Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation mourns the death of Wolf-Dieter Dube
Press release from 09/10/2015
Long-standing Director General of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin passes away at the age of 81 - Parzinger: architect of the museum landscape in reunified Berlin
Wolf-Dieter Dube, the long-serving Director General of the National Museums in Berlin, has died. He died in Berlin on Wednesday at the age of 81 after a long illness.
The President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Hermann Parzinger, paid tribute to Dube as an internationally respected museum man who carried out his duties with great experience, an awareness of tradition, a great deal of imagination and a great deal of perseverance: "The Foundation mourns the loss of Wolf-Dieter Dube and bows to a great museum man who led the Berlin collections to international prominence and consistently kept them there. During his time in office, the reunification and amalgamation of the collections, which had been divided for decades, took place, which he congenially realised with his East Berlin counterpart Günter Schade. He was the architect of the new Berlin museum landscape and completely repositioned the State Museums as a group, both in terms of organisation and content. Neither the East nor the West was neglected in the process.
As General Director of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Wolf-Dieter Dube revitalised the Museum Island after reunification and then provided the decisive impetus for the construction of the Gemäldegalerie at the Kulturforum. The opening of the Hamburger Bahnhof as a museum for contemporary art is also associated with his name. It was thanks to his persuasiveness that Heinz Berggruen found his way back to his home city with his collection of classical modernism. At the end of his tenure, he succeeded in acquiring the key work of German Expressionism, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's 'Potsdamer Platz', for the Nationalgalerie. All these fundamental decisions still characterise the Berlin museum landscape today, and we are building on them.
Wolf-Dieter Dube was a modern, assertive museum man who always responded to the changing awareness and aesthetic needs of visitors. He was a passionate campaigner for the cause of museums and always stood by the Foundation with his sound advice and profound knowledge. His motto was: 'Don't live with traditions, create traditions'. When he was appointed to Berlin, he told the Board of Trustees: 'You won't regret it! He was proved right. We will miss him very much. Our thoughts are with his widow and his family."
Wolf-Dieter Dube was born in Schwerin in 1934, had headed the Staatsgalerie Moderner Kunst in Munich from 1969 and was Deputy Director General of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen from 1976. From 1983 to 1999, he was Director General of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Wolf-Dieter Dube was awarded the Cross of Merit I Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. He has also received other decorations and honours.