Werner Ernst

Werner Ernst (born January 28, 1910 in Gumbinnen , East Prussia ; † August 26, 2002 in Bonn ) was a German lawyer . From 1953 to 1959 he was a judge at the Federal Administrative Court , then until 1965 State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Construction . He also taught as an honorary professor at the Free University of Berlin and the University of Münster . At the latter he held a leading position at the Central Institute for Spatial Planning . Ernst wrote (with Werner Hoppe ) a textbook on building law and edited a commentary on the Federal Building Act . 1970 to 1972 he headed the Federal Government's Expert Commission for the reorganization of the federal territory .

Life

After graduating from high school in Rostock in 1928, Ernst studied law and political science at the universities of Göttingen , Kiel and Rostock . In 1932 he passed the legal traineeship at the Rostock Regional Court ; In 1933 he received his doctorate from the university there. jur. The topic of the dissertation was: "Renunciation of subjective public rights".

After the assessor exam in Berlin, he entered the service of the Reich Ministry of Labor . When Ernst was transferred to the Housing and Settlement Department in 1938, which was also responsible for all building law, he had found his life theme. As part of the military service, he worked in the Speer -Ost construction staff from 1942 , which was soon incorporated into the " Organization Todt " and was responsible for planning the infrastructure in the conquered areas.

Because of his membership in the NSDAP , Ernst was only able to return to public service in 1948. In the reconstruction ministry of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia , he did the essential work and parliamentary representation for the reconstruction law.

Judge at the Federal Administrative Court

In 1953 he was appointed judge at the Federal Administrative Court in Berlin. The First Senate, whose deputy chairman he became, was also responsible for building and land law. During his time as a federal judge , he was a member of several commissions that dealt with building and land law. As a member of the "Main Commission for Building Legislation", he was significantly involved in the "Draft of a Building Act" presented in 1956. At both (West) Berlin universities he held teaching positions in this field; In 1958 he was appointed honorary professor at the law faculty of the Free University of Berlin .

State Secretary

A year later, the then Housing Minister Paul Lücke brought him to Bonn as State Secretary . There it was initially his task to implement the so-called "gap plan", i. H. to integrate the housing market, which was forcibly managed until 1960, into the free market economy and to create social tenancy and housing law. At the same time, Ernst represented the draft of the Federal Building Act (BBauG), which he played a key role in, in the Bundestag. The Federal Building Act was passed in 1960. For the first time in its history, Germany had a uniform building law. In this context, Ernst earned the honorable title of “building and land pope”. Since the difficult renovation issues had to be excluded here, the preparations for a “ Urban Development Act ” began under his leadership , but only came into force in 1971 after he left civil service.

However, the focus of his work as State Secretary was on drafting and legislative support for the Federal Spatial Planning Act passed in 1965 .

In 1965 Ernst followed his minister to the Federal Ministry of the Interior , where he was still responsible for spatial planning , but u. a. also for the cultural department, local government and civil defense . Werner Ernst was also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation .

In the spring of 1968 it became apparent that the electoral reform advocated by Paul Lücke had failed. The minister resigned, and shortly afterwards his state secretary.

Honorary professorship

In June 1968 Ernst got an honorary professorship in the law and political science faculty of the University of Münster . There he founded the interdisciplinary central institute for spatial planning at the University of Münster in 1964 together with renowned professors from this university, Helmut Schelsky (sociology), Hans Karl Schneider (economics) and Harry Westermann (law) . In 1968, after leaving the civil service, he became the managing director of this institute, which gained a great reputation for his work. In 1994, on the occasion of its 30th anniversary, Ernst was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Law Faculty of the University of Münster.

Academy for spatial research and regional planning

In 1967 Ernst became a full member of the Academy for Spatial Research and Regional Planning (ARL, Hanover); from 1971 to 1974 he was its president and then honorary president. His activities in Münster and the presidency gave his endeavor to establish a close connection between theory and practice the necessary institutional basis.

Chairman of the expert commission for the reorganization of the federal territory

In 1970, the Federal Minister of the Interior, Hans-Dietrich Genscher , who was responsible for regional planning issues, set up an "Expert Commission for the Reorganization of the Federal Territory " and appointed Ernst as chairman. This should also fulfill the constitutional mandate under Article 29 of the Basic Law . The restructuring of the municipalities and districts, which had been successfully started at that time, should be supplemented by the urgently needed state restructuring. The report handed over to Minister Genscher in December 1972 contained two well-founded alternative proposals, both of which provided for a reduction in the number of countries to a total of five (instead of the previous 11). The opinion, which was also received positively by the public, failed primarily due to the resistance of the commissioning minister or the FDP, because it would have been conceivable that the redesign of the states would have cost a number of Bundestag mandates.

Ernst died on August 26, 2002 in Bonn. After his death, the ARL donated a Werner Ernst Prize in memory of its honorary president , which is designed as a sponsorship award (maximum age 35 years).

Awards

• 1964 The Great Cross of Merit with Star and Shoulder Ribbon was awarded to him by Federal President Heinrich Lübke .
• 1981 The Camillo Sitte Prize was awarded to him by the Austrian Society for Spatial Research and Planning. In his acceptance speech, Ernst emphasized what fascinated him about Camillo Sitte : To influence the population with the “art of urban planning” and to strengthen the “people's sense of home”.

Works

Of the influential writings and commentaries by Ernst, only the following should be highlighted: The commentary on the Federal Building Act, which appeared since 1970: Ernst / Zinkahn / Bielenberg . With Werner Hoppe , he wrote the successful textbook, "The public building and land law, spatial planning law", the first edition of which was published in 1968. The commemorative publication published in 1980 by renowned scientists on his 70th birthday, "Spatial Planning and Property Order" ( Verlag CH Beck Munich 1980) contains a detailed list of publications (by Paul C. Ernst) . Writings of building and land law, whether in theory or practice, left its mark.

Ernst, who had already dealt intensively with philosophical and theological questions during his studies and never gave up this passion, tried with his work to pass on the human legacy of building and planning. Martin Lendi (ETH Zurich) described him as the "father of the constitutional spatial planning and building law"

• Building Code  : Commentary. Beck, Munich 92nd edition 2009. ISBN 978-3-406-38165-2 .
• The public building and land law, spatial planning law Beck, Munich 2., durchges. u. supplementary edition 1981. ISBN 3-406-08499-0 .

literature

• Walter Henkels : 99 Bonn Heads , revised and supplemented edition, Fischer-Bücherei, Frankfurt am Main 1965, p. 91f.
• Harry Westermann (Hrsg.): Spatial planning and ownership: Festschrift for Werner Ernst on his 70th birthday. Beck, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-406-07523-1 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Werner Ernst in the catalog of the German National Library