Obituary for Hans-Heinrich Böger
Hans-Heinrich Böger, brickmaker and brick historian for many years, passed away in Halle on 2 September 2022.
As the son of a master brickmaker from Lippe, he was literally born to brickmaking. Born on 9 August 1937 in Jeßnitz/Anhalt, he gained his first practical experience as a schoolboy with holiday jobs at the Kleinzerbst brickworks, where his father was works manager. However, he did his apprenticeship (1951 - 1954) as a technical draughtsman in mechanical engineering and steel construction. He worked in this profession at the Helmhold brickworks in Gröne, Saxony-Anhalt, among others.
Between 1956 and 1959, he attended the Engineering School for Building Materials Technology in Apolda and then worked almost without interruption for more than 40 years in the East German brick industry in various functions: first as a plant assistant, from 1960 as technical manager, from 1971 as main technologist, from 1976 as department head for research and development and from 1980 as director for science and technology. Illness and recovery interrupted his professional career between 1986 and 1989, “his life for the brick”. After re-entering professional life, he headed Ziegel- und Klinkerwerk Wanzleben GmbH as managing director and shareholder from 1991 to 1996.
After retiring in 2000, Heinrich Böger devoted himself to his passion in an honorary capacity. He worked as an expert advisor for the preservation of historical monuments, as a member of the programme advisory board of the working group Brickmaking History / Brickmaking Museums, as a founding member of the Association for the Promotion of the Technical Monument of the Hundisburg Brickworks, as a member of the Friedrich Hoffmann Association in Mildenberg and as an honorary brickmaker in the Association of Friends and Promoters of the Westereglen Brickworks and Plasterworks.
Numerous publications have resulted from his work on the technical history of brickworks and the history of brickmaking in Saxony-Anhalt. Heinrich Böger has also published many historical articles in Zi, e.g. “August – the pugnacious brickmaker” in Zi 4/2019 and “Albrecht Türrschmiedt - the forgotten brickmaker” in Zi 1-2/2012.
