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Siegfried Balke | |
|---|---|
 Dr. Siegfried Balke, Portrait byGünter Rittner 1969. In the possession of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations | |
| Federal Minister of Post and Telecommunications | |
| In office 10 December 1953 – 16 October 1956 | |
| Chancellor | Konrad Adenauer |
| Preceded by | Hans Schuberth |
| Succeeded by | Ernst Lemmer |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1902-06-01)1 June 1902 |
| Died | 11 June 1984(1984-06-11) (aged 82) |
| Citizenship | Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party | CSU |
| Occupation | Chemist,politician |
Siegfried Balke (1 June 1902 – 11 June 1984) was a Germanpolitician (CSU).
He served as German Federal Minister for Post and Communications from 1953 to 1956 and as German Federal Minister for Nuclear Energy from 1956 to 1962.
Balke was born inBochum. He obtained his master's degree in chemistry in 1924, and a doctorate in chemistry in 1925. During the Nazi period, Balke, a Protestant Christian, was classified as a "half-Jew", which prevented him from pursuing an academic career in Germany.From 1925 to 1952, he worked for various chemical companies, until he became director ofWacker Chemie in 1952. A 50% stake of Wacker Chamie was held by the chemical conglomerateIG Farben until 1945, and then by Hoechst AG. After 1945, Balke was one of the few executives of the German chemical industry not stained by Nazi collaboration, which led to his chairmanship of the Association of the Bavarian Chemical Industry. He was honorary professor for chemical processing at theLudwig-Maximilians-University inMunich since 1956.After his resignation as Minister for Nuclear Energy, he was president of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) from 1964 to 1969 and chairman of the Technical Monitoring Association (TÜV).
Balke was co-publisher of "Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Technical Chemistry" as well as the periodicals "Chemical Industry" and "Nuclear Economy" (all in German).
From 1954, Balke was a member of theCSU.
From 1957 to 1969, Balke was a member of the German parliament (Bundestag).
In the federal elections of 1957 and 1961, Balke was elected to the German parliament as a direct representative of theMunich-North district, and in 1965 through the state list of Bavaria.
Following the German federal elections of 1953, he was appointed to serve as Federal Minister of Post and Communications in the cabinet ofKonrad Adenauer based on a recommendation by the CSU party group.One aspect for his appointment was his Protestant faith, which allowed to preserve a denominational balance inthe cabinet.On October 16, 1956, he became Federal Minister for Nuclear Energy.After the cabinet reshuffle following theSpiegel scandal, Balke was dismissed from the federal cabinet on December 13, 1962.
During Balke's term as Minister for Nuclear Energy, the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY) was founded, one ofGermany's largest research centers forparticle physics. While Balke's predecessorFranz Josef Strauß focusedhis interest on military nuclear technology, Balke was mostly interested in research for civilian purposes.In 1957, he publicly sided with the signers of theGöttingen Manifesto against arming the German military with tactical nuclear weapons. More than Strauß, and more than his successors, Balke was close to the interests of the nuclear industry. He was an advocate of an independent German nuclear industry.
Balke died inMunich.
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