Ulrich Blank (born June 29, 1948 in Duisburg) is a doctor of electrical engineering in Essen, Germany. He was for many years CEO of Heinrich Industrie AG and was a member of various supervisory boards and advisory boards of family businesses. In September 2018, he was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his many years of voluntary work in the cultural field, in particular in favor of the Museum Folkwang.
Ulrich Blank studied electrical engineering and economics at the RWTH Aachen, where he also obtained his doctorate. In this time already he engaged himself as a member of German liberal party FDP in the field of cultural politics, which is why this party appointed him in the culture committee of the city of Aachen after the municipal election of 1975. His work there until 1979 brought him together with the Aachen industrialist and patron Peter Ludwig, [1] from whose donations to the city of Cologne at that very time the Museum Ludwig emerged. Blank remained member of the FDP for more than 30 years later on.
Since 1996, Blank has been a member of the Folkwang Museum Association (Folkwang-Museumsverein e.V.), where he became treasurer in 2005, then in 2015 chairman, succeeding Achim Middelschulte. Since 2006, the museum has completed five major special exhibitions, whose implementation was administratively planned and financially monitored by Ulrich Blank. [2] In contrast to other museum associations, the Folkwang Museum Association, founded in 1922, is the owner of the Folkwang Museum's collections in equal shares with the city of Essen due to a contract signed in the same year.
As a co-initiator and supporter of the scholarship program Junge Kunst in Essen [Young Art in Essen], he enabled non-established artists to present their work to the public. Since 2006, Ulrich Blank has also been a member of the board of the Society of Friends and Supporters of the Folkwang University of the Arts e.V. , for which he is a jury member in competitions, as a contact for students and in various projects. As a board member of the Forum Kreuzeskirche e.V. (since 2007) he contributed to the renovation of the church organ and raised funds. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Förderverein Evangelische Kirche Werden e.V., where he is particularly committed to the church music program. [3]
Blank has been married to Marie Luise Blank (born Werhahn) since 1974, they are parents of four adult children. His hobbies include cooking and playing the oboe. He lives in the Essen district of Bredeney.
Hans-Dietrich Genscher was a German statesman and a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1969 to 1974, and as Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs and Vice Chancellor of Germany from 1974 to 1992, making him the longest-serving occupant of either post and the only person to have held one of these positions under two different Chancellors of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1991 he was chairman of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Essen is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of 579,432 makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as the ninth-largest city of Germany. Essen lies in the larger Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region and is part of the cultural area of Rhineland. Because of its central location in the Ruhr, Essen is often regarded as the Ruhr's "secret capital". Two rivers flow through the city: in the north, the Emscher, the Ruhr area's central river, and in the south, the Ruhr River, which is dammed in Essen to form the Lake Baldeney (Baldeneysee) and Lake Kettwig reservoirs. The central and northern boroughs of Essen historically belong to the Low German (Westphalian) language area, and the south of the city to the Low Franconian (Bergish) area.
Günter Verheugen is a German politician who served as European Commissioner for Enlargement from 1999 to 2004, and then as European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry from 2004 to 2010. He was also one of five vice presidents of the 27-member Barroso Commission. After his retirement, he is now honorary Professor at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder).
Reinhold Würth is a German billionaire businessman and art collector. In 1954, at the age of 19, he took over his father's tiny wholesale screw business and built it into the Würth Group, which posted €14.4 billion in sales in 2020.
Franz Blücher was a German politician and member of the German Parliament (Bundestag).
Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patron Karl Ernst Osthaus in Hagen, founded in 1902.
Werner Dollinger was a German politician and economist, a member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU). He served as Federal Minister for the Treasury from 1962 to 1966, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation in 1966, Federal Minister for Post and Telecommunications from 1966 to 1969, and as Federal Minister of Transport from 1982 to 1987.
Bodo Hombach is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
Clemens Weiss is a German artist living in the United States.
Jörg van Essen is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (German: Freie Demokratische Partei; FDP} in the Bundestag.
Ernst Achenbach was a German lawyer, diplomat and politician of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as a member of the Bundestag (1957–1976), as a Member of the European Parliament (1964–1977), as Vice Chairman of FDP (1971–1972) and as Vice President of the Liberal group in the European Parliament.
Andrzej Górak is a Polish process engineer and the Head of Laboratory of Fluid Separations at the Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering at the TU Dortmund University.
Max Peiffer Watenphul was a German artist. Described as a "lyric poet of painting", he belongs to a "tradition of German painters for whom the Italian landscape represented Arcadia." In addition to Mediterranean scenes, he regularly depicted Salzburg and painted many still lifes of flowers. As well as oil paintings, his extensive body of work encompasses watercolours, drawings, enamel, textiles, graphic art, and photographs.
Berthold Beitz was a German industrialist. He was the head of the Krupp steel conglomerate beginning in the 1950s. He was credited with helping to lead the re-industrialization of the Ruhr Valley and rebuilding Germany into an industrial power. He gained acclaim for saving some 250 Jewish workers during World War II by declaring them to be essential workers at an oil facility. In 1973, for saving Jews, he received the Righteous Among the Nations title awarded by the Israeli Yad Vashem, the highest honor given to a non-Jew.
The Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen is a chamber orchestra historically formed mostly by students of the Folkwang University in Essen, Germany, and other Musikhochschulen in Northrhine-Westphalia, to prepare them for a future position in an orchestra; however, it currently employs a core of permanent members from all over Germany and the world. Members are auditioned and trialed as in a professional orchestra, and, if successful, are offered a permanent contract up to the age of 35. It was founded in 1958 by the director of the Folkwangschule Heinz Dressel. More than 500 musicians were since employed in opera- and symphony orchestras in Germany and abroad.
Thomas Kufen is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Paul Luchtenberg (1890–1973) was a German cultural scientist, educator and politician for the Free Democratic Party, as well as Culture Minister for North Rhine-Westphalia.
Wolfgang Mischnick was a German liberal politician (FDP). From 1961 to 1963 he was Federal Minister for Expellees, Refugees and War Victims and from 1968 to 1991 Chairman of the FDP parliamentary group and opposition leader from 1968/69.
Rudolf Dreßler is a German politician and diplomat.
Hans Berger was a German trade unionist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). From 1990 to 1998, he served in the Bundestag and served as the chairman of the Union of Mining and Energy (IGBE). Most recently, he was a member of the IG Bergbau, Chemie, Energie (IGBCE).
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