Peter Krüger was born in Freiberg in 1924, where he attended school until his A-levels. His father, Dr Erich Krüger, was a student councillor in Freiberg and later took on a teaching position at the metal smelting institute of the mining academy. With teaching still suspended due to the aftermath of the war, Peter Krüger began his professional career as an apprentice at the Mining Academy's Electrotechnical Institute and finally enrolled as a student in 1946. This was in fulfilment of his father's wish, who had studied chemistry here. Peter Krüger decided in favour of mining. However, he was forcibly exmatriculated after one semester as he was not a "workers' and farmers' child", but belonged to the educated middle class, which the GDR government disliked.
Peter Krüger then left Freiberg and went to Karlsruhe, where he studied electrical engineering and emigrated to Canada after graduating with a degree in engineering. Here he initially worked as a television aerial fitter and cockpit fitter, but quickly found a well-paid job as an electrical engineer in a transformer factory. After three years, he returned to Germany and took over a small building protection company in Essen, which was on the verge of insolvency. Within 15 years, he expanded the business into a leading global company with over 2000 employees. In 1971, he sold the flourishing company at such a profit that he could have retired at the age of 46. But that was out of the question for the dynamic businessman.
In 1974, Peter Krüger and his wife founded and ran the "Schlemmermeyer" company, which specialised in a first-class range of sausages and ham and was headquartered in Munich. Over the following years, this grew into a chain of 35 branches in all major cities. What was innovative for the time was that the shops were only located in the very best locations. After selling the extremely successful company, the Krüger couple dedicated themselves exclusively to the property business.
The results of these years of successful and profitable work ultimately also benefited the TU Bergakademie Freiberg. In December 2006, the Dr Erich Krüger Foundation, named after his father, was established on Peter Krüger's initiative. According to the founder's wishes, the foundation's income for the Bergakademie is to be invested primarily in practice- and application-oriented science. The aim is to promote research results that are mainly applied in Saxony, but above all in Freiberg, in order to create jobs and sustainably promote and support the regional economy in his former home of Saxony.
Acknowledgement
For his great services, Peter Krüger was awarded the title of senator and posthumously the title of Dr h.c. by the TU Bergakademie in 2007. Unfortunately, Peter Krüger was only able to accompany the fortunes of the foundation for six months. He died in Munich on 12 July 2007 at the age of 83. Since then, the Foundation has been managed by his wife Dr Erika Krüger in his place. Dr Erika Krüger also implemented her husband's vision and plan to completely renovate the current Krügerhaus in order to house the "Mineralogical Collection Germany" foundation.