Wilhelm Krelle

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Wilhelm Krelle, 1994

Wilhelm Krelle (born December 24, 1916 in Magdeburg , † June 23, 2004 in Bonn ) was a German economist , mathematician and physicist .

Life

Krelle came from an old Magdeburg academic family and was a distant nephew of Gustav Nachtigal and related to Johannes Scheyring . After graduating from high school , Krelle initially decided on an officer career. As SS - Sturmbannführer he became 1st General Staff Officer of the SS Panzer Division "Götz von Berlichingen" . After returning from the war , Krelle studied physics , mathematics and economics at the universities of Tübingen and Freiburg .

In 1948 Krelle finished his studies with a doctorate to become Dr. rer. pole. and was able to do his habilitation under Erich Preiser at Heidelberg University in 1951 . In 1956, Krelle was  appointed associate professor for economics and social sciences at the University of St. Gallen, following various research stays at Harvard University , MIT and Chicago State University . From 1958 until his retirement in 1982 he worked as a professor for political economics at the University of Bonn . In 1991/92 Krelle was reactivated to function as the founding dean of the economics faculty at the Humboldt University in Berlin .

plant

The focus of Krelle's scientific work was the mapping of economic problems in mathematical models. In addition to academic research, Krelle was involved as a member of the Codetermination Commission and the Defense Structure Commission, as well as a member of the social chamber of the Evangelical Church in Germany.

Honors

In addition to the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1987), Krelle received six honorary doctorates for his scientific work . a. from the Chicago State University, the University of Münster and the University of Vienna. He was also appointed honorary professor at the University of Vienna . In 1995 he received the gold medal of the Kondratieff Prize .

Debate about Krelle's activities during the National Socialist era

Regardless of his reputation in other federal states, Krelle was controversial at the Humboldt University, especially at the time of reunification.As the founding dean of the economics faculty at the Humboldt University, Krelle had the task of checking the political and professional suitability of the existing academic staff, which in many cases had to be done on a large scale Layoffs resulted. Some of Krelle's statements, including the sentence attributed to him: “No Marxist will set foot over the threshold of this house as long as I have the say here”, made critics doubt that he only made personnel decisions based on professional criteria. Krelle's decision not to pursue existing environmental-economic approaches any further met with criticism.

As a result, some students at Humboldt University - following old rumors about Krelle's SS membership - finally brought orders and other documents from the Second World War to the public, which Krelle had signed with “ SS-Sturmbannführer Krelle”.

Demands were based on this to revoke Wilhelm Krelle's honorary doctorate from Humboldt University. These demands were primarily taken up by the left-wing media, such as New Germany and the Junge Welt . Research by other students has shown these claims to be partially false. The university finally set up a commission to investigate the allegations against Krelle. Krelle himself made his diary entries available to the commission, as he did to his critics before. The Commission came to a conclusion that covered mainly with Krelles reasoning: he had indeed commanded an SS Division and the SS rank used from authority reasons was, but never the Member Waffen SS and incidentally never a member of the NSDAP been . On the recommendation of the commission, the university retained its honorary doctorate.

In 2004, shortly before Krelle's death, further documents were found which, in turn, do not prove Krelle's membership in the SS, but which, in the opinion of some critics, should prove a fanatical, National Socialist attitude right into the last days of the war. However, Krelle's diary entries are also known, in which he critically deals with the military leadership of National Socialism. Wilhelm Krelle and other observers considered this a campaign out of “revenge and GDR nostalgia”. Krelle was never accused of any personal misconduct, such as involvement in war crimes.

Works (selection)

  • Theory of economic behavior . 1953.
  • Price theory . 1961.
  • Distribution theory . 1962.
  • Preference and Decision Theory . 1968.
  • Growth theory . 1972 (together with Günter Gabisch ).
  • Codetermination and a market economy . 1978.
  • Economic growth theory . 1985.
  • The future of the world economy . 1989.
  • World economy and security . 1994.
  • Economics in Christian responsibility . 1997.
  • Economic foundations of ethics . 1998.

Web links

literature

  • Knut Borchardt : Obituary Wilhelm Krelle. In: Yearbook Bavarian Academy of Sciences 2004, pp. 315–317, badw.de (PDF; 118 kB)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Daniela Dahn: Yesterday's snow is today's flood. The unit - one billing , Hamburg 2019, p. 78
  2. ↑ Limits of Memory . In: Berliner Zeitung , May 13, 2004
  3. ↑ a b slate comparison . In: Friday , 16/2007
  4. ↑ derhermes.de
  5. ↑ Daniela Dahn : Foreword. In: How the Humboldt University was turned. Heinrich Fink , accessed on July 6, 2020 .
  6. ↑ a b Two kinds of past . In: Die Zeit , No. 8/1996
  7. ↑ a b Krelle in the crossfire . In: Berliner Zeitung , February 14, 1996
personal data
SURNAME Krelle, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German economist, mathematician and physicist
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Magdeburg
DATE OF DEATH June 23, 2004
Place of death Bonn