Ministry of District Industry and Food Industry

The Ministry of District Conducted industry and food industry from 1965 to 1989, organ of the Council of Ministers of the GDR responsible for the need-based treatment and processing of agricultural products to food, beverages and feed as well as the district business councils subordinate companies in the production of consumer goods .

history

The predecessor of the Ministry for District Industry and Food Industry, formed in 1965, was the State Secretariat for the Food and Beverage Industry , which was elevated to a Ministry for the Food Industry in 1953 . Like all industry ministries in the GDR, this ministry was dissolved in 1958. Its tasks were transferred to the National Economic Council until 1965 . In 1989 the Ministry of District Industry and Food Industry was dissolved and its portfolio was transferred to the Ministry of Light Industry .

Industries

food industry

The food industry comprised the following industries:

• Fishing industry ,
• Meat industry ,
• Milk and egg processing industry,
• Milling, food and bakery industries ,
• Vegetable oil and fat industry ,
• Sugar and starch industry ,
• Confectionery , coffee , tea and cocoa industry ,
• Fruit and vegetable processing industry,
• Fermentation and beverage industry ,
• Tobacco industry ,
• Spice and other food industries as well
• Feed industry .

The main task of the ministry was to ensure the supply of the population with food and the supply of agriculture with feed. This created close links between the food industry and agriculture.

District-run industry

The district-managed industry included the companies producing consumer goods outside of the food and beverage industry.

Subordinate combines

A total of nineteen combines were subordinate to the Ministry of District Industry and Food Industry :

• VEB Fischkombinat , Rostock
• VEB Kombinat Household Goods, Steinbach-Hallenberg
• VEB Kombinat Holzhandel, Berlin
• VEB Kombinat wood-based materials, fittings and machines, Leipzig
• VEB Kombinat Musical Instruments, Markneukirchen / Klingenthal
• VEB Kombinat Food and Coffee, Halle (Saale)
• VEB Kombinat Oil and Margarine, Magdeburg
• VEB Kombinat Spielwaren , Sonneberg
• VEB Kombinat Spirits, Wine and Sparkling Wine , Berlin
• VEB Kombinat sports equipment, Schmalkalden
• VEB Kombinat Confectionery , Delitzsch
• VEB Kombinat Tabak, Berlin
• VEB Möbelkombinat, Berlin
• VEB Möbelkombinat, Dessau
• VEB Möbelkombinat, Dresden - Hellerau
• VEB Möbelkombinat, Ribnitz-Damgarten
• VEB Möbelkombinat, Zeulenroda
• VEB upholstered furniture combine, Oelsa (Rabenau)
• VEB Thüringer Möbelkombinat, Suhl

minister

• Kurt Westphal (SED, 1953–1958)
• Erhard Krack (SED, 1965–1974)
• Udo-Dieter Wange (SED, 1974–1989)

State Secretaries

State Secretaries (incomplete):

Period	Surname	Political party
1954-1956	Ruth Fabisch	LDPD
1956-1958	Fritz Wolff	LDPD
1967-1971	Udo-Dieter Wange	SED
1972-1976	Heinz Block	SED
1973-1974	Herbert Bomski	SED
1976-1988	Werner Buschmann	SED
1979-1987	Joachim Niemann	SED
1980-1986	Rolf Napel	SED
1986-1989	Dieter Koschella	SED
1988-1989	Bodo Neumetzler	SED

literature

• Federal Ministry of the Interior (ed.): GDR manual . 3rd and exp. Aufl. Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, Cologne 1984, p. 900 f.
• Andreas Herbst , Winfried Ranke and Jürgen Winkler (eds.): This is how the GDR worked . Volume 1: Lexicon of Organizations and Institutions . Reinbek near Hamburg, Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag 1994, p. 664 f.

Web links

• Entry by the Ministry at the German Digital Library, files at the Federal Archives