Reichsgruppe Industrie
The Reichsgruppe Industrie was the trade association of German industry during the time of National Socialism , which was legitimized with the law for the preparation of the organic development of the German economy of February 27, 1934, the so-called "Reconstruction Act". The National Socialists thus subordinated the previously free economic associations to the state. Section 1 of the Act empowered the Reich Minister of Economics to recognize certain business associations as sole representatives of their branch of industry, to set up, dissolve or merge business associations, to amend or supplement the statutes and articles of association of business associations, in particular to introduce the principle of leadership , to appoint the leaders of business associations or to dismiss and to join entrepreneurs and companies in business associations without their consent.
structure
The “Organizational Structure for the Commercial Economy” (OGW) ordered by Reich Minister of Economics Kurt Schmitt on March 13, 1934 prescribed a division of the entire economy into twelve main groups, seven of which were industry-related: mining, iron and metal extraction; Mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, optics, precision mechanics; Iron, sheet metal and metal goods industry; Stone and earth, wood, building, glass and ceramic industries; Chemical, paper and paper processing industries; Leather, textile and clothing industries; and the food industry (more detailed in the Reich Chamber of Commerce ).
The first ordinance issued by the minister on November 27, 1934 for the implementation of the law of February 1934 created a joint body for all seven of the aforementioned branches of industry, the Reichsgruppe Industrie, which also included the Reichsstand or Reichsverband der Deutschen Industrie by order of the minister of January 1935 was convicted. The remaining main groups No. 8 - craft, 9 - trade, 10 - banks and 11 - insurance companies also became so-called Reichsgruppen.
The Reichsgruppe Industrie was part of the Organization of the Commercial Economy (OGW), which was directly subordinate to the Reich Ministry of Economics. Together with the other Reich groups of craft, trade, banks, insurance companies, as well as the energy industry, tourism (professionally defined) and the regional chambers of commerce, it formed a substructure for the Reich Chamber of Commerce . It was subdivided into districts and there in turn into 26 industrial departments, which established the connection between the Reichsgruppe Industrie and the industrial enterprises. The technical definition of subdivisions of the Reichsgruppe Industrie resulted in various economic groups, which were determined in a further order by the Reich Minister of Economics as the sole representatives of their specialist branch. The companies active in the respective specialist field were compulsory members of the economic groups, the Reichsgruppe Industrie had no individual members.
construction
The management of the Reichsgruppe consisted of 13 departments in 1941 under the direction of the general manager Karl Guth .
- Organization and Legal
- Internal administration, transport, commercial, water and administrative law, Jewish legislation
- Taxes
- Foreign trade
- Sales promotion, patents, designs and symbols
- Defense economy , raw material management, industrial expansion
- Plant air protection, plant protection and industrial protection, colonial issues
- Market organization and business administration
- Antitrust supervision
- Social economy
- Industrial quality work
- Banking, credit and finance issues, community aid, private insurance
- Statistics and economic observation
An "affiliated office" was called the Export Association for War Equipment (AGK).
management
Until December 1934 the leaders of the Reichsgruppe Industrie were Gustav Krupp von Bohlen and Halbach ; then Ewald Hecker , head of the Reich Chamber of Commerce; from 1935 it was Ernst Trendelenburg , chairman of the supervisory board of VIAG and Reichskreditgesellschaft AG. From December 1936, Gottfried Dierig headed the Christian Dierig AG who was also the head of the "Industrial Group". From November 1938 Wilhelm Zangen , the general director of Mannesmann-Röhrenwerke .
In addition to an "advisory board" provided for by law, the so-called "large advisory board" and numerous committees acted as advisory bodies for the Reich Group. In addition to the members of the advisory board, the large advisory board included the heads of the economic groups and the industrial departments as well as the chairmen of the 24 committees (status 1941). The management of the committees was the responsibility of the relevant departments.
Restructuring, 1944
From January 6, 1944, a "news center" and the export group for war equipment were affiliated. The following new structure applied:
- General section for industrial departments
- Dept. Z internal administration, household, community help, insurance issues
- Organization and law
- Internal economy (raw material management, general production, defense management, water and energy, transport, eastern economy, technical department)
- Market organization and business administration
- Taxes and Finance
- Social economy, war damage
- Foreign trade including industrial dragging, trade fair and exhibition affairs, advertising
- Air raid protection
- Statistics and economic observation.
literature
- Eberhard Barth : Nature and structure of the organization of the commercial economy. Hamburg 1939
- Rainer Eckert : The leaders and managing directors of the Reichsgruppe Industrie, its main and economic groups, part 1. Yearbook for Economic History , Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1979, T. 4 ISSN 0075-2800 pp. 243-277; Part 2, ibid. 1980, part 1
- Karl Guth: The Reichsgruppe Industrie. Location and tasks of the industrial organization. Berlin 1941 = Writings of the School of Politics , New Series, Part 2: Writings on State Structure, Vol. 55/56
- Daniela Kahn: The control of the economy by law in National Socialist Germany. The example of the Reichsgruppe Industrie. Berlin 2006
- Günter Reinhold: The legal form of the economic groups of the organic structure of the commercial economy. Dresden 1939
- Paul CW Schmidt: Who is in charge? The men of business and the relevant administration 1940. Hoppenstedt, Berlin 1940. Microfiche Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin , 2001 (Another volume was published for 1941/1942)
- NN market regulation principles of the Reichsgruppe Industrie (undated, around 1935)
Web links
- Reichsgruppe Industrie in the EHRI project, with the participation of the Federal Archives , Berlin-Lichterfelde