engineering

Kurt Leibbrand

Kurt Leibbrand is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kurt Leibbrand rather than just read about it. In short: Kurt Gustav Adolf Max Leibbrand (1914-1985) was a German civil engineer, professor, and consultant transport engineer. In July 1961, he was arrested and charged with murder for the deaths of 26 unarmed Italian volunteers who were shot during the German retreat from France in August 1944, allegedly on the regimental orders he issued.

Key takeaways

Kurt Leibbrand belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kurt Leibbrand to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kurt Leibbrand from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kurt Gustav Adolf Max Leibbrand (1914-1985) was a German civil engineer, professor, and consultant transport engineer. In July 1961, he was arrested and charged with murder for the deaths of 26 unarmed Italian volunteers who were shot during the German retreat from France in August 1944, allegedly on the regimental orders he issued. Although the court only found him culpable for manslaughter, he was not sentenced because the manslaughter verdict was time-barred. His arrest lead to his resignation as a professor of railway and transport engineering at ETH Zürich.

Professional life From 1937 to 1950 he was with German Railways, later Councillor. From 1950 to 1963 he was Professor at the ETH Zurich. From 1963 to 1977 he worked in infrastructure consulting engineering in Frankfurt. From 1977 to 1979 he was Professor at the Institute of technology, Instituto Militar de Engenharia, Rio de Janeiro. From 1979 to 1980 he was Consultant to the Press of the Empresa Brasileira de Transportes Urbanos (Ministry of Transport (Brazil)). From 1980 to 1985 he was an infrastructure consulting engineer Stuttgart. He undertook planning and consulting work in 22 countries in Europe, Turkey, Venezuela, Chile, Spain, Portugal. Leibbrand has been considered one of the most influential post-war German transport engineers.

Arrest for war crimes On July 24, 1961 Leibbrand was arrested on behalf of the Stuttgart District Court at Frankfurt airport, because of a command he issued as a lieutenant in August 1944 during World War II, in Orange, Vaucluse near Avignon, which led to 28 Italian volunteers of the 6th Company of the Pioneer Regiment of the 19th Army being shot down with machine guns after having mutinied when the company withdrew. A company officer ordered the unsuspecting "Hiwis" in the middle of the night to enter a small forest meadow, where they were shot. Six of them were able to escape in the dark. According to Der Spiegel, 26 were killed and five seriously injured. Citing a lack of evidence, the Stuttgart jury released Leibbrand on 2 October 1962 from the charge of murder. Then he returned to Zurich, but not to the chair from which he was on leave. The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe overturned the verdict and dismissed the case for reassessment to the Stuttgart court. On January 10, 1966 Leibbrand stood for the second time in Stuttgart in court. Despite the charge of murder, his deed was counted as manslaughter and set the procedure for prescription.

Awards 1935: Boissonnet Prize 1939: Prize of German Minister of Transport

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kurt Leibbrand

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kurt Leibbrand claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kurt Leibbrand before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kurt Leibbrand ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kurt Leibbrand

In research: Kurt Leibbrand appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kurt Leibbrand in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kurt Leibbrand is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1914 births, 1985 deaths, 20th-century German engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kurt Leibbrand outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kurt Leibbrand in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kurt Leibbrand means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kurt Leibbrand out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kurt Leibbrand in simple terms?

Why does Kurt Leibbrand matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kurt Leibbrand?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kurt Leibbrand.