GERMELMANN

GERMANY (see also List of Individuals)

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21.2.1850 Wollershausen/D - 5.7.1919 Berlin/D

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Wilhelm Germelmann graduated as a civil engineer from the Technical University of Hannover in 1873. After five years of work mainly for railway projects he started his career as a hydraulic engineer in 1878. Germelmann was first stationed in Borkum and Emden where he designed the city sewer. In 1887 he was transferred to the capital for canal works of the Spree River. He had there to counter problems particularly with unavailable space such as for the weirs, sluices and bridges at Mühlendamm. In 1893, now as a Baurat, he left for Stettin on the Baltic Sea to contribute to coastal engineering works.

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Germelmann's true engineering works relate to the Vistula River. He was called back to Berlin in 1898 and asked to account for an improved river scheme particularly under flood flows. The Vistula River has a total length of over 1,000 km and originates in the West Carpathians in Poland, and runs all to the North to empty into the Baltic Sea at Gdańsk. The largest stream of Poland is even today in a close to natural environment, given that relatively few works have been conducted, as compared to other middle European rivers. Note that almost the entire river is navigable by now. Germelmann thus reinforced damaged river levees and protected the wide plains from the disastrous waters. Of particular relevance were protections against ice flows, which are hardly known in central Europe otherwise. A third item to be considered was river navigation, given that the Polish capital Warsaw would thus directly be connected to the sea. Germelmann also made a pre-design of a larger dam to add water to the river during low flows, but war activities made an end to these projects. He was a Member of the Bauakademie of Berlin for years and was a German representative of the Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses PIANC. He retired in 1916.

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_{Germelmann, W., Offermann, L. (1896). Verbesserung des Spreelaufs innerhalb Berlins. Zeitschrift für Bauwesen 46: 46-69.}

_{Germelmann, W. (1905). Amélioration de l'embouchure des fleuves débouchant dans les mers sans marée. 10 Congrès de Navigation Milano 2(1): 1-16.}

_{Germelmann, W. (1912). Wasserstrassen der USA. 12 Navigation Congress Philadelphia. Germelmann, W. (1913). Die Wasserstrassen der Vereinigten Staaten Amerikas im Gebiet des Mississippi und der grossen Seen. Ernst: Berlin.}

_{Germelmann, W. (1917). Verbindung der Donau mit dem Flussund Kanalnetz des Deutschen Reiches. Verhandlungen Verein zur Beföderung des Gewerbefleisses 96(3): 41-57.}

_{Sympher, L. (1919). Wilhelm Germelmann. Zentralblatt der Bauverwaltung 39(58): 337-338. P}