Otto Gruber

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Otto Gruber (born May 16, 1883 in Offenburg ; † January 24, 1957 in Aachen ) was a German architect and rector of RWTH Aachen University . He is the older brother of the architectural historian Karl Gruber .

Live and act

Leibgrenadierdenkmal in Karlsruhe

After graduating from high school in 1902 in Konstanz, Gruber studied architecture at the Technical University of Karlsruhe and the Technical University of Munich . In Karlsruhe he became a member of the Corps Frisia . After his main diploma examination in 1907 with Friedrich Ostendorf in Karlsruhe , he then began a civil service career as a trainee lawyer (government building supervisor). In 1914, he did his doctorate on the subject of “The Überlingen secular buildings of the 15th and 16th centuries”. Gruber took part in the First World War as a volunteer and officer, most recently as captain of the reserve. He was wounded several times and awarded EK I and EK II . After returning to Karlsruhe, Gruber completed his habilitation in 1919 with his work on "Upper German farmhouse types - their historical development and tribal affiliation". In 1920 he was appointed government builder ( Assessor ), but then retired from civil service and one year later joined the architectural firm Gruber & Gutmann in Karlsruhe, which among other things erected the Leibgrenadierdenkmal in Karlsruhe in 1924/1925 on what was then Lorettoplatz .

After his appointment as a private lecturer in 1921, Gruber was appointed associate professor on March 1, 1924, before he finally accepted an appointment at RWTH Aachen University on October 1, 1928, where he held the chair for building construction theory , building materials theory and building materials theory as a full professor took over. He stayed here until his retirement in 1950 and in the meantime managed the university as its rector as the successor to Paul Röntgen from 1934 to 1937. Gruber was a co-founder of the working group for German house research and published numerous publications on building history and house history.

Gruber's role in the National Socialist state

In 1934, when he was elected rector, which had to be confirmed by the Reich Commissioner in the Ministry of Education Bernhard Rust , in accordance with the rules of the time, Gruber found support from the lecturers and student representatives, as well as from Rust himself , especially because of his services in the First World War . Gruber thanked him it in his inaugural address through a clear statement for Adolf Hitler and through hints of a reorientation of the university under his leadership. From then on he promoted the “Nazification” of the Technical University and, with a few well-founded exceptions, the appointment of designated National Socialists and party members such as Alfred Buntru or Herwart Opitz and their occupation in leadership positions as well as anti-Semitic propaganda, but did not join the NSDAP until 1937 . On September 25, 1937, he was a guest at a reception on the occasion of the presence of the Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini . In addition, he was a co-founder of the "Mittelstelle für Heimatschutz", a secret organization that supported Nazi agitations in Belgium and the Netherlands. With this group he wanted to link his polemics against the Peace Treaty of Versailles and claim the responsibilities of the university for the western neighboring countries. After his rectorate, he no longer made any particular public appearances and instead concentrated on teaching and researching. In addition, he took over the post of military economics advisor for the Aachen district and was responsible for the expansion of war and armaments-relevant buildings.

Gruber's role after World War II

After the end of the Second World War , Gruber was able to continue his work unmolested, as he received authoritative letters of exoneration for his denazification proceedings, above all from the post-war rector Paul Röntgen, in which he "maintained a critical distance from National Socialism as well as defending academic freedom against access by the National Socialists " has been certified. Gruber himself remained silent about the allegations during his trial and manipulated his biography in such a way that he even appeared on a list drawn up by Röntgen of the lecturers persecuted by the Nazi regime.

The award of honorary senator status to Otto Gruber on November 30, 1950 confirmed this questionable account of the events and in the speech by Rector Wilhelm Fucks Gruber was even raised as a role model for the academic youth.

As part of its review of the activities of its university members during National Socialism, the Historical Institute of RWTH Aachen University dealt intensively with the work of Otto Gruber in several writings.

Fonts (selection)

  • Uberling secular buildings from the 15th and 16th centuries , Karlsruhe, 1914
  • Upper German farmhouse types, their historical development and tribal affiliation , Karlsruhe, 1919
  • The church buildings in Reichenau , in: The culture of Reichenau , 1925
  • German peasant and arable houses , Hildesheim, Gerstenberg, 1981, reprint of the Karlsruhe edition 1926
  • Education and Technology , Aachen, Aachener Verlags- u. Printing company, 1934
  • On the basics of an education in German architecture , Aachen, Technical University, 1934
  • The Westwerk, a symbol of Germanic Christianity , in: Zeitschrift für Kunstwissenschaften , 1936
  • Farmhouses of the Black Forest , in: Yearbook of the City of Freiburg , 1938
  • Roof structure and upper roof of medieval churches , in: Yearbook of the TH Aachen , 1941
  • Expertise on the stability of the Aachen town hall (together with Richard Stumpf), Aachen, 1945
  • From right building , Wolfenbüttel, Wolfenbütteler Verlagsanstalt, 1947
  • Human dignity as the basis of a Western and German reconstruction , Raeren, November 1944 and Aachen, March 1948
  • Introduction to the Study of Architecture , Heidelberg, Winter, 1951

literature

  • Michael Grüttner : Biographical Lexicon on National Socialist Science Policy (= Studies on Science and University History. Volume 6). Synchron, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 3-935025-68-8 , p. 65.
  • Gustav Hirsch: Professor Dr. Otto Gruber. In: Badische Heimat No. 33 (1953), pp. 182f.
  • Ulrich Kalkmann: The Technical University of Aachen in the Third Reich (1933-1945). Mainz, 2003, ISBN 3-86130181-4 , p. 94. [1]
  • Armin Heinen , Werner Tschacher, Stefan Krebs: Politics of the Past of RWTH Aachen from 1945 to 2004. Department for Press and Public of RWTH Aachen, 2007.
  • Stefan Krebs, Werner Tschacher: "A kind of examination of conscience"? Constructed breaks and continuities at the Technical University of Aachen, 1928-1950 . In: Self-Mobilization of Science. Technical universities in the "Third Reich" , ed. by Noyan Dinckal, Christof Dipper and Detlev Mares, Darmstadt 2010, pp. 255–286. ISBN 978-3-534-23285-7

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Address list of the Weinheimer SC. 1928, p. 231.
  2. ↑ See the writings by Heinen, Tschacher and Krebs mentioned under literature.
personal data
SURNAME Gruber, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German architect and rector of RWTH Aachen
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Offenburg
DATE OF DEATH January 24, 1957
Place of death Aachen