Solms Wilhelm Wittig

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Solms Wilhelm Wittig (born March 15, 1897 in Braunschweig , † 1968 in Holzminden ) was a German civil engineer and professor at the TH Dresden , government building councilor in Braunschweig, general director of Deutsche Asphalt AG in Eschershausen , managing director of Steinöl GmbH Braunschweig, head of the research institute for Natural asphalt at the TU Braunschweig and a convicted war criminal for his involvement in crimes in the Schandelah satellite camp .

Life

Wittig was a civil engineer by profession and until 1938 a government building officer in the road and hydraulic engineering department of the city of Braunschweig. He was professor and director at the Institute for Earthworks at the TH Dresden and from 1941 he was general director of Deutsche Asphalt AG (DASAG) based in Eschershausen. The main shareholder of DASAG was the Free State of Braunschweig with 97 percent. Wittig founded Steinöl GmbH Braunschweig as its subsidiary and became managing director. Wittig appointed Hans Detlev Ohlen as his deputy at Steinöl GmbH. He was later sentenced as a war criminal to twelve years in prison.

The private Steinöl GmbH played a central role in the establishment and operation of the Schandelah camp. The Steinöl GmbH filed for bankruptcy after the Second World War .

From April 1941 Wittig was head of the research institute for natural asphalt at the Technical University of Braunschweig, which was relocated to the buildings of the Schandelah subcamp on October 15, 1944 after the bombing of Braunschweig . This institute worked for construction and test programs of the air force, the Todt organization and for the Hermann Göring works in Salzgitter . As part of the mineral oil security plan (secret project for the desert company ) Wittig was responsible for the technical planning and operation of the Schandelah satellite camp. The aim was to research and manufacture synthetic gasoline from oil shale , which the concentration camp inmates had to mine under inhumane conditions.

Solms Wilhelm Wittig was sentenced to death by hanging by a British military tribunal in February 1947 for his part in the crimes committed in the Schandelah camp . Wittig's sentence was not carried out, but was commuted to a 20-year prison sentence in March 1947. In May 1955 he was pardoned by the German judiciary.

literature

  • Heike Petry: "Re .: Use of concentration camp prisoners in Schandelah" - forced labor for the oil shale project of Steinöl GmbH. In: Gudrun Fiedler , Hans-Ulrich Ludewig : Forced Labor and War Economy in the State of Braunschweig 1939–1945. Edited by the Braunschweig History Association. Appelhans Verlag , Braunschweig 2003, ISBN 3-930292-78-5 , p. 237ff.
  • Dorit Petschel : 175 years of TU Dresden. Volume 3: The professors of the TU Dresden 1828–2003. Edited on behalf of the Society of Friends and Supporters of the TU Dresden e. V. von Reiner Pommerin , Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2003, ISBN 3-412-02503-8 , p. 1057.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Solms Wittig ( Memento of the original from February 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on ua.tu-dresden.de, query November 3, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ua.tu-dresden.de
  2. ↑ August Ludwig Degener, Walter Habel: Who is who? The German Who's Who, Volume 16. Arani, Berlin 1970, ISBN 3-7605-2007-3 , p. 1516.
  3. ^ Frank Ruhnau: The development of material testing at the TH Braunschweig. In: Walter Kerz, Peter Albrecht: Technical University of Braunschweig, From Collegium Carolium to Technical University 1745–1995. P. 437, Georg-Olms-Verlag, Braunschweig 1995 Olinie available .
personal data
SURNAME Wittig, Solms Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German civil engineer and professor at the TH Dresden
DATE OF BIRTH March 15, 1897
PLACE OF BIRTH Braunschweig
DATE OF DEATH 1968
Place of death Holzminden