From 1953 to 1984, Lieselotte Feikes worked at Freudenberg in Weinheim an der Bergstraße. Among other things, she developed a purification process for tannery wastewater on behalf of the company. She received the Federal Cross of Merit for this at the end of her Career.

Lieselotte Feikes was born in 1923 in the small town of Viersen near Düsseldorf. After the early death of her father Josef, who had worked as a private teacher, she grew up with her sister in a female-headed household that was strongly characterised by her mother's friendly nature. She was already very interested in maths at school, but the subject was too dry for her to study. Chemistry, on the other hand, appealed to her because of the experimentation.

After graduating from high school in March 1942, she wanted to study chemistry. However, after leaving school, she first had to do National Labour Service. It was only in the summer semester of 1943 that she was able to enrol at the University of Halle to study chemistry thanks to the support of relatives. Her most important academic teacher was the later Nobel Prize winner Karl Ziegler (1898-1973). After just three semesters, however, Feikes had to interrupt her studies in the summer of 1944 because lectures were cancelled due to the war. In the following months, she was employed as a laboratory assistant at the chemical institute of the University of Halle. In October 1944, she became a laboratory assistant for Margot Goehring (later married name Becke-Goehring, 1914-2009).

After the end of the war, Feikes initially returned to her home in Viersen, but from there she applied for a position with Goehring, who was now teaching and researching at the University of Heidelberg. She was accepted and studied chemistry with a minor in physics and geology at Heidelberg University from 1946 to 1953. During her studies, she worked as an assistant in the analysis department at the Institute of Chemistry.

For her dissertation entitled "On the reaction between polythionate ions and hydrogen sulphide", Feikes was awarded her doctorate in 1953. During her graduation ceremony, she was recommended to visit Karl Freudenberg (1886-1983), the director of the Institute of Organic Chemistry. He arranged a position for her at the family-owned Carl Freudenberg & Co KG in Weinheim an der Bergstraße. The company had emerged from a tannery, but was already producing gaskets and nonwovens at the time. The company's best-known products include the Vileda brand of household items.

Feikes started working for Carl Freudenberg-Werke in Weinheim at the end of July 1953, initially on a trial basis for three months. The then 29-year-old chemist was mainly involved in analysing the wastewater produced by the company. At the end of the trial period, she asked for a permanent position. In her application, she wrote: "The work is still in full swing and I really enjoy working here in the laboratory!" Hans Freudenberg (1888-1966), a member of the Freudenberg Group's management at the time, recognised her scientific potential and offered her further employment.

Feikes worked in the company's leather laboratory from November 1953 to May 1973, which she also headed from 1969. She was also given the task of cleaning the tannery wastewater at the company's Weinheim and Schönau sites, which represented a considerable burden for people and the environment - but also because Freudenberg had developed a tanning process using chromates instead of vegetable substances at the beginning of the 20th century. Feikes designed a multi-stage process (mechanical-chemical-biological) for the purification of tannery wastewater, which was used in two of the company's newly built wastewater treatment plants in Weinheim and Schönau. She also contributed her expertise to the subsequent construction of Freudenberg Group wastewater treatment plants in France, Brazil and Mexico. From the early 1970s, Feikes was responsible for the Freudenberg Group's entire environmental protection programme. In 1983, she wrote the highly acclaimed book "Ecological Problems of the Leather Industry".

For her services to environmental protection and wastewater treatment, Feikes was honoured with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in August 1985. In May 1979, she had already received the annual prize of the Association for Tannery Chemistry and Technology for her contribution to solving the environmental problems of the leather industry. In 1984, she was awarded honorary membership of the Association of Austrian Leather Technicians and in 1989 of the Association for Tannery Chemistry and Technology.

Although Feikes retired in January 1984, she continued to work for the Freudenberg Group in an advisory capacity until 1991. She remained the company's environmental protection officer until 1987. Lieselotte Feikes died on 29 January 2008 in Weinheim at the age of 84.

(Collaboration: Dr Michael Horchler, Head of Corporate Archives / Freudenberg Group)

Sources
- S. M. Schwarzl and M. Hertel, Nachrichten aus der Chemie 50, 2002, p. 639
- German Chemical Society (GDCh): Chemikerinnen - es gab und es gibt sie, Broschüre 2003, p. 29
- Unternehmensarchiv der Freudenberg & Co. KG, Weinheim