Fund - Prof. Dr. hc Klaus-Dieter Lehmann is the new Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Frankfurt RheinMain Cultural Fund. In: www.kulturfonds-frm.de. Retrieved September 9, 2016 . 
8. ↑ Announcement of the awards of the Federal Cross of Merit on May 1, 2011 .
9. ↑ Klaus-Dieter Lehmann receives "Order of the Rising Sun" from Japan. In: www.kultur-port.de. Retrieved September 9, 2016 . 
10. ↑ focus.de of April 29, 2016
11. ↑ Prof. Dr. hc Klaus-Dieter Lehmann: Biography - President - Goethe-Institut. Retrieved January 23, 2020 .