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The History of the Department
1940
The Chair of Materials in Mechanical Engineering is
carved out from Chemistry in 1940 and is assigned
to the Department of Mechanical and Electrical
Engineering.
1942
The Chair of Aircraft Construction is established at
the THM under the direction of Julius Krauß. The first
attempt at setting up such a chair had taken place
in 1929 but had failed due to funding problems.
Kraus had been a Senior Lecturer since 1936. From
1942 onwards, lectures are held on the subjects of
aircraft components, aircraft design, aircraft stability
and in-flight measuring techniques, and research on
these subjects is conducted.
1945
Discontinuation of teaching at the THM.
Closing down of the Chairs of Aircraft Engines and
Engine Science and of Aircraft Design.
Beginning of the ‘denazification’ procedures at the
THM. This initially causes the loss of two thirds of its
university lecturers. There are 24 lecturers employed
by the Department of Mechanical Engineering in
1945/46. Thirteen of these are dismissed, four of
whom are reinstated by 1953.
To begin with, the American military government took a very hard line with regard to denazification and ordered the majority of the teaching staff
to be dismissed. According to the list of lecturers, the former rector Lutz Pistor was arrested, while the subsequent rector Hans Piloty was cleared.
After the Second World War, many academics tried to hide their Nazi past
by making false declarations in the obligatory questionnaire concerning
involvement in the Nazi party.