Rüth, Georg
Engineer, university professor
Born: November 15, 1880 in Zwingenberg
Died: February 14, 1945 in Dresden

Georg Rüth attended the Realschule and Oberrealschule in Heppenheim and Darmstadt and passed his Abitur examination in 1900. Between 1900 and 1904, he studied engineering at the Technical University (TU) of Darmstadt.

After completing his studies, he worked as an assistant at the Chair of Statics, Building Structures and Bridge Construction between 1904 and 1907. Rüth then worked for the construction company Dyckerhoff & Widmann in Wiesbaden-Biebrich until 1919. In addition to this work, he also held a teaching position at the TU Darmstadt. In 1919, Rüth habilitated in Darmstadt and was appointed a private lecturer. In 1921, he was awarded the title of professor.

In 1920, Rüth founded an engineering office in Darmstadt. In 1925, he was appointed associate professor. In 1929, the TU Darmstadt awarded him an honorary doctorate. Two years later, Rüth was appointed full professor of structural engineering and industrial buildings at the TU Dresden. In Dresden, he also became head of the collection for building construction theory with its associated model workshop.

Georg Rüth was an expert in the preservation and restoration of historic buildings, especially churches. He contributed his expertise to projects such as Mainz Cathedral and the Frauenkirche in Dresden. Another focus of his work in the pre-war period and during the Second World War was air-raid shelter construction. He evaluated experiences from the First World War and attempted to transfer the results to the effects of current weapons.

In the "Third Reich", the study of air protection was not only a purely technical one, but was also ideologically driven. Ruth's colleague Emil Hogg had already set up an air protection seminar at the TU Dresden in 1932, which was led by Georg Rüth from 1937. The seminar included lectures on the air war and the development of the Luftwaffe. There was also content dealing with "racial hygiene".

Georg Rüth was not just a theoretician in the field of air raid protection; he also brought his expertise to bear in the construction of buildings. Together with Hogg, Rüth built the Goehlewerk in Dresden on behalf of the High Command of the Navy in 1939, which was used as an armaments factory until 1945. Rüth was responsible for the design of the factory's air-raid shelters.

Rüth was also involved in the construction of the Gauhaus Sachsen in Dresden on behalf of the District President of Dresden-Bautzen and was responsible for checking the building's statics.
Rüth's focus on air protection was also reflected in his memberships and offices during the Nazi era. The architect was a member of the Reich Building Committee for Air Protection and the German Society for Building, and also coordinated the development of uniform technical building regulations for air protection as chairman. Rüth was also a member of the Reichsfachschaft der Hochschullehrer and the NS-Lehrerbund. In 1933, Rüth also signed the "Confession of the professors at German universities and colleges to Adolf Hitler".

Rüth carefully documented the results of his work in his own archive. After Dresden was almost completely destroyed by bombing raids in February 1945, Rüth tried to save documents. He suffered smoke inhalation and died as a result.

A street was named after Georg Rüth in the south-east district of Wiesbad by resolution of the city council on October 11, 1956.