“Make Tunnels, not War!” – Günter Girnau is 90 Years Old

Just a few weeks ago, he was once again on the world stage. At the World Tunnel Congress in Shenzhen, China, he was invited as a guest of honor for the 50th anniversary of the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) (Fig. 1). After all, he himself had been President of the ITA from 1981 to 1984. As early as 1970, he had played a key role during the preliminary phase of founding this organization initiated by the OECD. He was a founding member in 1974 and was elected to the first executive council. In Shenzhen, it was the same as always: when Günter Girnau speaks, he captivates everyone. In a freely delivered speech, he revived the founding years of the ITA over 50 years ago and answered the question about his most important insight and his expectations for the future of the ITA succinctly: “Make tunnels, not war!”

And that is also the most concise way to summarise the ninety-year life of this extraordinary man. As a child, he experienced the war and its horrors at first hand. Born in 1934, Günter Girnau was five years old when the war broke out in 1939, and his rather carefree childhood came to an abrupt end.

The war and the difficult post-war conditions sharpened his eye for what was good and right. Above all, the compassionate willingness of his fellow human beings to help others in need in the post-war period shaped him for life, as did the realisation that discrimination or persecution of people because of their nationality, skin colour or religion should be deeply condemned. From an early age, Günter Girnau made it his central mission in life to bring people together. He achieved this in an outstanding way thanks to his empathy and diplomatic skills throughout his entire professional life, especially when the ITA opened up to the East while the Iron Curtain was still in place.

According to him, the greatest art is to harmonise the three crucial elements of our lives: Family – career – friends. And if you want to have an intact family, lead a happy life and be professionally successful at the same time, you need a strong and empathetic partner at your side. He found this early on in his lovely wife Ibo, who actively supported him throughout her life and often accompanied him on his many trips abroad.

After leaving school, he threw himself enthusiastically into studying civil engineering at RWTH Aachen University. Thanks to his hard work and healthy ambition, he was awarded a scholarship from the German Academic Scholarship Foundation. The days of hard part-time jobs had come to an end (Fig. 2) and he was now able to concentrate fully on his studies. Even as a young student, he was fascinated by the world of transport infrastructure development. After all, mobility and the associated problems caused by the rapid increase in private transport were omnipresent.

He knew exactly what he wanted as early as 1960. He turned up for a job interview at STUVA, which had just been founded, before his final exams and was immediately hired as the organisation‘s first employee. In 1963, at the age of 29, he took over the management of STUVA – incredibly young for the time, despite all his talent (Fig. 3). Since then, he has played a key role in shaping transport policy and road construction in Germany, Europe and around the world right up to the present day. In particular, the use of underground space for modern suburban, underground and light rail systems, which is taken for granted today, is closely linked to his person. His diligence, his persuasiveness and his human nature have always opened the right doors for him.

After his appointment as Managing Director of STUVA, Günter Girnau‘s career really took off: In 1964, he completed his doctorate ‘on the side’ at RWTH Aachen University. In 1969, he was appointed a member of the Executive Board of STUVA and in 1970, he completed his habilitation in Aachen, also as an extern. In 1973, Günter Girnau joined the then VÖV (Verband öffentlicher Verkehrsbetriebe/Association of Public Transport Companies) as deputy association director – initially in parallel to his STUVA work. In 1976, he was elected as the association‘s sole director and managing member of the executive committee.

However, it was already clear to him in the early 1970s that transport policy could not be limited to Germany alone, but that international cooperation had to be promoted. When the OECD held a conference on tunnelling and underground construction in Washington in 1970, STUVA Managing Director Günter Girnau was appointed to the 10-member German delegation. As a result of this conference, the German Committee for Underground Construction (DAUB) was founded in 1972/1973 as a national contact for the international tunnelling community, followed a year later by the ITA itself. Not only the fact that the DAUB office was located at the STUVA at that time, but also the fact that Günter Girnau was appointed as the first DAUB managing director, testifies to his great commitment in this matter and was an absolute stroke of luck for the STUVA: To this day, the current STUVA managing director is traditionally also the managing director of the DAUB. As a result, STUVA‘s many international contacts have been shaped and expanded over the decades. Figure 4 shows him during his speech for the DAUB at the 50th anniversary celebrations in May 2023.

This accumulation of responsibilities made it increasingly difficult for Günter Girnau to coordinate the wide range of day-to-day tasks at STUVA on his own. In 1977, he therefore left the STUVA management and handed it over to his colleague Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alfred Haack, whom he had already appointed in 1967. Following a proposal by the then STUVA Chairman of the Executive Board, Oberbaudirektor Prof. Otto Sill, Girnau himself was elected as his successor at the general meeting. As Chairman of the Board, he thus remained firmly anchored in “his” STUVA and worked harmoniously in tandem with his new Managing Director for 23 years. This harmony did not come about by chance, but was the result of another Girnau principle: problems are addressed openly and honestly and solved together – this is the only way to achieve consistency!

When the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) was formed in 1990 from the merger of the VÖV, the Federal Association of German Railways, Motorized Traffic and Funicular Railways (BDE) and the Association of Public Transport Companies in the former GDR, Girnau was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Executive Member of the VDV Executive Committee. At the VDV annual conference in Leipzig in May 1998, he was elected an honorary member of the VDV by the general meeting in recognition of his services to the modernisation, further development, reputation enhancement and promotion of local public transport and rail-bound freight transport. On 31 July 1998, Girnau retired from his position as Managing Director of the VDV, of which he had been a member for 25 years. As a farewell gift for the VDV, he and Dr. Wilhelm Pällmann founded the non-profit foundation “Stiftung Führungsnachwuchs” to promote future managers in public transport companies.

In addition to countless other awards, he received an honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Braunschweig in 1995 and the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1998 in recognition of his numerous voluntary activities in the field of traffic science and the transport industry.

Günter Girnau has made a crucial contribution to the STUVA‘s present global significance in the field of underground construction through his many years of voluntary work in the international arena. At his own request, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Günter Girnau stepped down from the STUVA Board at the 1999 General Meeting after more than 30 years on the Board, having reached the age limit. But what does that really mean for someone like him? On the same day, Günter Girnau was made an honorary member of the STUVA Board for life. To this day, he is always there to support the STUVA when called upon. His well-founded opinion and advice, characterised by many years of experience and wisdom, are still in demand and highly appreciated. However, he does not impose himself, but trusts that the younger generation will continue to lead STUVA responsibly in his spirit.

What surprises him a little is where the time has actually gone. After his “retirement”, the time up to the age of 90 certainly flew by. Especially in the first years, as head of high-calibre teams, he was finally able to devote himself to writing numerous specialist books within the “blue VDV book series” – which he himself co-founded, of course – and which have long since become standard works.

For STUVA employees – whether young or old – it is a great honour and inspiration to still be able to meet this extraordinary man at STUVA. Over the past sixty-four years, his brilliant judgement and fascinating personality have been reliable cornerstones for the constant prosperity of our STUVA and an incentive for our own work. We all hope that this will continue for a long time to come. Ad multos annos, dear Mr. Girnau!