Gerhard Baumgärtel

Gerhard Baumgärtel
Gerhard Baumgärtel
Minister for Construction and Housing
	In office; 18 November 1989 – 12 April 1990
Chairman of the; Council of Ministers	Hans Modrow;
Preceded by	Wolfgang Junker (Construction)
Succeeded by	Axel Viehweger (Construction, Urban Development, and Housing)
Lord Mayor of Weimar
	In office; 21 Oktober 1982 – 17 November 1989
Preceded by	Franz Kirchner
Succeeded by	Volkhardt Germer (acting)
Preceded by
Volkskammer
Member of the Volkskammer ; for Arnstadt, Apolda, Weimar-Stadt, Weimar-Land
	In office; 16 June 1986 – 5 April 1990
Preceded by	multi-member district
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	Gerhard Baumgärtel; 25 November 1931; Reumtengrün, Free State of Saxony, Weimar Republic (now Germany)
Died	27 July 1997 (aged 65); Weimar, Thuringia, Germany
Political party	Christian Democratic Union of Germany; (1990–1997)
Other political; affiliations	Christian Democratic Union (East Germany); (1969–1990)
Alma mater	Fachschule für Angewandte Kunst Erfurt; Hochschule für Architektur und Bauwesen Weimar (Dr.-Ing.); Technical University of Budapest;
Occupation	Politician; Civil Servant; Architect; Academic;

Gerhard Baumgärtel (25 November 1931 – 27 July 1997) was a German architect, university lecturer and politician of the East German Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

In the German Democratic Republic, he served as the longtime Lord Mayor of Weimar in the 1980s and as the GDR's penultimate Construction Minister during the Peaceful Revolution.

Life and career[edit]

Early career[edit]

After an apprenticeship as a carpenter (1946–1949), Baumgärtel studied interior design at the Erfurt School of Applied Arts and from 1954 to 1960 at the University of Architecture and Civil Engineering Weimar (HAB).^[1]

After working as an architect and project manager at VEB Polygraph Leipzig, he was a research assistant at the HAB from 1962 to 1969, senior assistant from 1969 to 1974, and lecturer after an additional study program at the Budapest University of Technology until 1982, then honorary professor.^[1]

In 1965, he received his doctorate (Dr.-Ing.) at the HAB Weimar with the thesis "Room design in compact windowless industrial buildings with special consideration of basic work hygiene requirements". In 1969 he habilitated there with the thesis "Investigations on the design of the working environment in industrial buildings - A contribution to technical-scientific design principles and their methodological application in the design process to increase the building-technical use value requirements for industrial buildings".^[1]

Bloc party politician[edit]

Baumgärtel joined the East German Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a bloc party beholden to the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED), in 1969. Since 1977 he was a member of the party Main Executive Committee, and since 1984 a member of the Presidium of the Main Executive Committee.^[1]

In Oktober 1982, he was made Lord Mayor of Weimar,^[1]^[2]^[3] a position traditionally held by a member of the CDU, succeeding Franz Kirchner, who retired. Baumgärtel additionally became member of the Volkskammer in 1986.^[1]

Peaceful Revolution[edit]

During the Wende, he served as Minister for Construction and Housing in the transitional government of Hans Modrow.^[1]^[4]^[5]^[6]

Afterwards, Baumgärtel worked as an architect until retiring in 1995. He passed away in 1997 at the age of 65 in Weimar.^[1]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "Baumgärtel, Gerhard". www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. 2009. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
^ "PROF. DR. GERHARD BAUMGÄRTEL (1931 – 1997)". stadt.weimar.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-05-18.
^ "Es muß amol eine Liebe g'wesen sein. Im Juni 1989". Die Tageszeitung (in German). 1991-10-10. p. 4. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
^ "gemeinsame erklaerung ueber das gespraech von bundesministerin hasselfeldt mit ddr-bauminister prof. dr. baumgaertel". Die Bundesregierung informiert | Startseite (in German). 1990-01-11. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
^ "Stadtsanierung, Modellstadtprogramm und Raumordnung". Deutsche Einheit 1990 (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. Retrieved 2024-05-18.
^ Fritsch, Barbara, ed. (2013). "Bereich Minister". www.argus.bstu.bundesarchiv.de (in German). German Federal Archives. Retrieved 2024-05-18.

[:0-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "Baumgärtel, Gerhard". www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. 2009. Retrieved 2024-05-18.

[2] "PROF. DR. GERHARD BAUMGÄRTEL (1931 – 1997)". stadt.weimar.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-05-18.

[3] "Es muß amol eine Liebe g'wesen sein. Im Juni 1989". Die Tageszeitung (in German). 1991-10-10. p. 4. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2024-05-18.

[4] "gemeinsame erklaerung ueber das gespraech von bundesministerin hasselfeldt mit ddr-bauminister prof. dr. baumgaertel". Die Bundesregierung informiert | Startseite (in German). 1990-01-11. Retrieved 2024-05-18.

[5] "Stadtsanierung, Modellstadtprogramm und Raumordnung". Deutsche Einheit 1990 (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. Retrieved 2024-05-18.

[6] Fritsch, Barbara, ed. (2013). "Bereich Minister". www.argus.bstu.bundesarchiv.de (in German). German Federal Archives. Retrieved 2024-05-18.

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