Kurt Hemmerling

Kurt Johannes Hemmerling (born July 24, 1898 in Dresden , † October 26, 1977 in Auerbach in the Ore Mountains ) was a German civil engineer. He was a specialist in theater construction and worked on many cultural institutions in the GDR .

Life

Hemmerling's grave in the cemetery in Auerbach

Hemmerling, the son of a gardener, earned his studies as a technical assistant on the stage of the Dresden theater . He later worked as an assistant to the technical director Adolf Linnebach , who was to point the way for his life, as did the theater builder Martin Dülfer . For his diploma thesis at the Dresden Technical University , the design of a city theater, which he completed in 1923, the written examination papers were waived. Before completing the state examination, he received a contract from the city ​​of Teplitz-Schönau as construction manager for the then famous new building of the city hall building with two theaters. In 1925 project planning work for the stage systems for the renovation of the Hamburg State Theater followed . He was then appointed technical director at the Schwerin State Theater . In 1931 he joined the Städtische Oper Berlin in the same position . In the same year he was appointed professor at the Academy of Arts in Munich .

After the Second World War , Hemmerling was commissioned by the Thuringian Prime Minister Rudolf Paul in 1946 to rebuild the German National Theater in Weimar , which was opened in 1948 with the participation of Thomas Mann . After successfully solving this difficult task, he received new orders. He was involved as construction manager in the reconstruction of the opera house in what was then Chemnitz and the Theater des Friedens Halle , which opened in 1951. In December 1953, Hemmerling was appointed a full member of the German Building Academy in Berlin by the President of the GDR, Wilhelm Pieck . This was followed by the reconstruction of the State Opera Unter den Linden in Berlin, the reorganization of the Leipzig theaters, the new building of the Leipzig central workshops and magazines and the New Opera House in Leipzig . In 1956 he and Richard Paulick received the National Prize for the reconstruction of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin . For the new building of the Leipzig Opera House, he was awarded the national prize for the second time in 1960. In August 1960 he was appointed technical director of all Leipzig theaters and from 1960 onwards he also ran the Institute for Technology of Cultural Institutions at the Ministry of Culture , where stage technicians - including those from abroad - were trained.

In 1961 he received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Construction at the Technical University of Dresden for special services in the field of theater construction.

Hemmerling died at the age of 79 in his adopted home Auerbach in the Ore Mountains.

Honors

• National Prize of the GDR 1956 and 1960
• Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze 1963

swell

• Meyer's new lexicon in eight volumes; VEB Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig : 1962 (Volume 4, p. 110)
• List of honorary doctors of the TU Dresden

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ND interview with Prof. Dr. Ing.hc Kurt Hemmerling . In: Neues Deutschland , December 29, 1964, p. 4.
2. ↑ Manfred Pollmer : New ways in theater construction - For the 75th birthday of Prof. Kurt Hemmerling. In: Neue Zeit , July 25, 1973, p. 4.
3. ↑ Kurt Hemmerling in the database of the Institute for Foreign Relations  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed February 20, 2017).  
4. ↑ Berliner Zeitung , September 3, 1963, p. 2.