Karl Otto Ludwig Klaus DierksJoe Pütz, Heidi von Egidy, Perri Caplan: ''Political Who's Who of Namibia''. Magus, Windhoek 1989, Namibia series Vol. 1, ISBN 0-620-10225-X, pp. 203, 204 (19 February 1936 – 17 March 2005) was a German-born Namibian deputy government minister, a transport planner and civil engineer in

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

Biography

Dierks was born in 1936 in

Berlin-Dahlem Dahlem ( or ) is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in southwestern Berlin. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a part of the former borough of Zehlendorf. It is located between the mansion settlements of Grunewald and ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. He studied

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

and

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

at the Berlin Technical University and earned a diploma in Engineering in 1965 and doctorates in 1965 and 1992. Immediately after receiving his diploma, Dierks became an engineer in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

before moving to what is now Namibia.Exhibition of Dierks photography
, NamibiaPlus.com, accessed 7 August 2008 In 1982 Dierks became a member of resistance movement

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

rising to be a member of its

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party organizations, the ...

. He argued for the "Development of the infrastructure regarding the road system in an independent SWA/ Namibia" in 1979 when both the topic of independence and the name "Namibia" were considered revolutionary. In the 1980s he was forced to resign after 22 years of service, and he then set up his own consultative business. It was at this time that Dierks started to write about Namibian history, "pursuing an academic war against the apartheid regime" by outlining the cultural and economic development of the area before the encroachment of European settlers and missionaries, a fact contested by the colonial regime. At Namibian independence in 1990 he became deputy minister, first with the Works, Transport and Communication portfolio and later in the Ministry for Mines and Energy. He was a member of the

National Assembly of Namibia The National Assembly is the lower chamber of Namibia's bicameral Parliament. Its laws must be approved by the National Council, the upper house. Since 2014, it has a total of 104 members. 96 members are directly elected through a system of clos ...

from independence until 2000, when he retired from politics. He was known for his love of history, mountaineering and photography.

Positions

* 1990-1995 Deputy Minister in the Namibian Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications * 1995-2000 Deputy Minister in the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy Later he served with the Namibian Electricity Control Board energy regulator and he managed to turn around TransNamib (the Namibian railway company) from loss to profit in three years.

Publications

Dierks wrote a number of scientific publications including his doctorate on the development of an improved road system in Namibia and publications on history and the settlement of

ǁKhauxaǃnas ǁKhauxaǃnas (Khoekhoegowab: ''passively defend people from an enemy'', Afrikaans / Dutch name Schans Vlakte: ''fortified valley'') is an uninhabited village with a ruined fortress in south-eastern Namibia, east of the Great Karas Mountains. It ...

in the

Great Karas Mountains The Great Karas Mountains (Afrikaans: ''Groot Karasberge'') are located in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia, the driest part of the country. Mt. Schroffenstein, at 2206 meters is the highest peak in the range. The peak lies about ten kilomet ...

. He also wrote a number of publications in the field of transport and telecommunications and the book ''Chronology of Namibian History: From Pre-historical Times to Independent Namibia.''

Family

Klaus Dierks lived up to his death with his wife Karen von Bremen and his four children in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dierks, Klaus 1936 births 2005 deaths Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) Technical University of Berlin alumni German emigrants to Namibia SWAPO politicians Government ministers of Namibia White Namibian people Namibian engineers 20th-century engineers