TUM Alumnus Prof. Dr. Winfried Nerdinger is to become the new President of the Bavarian Academy of the Fine Arts. He set up the TUM Architecture Museum in the Pinakothek der Moderne and was director of the museum from 1989 to 2012. In 2012 he took over the founding management of the National Socialist Documentation Center Munich, which he was in charge of until April 2018. You can read Prof. Nerdinger’s alumni story here (Image: Orla Connolly).
Since 1988 Professor and TUM Alumni Winfried Nerdinger has repeatedly demanded that Munich also take a critical look at National Socialism. More than a quarter of a century later he opened the Documentation Center for the NS History as its founding director.
The TUM Architecture Museum
And Nerdinger the architectural historian has achieved a great deal and left his own mark on TUM and on his home state of Bavaria. He was appointed Professor of Architectural History at the TUM when he received a call from McGill University in Montreal, and as part of his work as associate professor at the Faculty of Architecture he built up the TUM Architecture Museum, which opened in the Pinakothek der Moderne in 2002: “The inventory in the university’s architectural collection were still in a storeroom above the library and in a rented apartment on Augustenstrasse,” he explains. “I started collecting models and plans and working on exhibitions, and this work led to the Architecture Museum.”
Munich has an obligation to face up to its National Socialist history.
Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism
In my opinion, Munich simply had an obligation to face up to this history and to create a place where all citizens and future generations could find out about the Nazi era and learn from it.” It took more than 25 years and cost “endless efforts and arguments” until the new building was opened on Königsplatz in May 2015 – another achievement, and perhaps the greatest, in Munich by Winfried Nerdinger after the TUM Architecture Museum. “It was a happy coincidence that I was able to take over the founding management directly after my work at the university, and that I was able to design the Documentation Centre and lead to its opening, which was the logical consequence of many years of hard work.
Winfried Nerdinger has received many awards for his commitment: He was appointed TUM Emeritus of Excellence and was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit, among others. The last exhibition he curated for the NS Documentation Center brought together his work for Munich’s NS Documentation Center and for TUM, his alma mater. On the occasion of the 150-year anniversary of the founding of TUM, he documented staff, ideological and institutional changes that took place at the university during the Nazi era in a special exhibition titled “The Technische Hochschule München under National Socialism”, which made use of a wealth of previously unknown materials. The exhibition catalogue was published by TUM.University Press.
Winfried Nerdinger (Image: Astrid Eckert & Andreas Heddergott/TUM).
Degree in Architecture 1971, Doctorate in Art History 1979
In his studies in Architecture, Winfried Nerdinger specialized early on on historical subjects. His dissertation in Art History took him in the direction of historical research, while his professorship in Architectural History, which was established especially for him, was his reason for staying at TUM. Visiting professorships and lectures have taken him to many universities, including Harvard, Helsinki and Montreal. He set up the TUM Architecture Museum in the Pinakothek der Moderne and was director of the museum from 1989 to 2012. In 2012 he took over the founding management of the National Socialist Documentation Center Munich, which he was in charge of until April 2018. In the course of his activities he has conceived more than 150 exhibitions. For his work and commitment, he was awarded the Bavarian Architecture Prize, the Bavarian State Prize for Architecture and the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, among others. He is part of the exclusive circle of the TUM Emeriti of Excellence and is to become the new President of the Bavarian Academy of the Fine Arts in 2019.
Professor Dr. Winfried Nerdinger was appointed TUM Emeritus of Excellence by TUM president Prof. Dr. Wolfgang A. Herrmann in 2012.
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