Anyone who is made an honorary citizen by the city of Burghausen can look back on very special achievements. The city currently has three honorary citizens:
- dr Peter Alexander Wacker
- Prof. Dr. dr hc mult. Wolfgang A Herrmann
- Johann Steindl
dr Peter-Alexander Wacker was made an honorary citizen of Burghausen in 2007. During his time as management spokesman for the family company of the same name and later as CEO of Wacker Chemie AG, the native of Tegernsee made a lasting impact on the town of Burghauen.
Under his direction, the company at the Burghausen site supported the town's social life with great commitment. The big concerts of the International Jazz Week have been taking place in the Wacker Hall for many years. The modern sports park of SV Wacker, the financial commitment to sport, including the soccer team that played in the 2nd Bundesliga, and much more - for the company boss Peter-Alexander Wacker it was and is a matter of course to go beyond the limits of the plant to look beyond and to get involved in the city of Burghausen.
Peter-Alexander Wacker was the first honorary citizen of the city of Burghausen in the year of the award.
Prof. Dr. dr hc mult. Wolfgang A. Herrmann was made an honorary citizen of Burghausen in 2016. The former President of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is named after Dr. Peter-Alexander Wacker is only the second honorary citizen of the city of Burghausen.
With the award, the city council recognized Wolfgang A. Herrmann's great commitment to the restoration of the Raitenhaslach Monastery and the establishment of the TUM Academy Center in the late baroque prelate's floor of the complex. The former Cistercian monastery of Raitenhaslach was privately owned and closed to the public for more than 200 years. After the city of Burghausen bought the monastery's prelate's floor in an auction in 2003, the question arose as to how these unique premises could be used.
Wolfgang A. Herrmann convinced Burghausen's then mayor Hans Steindl and the city council of his idea of an academy center that takes up the scientific tradition of the Cistercians and offers a place for free thinking, creative exchange of knowledge and international encounters far away from everyday life.
The then President of TUM also initiated a research project to research the centuries-old building from the ground up and to develop a usage concept. Wolfgang A. Herrmann also contributed to the financing of the restoration with personal commitment in numerous discussions.
Johann (Hans) Steindl was made an honorary citizen of Burghausen in 2020. The list of his achievements as the former mayor of the city of Burghausen is not only impressively long, but also remarkably visionary and sustainable. For 30 years, the former high school teacher successfully steered the fortunes of the city.
From 1990 to 2020, Hans Steindl was the first mayor of Burghausen. At the age of 22, the native of Burghausen became a member of the city council and the district council of the district of Altötting.
During his reign as mayor, Hans Steindl founded several GmbHs that are 100 percent owned by the city. Among other things, the municipal housing association (BuWoG) 1992 and the economic development agency (WiFöG). He also initiated the Athanor Academy for Performing Arts (1995) based in the castle until 2014.
He promoted the construction of the community center in 2000 and brought the Bavarian State Garden Show in 2004 and the joint state exhibition of the Free State of Bavaria and the State of Upper Austria in 2012 to Burghausen.
Numerous new residential and commercial areas were created in Burghauser Neustadt under his direction. Hans Steindl shaped a unique cultural policy and also campaigned for traffic calming in the historic old town. Nationally, Hans Steindl attracted attention because he granted a Christmas grant to financially weaker citizens of Burghausen. The Christmas grant is a voluntary service by the city of Burghausen and still exists.
In March 2015, the former mayor made a significant contribution to the fact that the Burghauser Klinik was preserved, contrary to plans to the contrary. The successful citizens' initiative was rated as a great success for Hans Steindl's politics.
In addition to being made an honorary citizen, Hans Steindl has received numerous other honorary titles in recent years: he has been an honorary senator of TUM since 2016, in 2019 he received the silver Bavarian constitutional medal and in October 2022 the Bavarian Order of Merit.
“We in Burghausen are very proud of our honorary citizens. They are not only great personalities, but with their special commitment and far-sightedness they have decisively shaped and shaped our city and made it what it is today – a livable, economically strong, diverse and extremely attractive city.”
Florian Schneider, Mayor of Burghausen