BerlinOn Sunday, Hertha BSC comes up with a novelty in the club’s history. For the first time a general meeting will be held in the open air. The coronavirus is to blame that the most loyal supporters of the Bundesliga club have to meet in autumn weather in the east curve of the Olympic Stadium. The focus will be on the elections to the Presidium. The only candidate for the post of president, who has a great influence on all decisions in the structure of the association, is the incumbent Werner Gegenbauer. Two hearts beat in his chest, said the 70-year-old recently: “One beats for Hertha, the other for Berlin. Without Hertha my life would be poorer. “
Gegenbauer, who once learned the trade of building cleaner, has been chairman of the supervisory board of his group of companies in the facility management industry since 2005, with an annual turnover of 767.7 million euros (2019). Since 2008 he has been running Hertha BSC with a calm, but also internal, iron hand. Under his aegis, the club has now entered new financial spheres and is very well positioned economically. In previous elections, he has always had a large majority of votes: 2008 (77.8 percent), 2012 (73.2 percent) and 2016 (83.0 percent). Gegenbauers re-election is considered absolutely certain.
Gegenbauer is the president with the second longest term in office
The entrepreneur is already the man with the second longest term of office of all presidents or chairmen at Hertha BSC. You have to go very far back to find the one who held office longer. Only the committed trade unionist and SPD man Wilhelm Wernicke (1882-1967) steered the fortunes of Hertha for longer and will probably remain unmatched. From 1908 to 1933 he was the club’s chairman. Wilhelm Wernicke is considered one of the most important Herthaners in over 128 years of club history. The historian Daniel Koerfer, honorary professor at the Free University of Berlin, described Wernicke in his book “Hertha under the swastika” as a “positive central figure of the association both before, during and after the Nazi era”.
In time for the elections on Sunday, Bernd Schiphorst, Hertha’s President from 2000 to 2008, brought the “Wilhelm Wernicke Prize” into being in his role as Chairman of the Hertha BSC Foundation. This is intended to honor organizations, projects or individuals who are socially and socially involved in the field of football in the future. Three prizes will be awarded, with 20,000 euros (1st prize), 3,000 euros (2nd prize) and 2,000 euros (3rd prize).
The unionist Wernicke has been followed in recent times at Hertha by presidents from very different professional groups, such as lawyers, large restaurateurs, building contractors, media managers or an abrasive manufacturer, the boss of the Deutschlandhalle or the boss of the Mercedes-Benz branch in Berlin.
In addition to the presidential freestyle, the entire presidium will be re-elected on Sunday. Eleven candidates for the seven seats on the committee plus president and vice-president have been confirmed after examination by the supervisory board. The question of who gets the post of Vice President could be a hot one. In addition to lawyer Thorsten Manske, 56, who has been the reliable second man behind Gegenbauer since 2012, Christian Wolter, 59, a motor vehicle expert and a member of the Presidium since 2007, has also stood for election as vice-president. Gegenbauer has already positioned himself for Manske and would love to continue working with the lawyer by his side. Wolter is best known because he bought the Hertha founding ship years ago together with lawyer and board colleague Ingmar Pering and has since tried to make it fit for cruises on Berlin’s waters.
Wolter told this newspaper: “In addition to modernizing the club, I also want to preserve tradition and club life and act as a link between fans, members and the committees. An association without a cultivated tradition does not live. “
Klaus Teichert is one of the eleven candidates. The 66-year-old was the last three and a half years managing director of Hertha BSC-Stadion-GmbH. He should help to drive the construction of the new stadium of their own. His contract expires at the end of 2020 and Teichert wants to continue to work for Hertha – preferably in the new presidium.
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