BAENSCH

GERMANY (see also List of Individuals)

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6.6.1825 Zeitz/D - 7.4.1898 Berlin/D

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Otto Baensch graduated from the Berlin engineering academy in 1847 and in 1851 was appointed hydraulic engineer. After works with railway projects, his interest in hydraulic problems arose in 1862, first as a hydraulic engineer in Stralsund and then from 1866 as a Baurath in Köslin. The latter position demanded considerable works for harbors located along the Baltic Sea; he was also active with the shore protection by cultivating sand dunes. In 1871 he returned to the capital as a council member of the Ministry of Public Works. During the next fifteen years, the Elbe River took all his attention. He was also involved in the Main River from Mainz to Frankfurt. His final task was the design of the Kaiser-Wilhelm Canal. Baensch was awarded the title Geheimer Oberbaurath in 1890 and became a Wirklicher Geheimer Baurath when the Canal was opened in 1895. In 1897 he was decorated with the Order Star of the Red Eagle. He passed away due to a bilious complaint after years of illness.

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The Kaiser Wilhelm-Canal connects the Baltic with the North Sea. Bismarck realized its strategic importance and also proposed to acquire the Island of Heligoland from the British. In 1887 Emperor Wilhelm I initiated the works and up to 8,000 workers completed the 99 km long waterway within eight years in 1895. Vessels of a maximum length of 135 m and 20 m wide of 8 m draught could thus pass. The Canal was enlarged just prior to World War I and it was renamed Nord-Ostsee-Kanal in 1948. Today, the Canal counts among the most used waterways worldwide.

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_{Anonymous (1899). Zum Gedächtnis des Wirklichen Geheimen Rathes Friedrich Bernhard Otto Baensch. Deutsche Bauzeitung 33(28): 178-180.}

_{Baensch, O. (1867). Über Peilungen im Seestrand. Wochenblatt Architekten-Verein Berlin 1: 96. Baensch, O. (1872). Studien aus dem Gebiete der Ostsee. Zeitschrift für Bauwesen 22: 504-547.}

_{Baensch, O. (1875). Die Sturmfluth vom 12./13. November 1872 an den Ostseeküsten des Preussischen Staates. Zeitschrift für Bauwesen 25: 156-219.}

_{Baensch, O. (1891). Vom Bau des Nord-Ostsee-Canals. Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung}

_{11(20): 193-194; 11(21): 203-205; 11(22): 214-215.}

_{Fülscher, J. (1898). Der Bau des Kaiser Wilhelm-Kanals. Zeitschrift für Bauwesen 48(1): 41- 81; 48(2): 206-281; 48(3): 442-489; 48(4): 694-752.}

_{Fülscher, J. (1898). Baensch. Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung 18(15A): 177; 18(16): 181. P}

_{Klinckowstroem, C. Graf von (1953). Baensch, Otto Friedrich Bernhard. Neue Deutsche Biographie 1: 523. Duncker&Humblot: Berlin.}