Desk of the Ruhr area

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The desk of the Ruhr area is an earlier colloquial , frequently used metaphor for the state capital Düsseldorf as the former association and administrative seat of many iron and steel producing companies in the Ruhr area . The cluster of administrative centers of the mining industry as the companies Mannesmann , Thyssen and Krupp , the beginning of the 20th century to Steel Works Association had together was so well meant as the fact that the city - especially in the early days - the "cradle of modern industrial associations ”in Germany.

Sometimes this term is used with the "clean" government action towards the "dirty" production connotations . In his song Bochum , Herbert Grönemeyer alluded to this aspect with the question “Who lives in Düsseldorf?” .

The term is often used to underline the importance of Düsseldorf as a central location . Because the administrative activities in Düsseldorf have long since expanded to the management of internationally important corporations, to a broad field of business-related services and to capital city functions for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia . Even today, Düsseldorf is the seat of the steel trade association and the steel center .

History until 1945

The Stahlhof before the First World War, a nucleus of the development of Düsseldorf to the desk of the Ruhr area
The “Rheinturm” planned for a height of 500 meters from 1913 was an expression of the ambitious ambitions of the steelworks association before the First World War: It wanted to set a gigantic symbol of its ability over the Rhine in front of Düsseldorf, 200 meters higher than the Eiffel Tower .

In the early 19th century, Düsseldorf profited to a considerable extent from moving entrepreneurs, especially from the Bergisches Land and the Eifel . Their iron-producing and metal-processing industries were able to benefit more from the new economic opportunities on the Rhine, which arose in particular from cross-border trade and the industrialization of the Ruhr area.

As a former residential city on the Rhine, Düsseldorf had numerous "soft" location factors , in particular a comparatively dense structure of cultural institutions and an artistic milieu that shaped urban society, in which the Düsseldorf Art Academy and the internationally renowned painters of the Düsseldorf School set the tone. There were favorable conditions for business meetings, conferences and trade fairs. As early as 1852, Düsseldorf was able to establish itself as the leading trade fair location in the Rhenish-Westphalian industrial area through the provincial trade exhibition for Rhineland and Westphalia . In addition to goods, information was also traded at such events and social contacts were maintained, and it was important to ensure that they were surrounded by a representative cultural framework.

The "Zollvereinsländische Eisenhütten- und Bergwerksverein", the first protection-oriented organization of German heavy industry, has met in Düsseldorf since around 1853. The Association of German Engineers, founded in 1856, and the Association of German Ironworkers, founded in 1860, have been operating in Düsseldorf since 1861 . The Langnam Association , initiated by William Thomas Mulvany in 1871, can also be seen as an early impetus for the establishment of political interest groups in the economy . In 1874, the north-western group of the Association of German Iron and Steel Industries established itself in Düsseldorf . This was followed by the Association of German Machine Works, the Association of German Iron Foundries, the Association of German Steel Form Foundries, the Association of German Stainless Steel Works, the Association of German Rivet Manufacturers and the Association of the German Steam Boiler and Apparatus Industry. In addition, from 1904 the steelworks association came together , in which most of the steel producers in the Ruhr area and soon after all of Germany were united. The steelworks association was a complex, advanced sales cartel of the syndicate type , i.e. with centralized, joint sales. This took place from 1908 in the rooms of the still existing steel yard . Before the First World War , around 80 percent of German finished steel products were organized through the steelworks association. These decades between the founding of the Empire and the First World War are seen as the essential development window for the reputation of the Ruhr area as a desk . In publications by the American publicist Frederic C. Howe , Düsseldorf's urban development at that time was highlighted as the result of progressive urban planning and the city was referred to as the "City of Tomorrow". The establishment of the steelworks association was mainly due to the mayor Wilhelm Marx , who during his time not only promoted the city's cultural life, laid the foundations for aviation in Düsseldorf and contributed to the establishment of the Düsseldorf Industry Club , but also collaborated with others The industrialists represented in the city council advocated providing the steelworks association with the building site for the construction of the steel yard free of charge under certain conditions. Private capital and the public sector also invested a considerable amount in the representative expansion of the city (construction of the port in Lausward , 1886-1896; construction of the Oberkassel bridge including K-Bahn , 1896-1898; advancement of the Rhine bank and construction of the first Rhine bank promenade , 1899 –1902; host of the international industrial and trade exhibition in Düsseldorf and construction of the Kunstpalast , 1902; construction of administrative palaces : Higher Regional Court , 1910; Royal Prussian Government , 1907–1911; central administration of the Provincial Association of the Rhine Province , 1910–1911; all buildings with their stately offices Ladder).

A number of banks and insurance companies also settled here. In 1875, the Düsseldorf Stock Exchange was established as an important trading center for securities transactions, which significantly increased the importance of the financial center as a central location. The state recognition of the stock exchange was largely due to the work of Christian Gottfried Trinkaus . In 1935 it merged under the name Rheinisch-Westfälische Börse with the stock exchanges of Essen and Cologne , which made it extremely important for West German economic life. In the 1920s, other industrial groups were added, such as Phoenix-Rheinrohr in 1921 and, from 1926, the United Steel Works . During the Third Reich, Düsseldorf remained the most important sales and organizational hub for the cartelized German steel industry. The Reichsvereinigung Eisen , a steering association of the Nazi economy since 1942, operated the largest of its local branches.

History from 1945

After the collapse of the Third Reich, Düsseldorf was able to maintain an important role for the economy of the Ruhr and Rhineland due to its material and ideal infrastructure. The International Ruhr Authority had its seat there from 1949 to 1952. The cluster formation to an important location for companies and company-related service providers was achieved through art, trade and industrial exhibitions such as the Düsseldorf industrial and trade exhibition in 1902, as well as through the development of a Banking and stock market place promoted early on. In addition to the development of a trade fair location , the central traffic location on the Rhine with an important railway junction and an international airport has also favored the growth of the business location.

In the meantime, many companies fell victim to structural change and globalization - like the first three mentioned: Mannesmann was taken over by Vodafone in a hostile takeover in 2000 and then wound up, Thyssen and Krupp merged and now have their headquarters in Essen - but other globally operating companies came , partly in their successor, such as E.ON , Vodafone D2 and E-Plus . However, these administrative offices no longer or not only have to do with the Ruhr area.

The extent to which the function of the desk in the Ruhr area had an influence on the election as the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia is the subject of historical research. It is undisputed that this positive reputation has led the Japanese to settle in Düsseldorf since the early 1950s , the development of a Japanese infrastructure and the establishment of the state capital as a “crystallization nucleus for Japanese investments in Europe”. The first branch was that of Mitsubishi .

After the founding of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf saw itself as the center of the Rhine-Ruhr urban landscape from 1952 . Even within the later spatial planning concept for the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region , the state capital is at the center and has the highest centrality .

Cultural and historical significance

Not only Düsseldorf, but also other cities with central local importance for the Ruhr area, such as Essen , are nowadays characterized by the attribute desk of the Ruhr area . The view is that the function “desk of the Ruhr area” could have meant more than a mere centralization of administrative functions, especially or as a prototype for the time of the cartels and syndicates in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The cartel theorist Holm Arno Leonhardt stated in 2013 that in the vicinity of the syndicate headquarters for steel and coal, i. H. in Düsseldorf and Essen, important regional economic decisions were made that enabled the Ruhr area to rise to a region with a uniquely dense and well-thought-out infrastructure over the decades. Because of this, he argues that the special "regional economic organization art" of syndicates as an intangible cultural heritage conceived and under the World Heritage protection of UNESCO to ask before they completely forgotten. Suitable places of remembrance are Düsseldorf and Essen.

literature

  • Desk of the Ruhr area. In: The time. Issue 23/50, June 8, 1950
  • Reiner Burger: The world is a Düsseldorf. on: faz.net , May 9, 2011.
  • Susanne Hilger: Social capital and regional economic development - The example of Düsseldorf in the 19th and early 20th centuries . In: Gertrude Cepl-Kaufmann, Dominik Groß, Georg Mölich (eds.): History of science in the Rhineland with special consideration of spatial concepts . kassel university press, Kassel 2008, ISBN 978-3-89958-407-3 , p. 49. (online)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dietrich Henckel: Development Chances of German Cities: The Consequences of Unification. (Writings of the German Institute for Urban Studies, Volume 86). Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1993, ISBN 3-17-012682-2 , p. 388.
  2. Helmut Uebbing: Steel makes history. 125 years of the German Steel Federation . Düsseldorf 1999, p. 5.
  3. Josef Windschuh: The association with the long name. History of a business association . Berlin 1932.
  4. Jens Kirsch: Geography of the German Association. Mobility and immobility of interest groups with the government move . Dissertation at Humboldt University Berlin 2003. LIT Verlag, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-8258-7029-4 , p. 117. (online)
  5. Gerhard Bosch: The job market in the Ruhr area: 40 years of downward spiral with opportunities for a new start (PDF; 273 kB). Publication of the Institute for Work and Technology in the portal iat.eu , accessed on October 3, 2012.
  6. ^ Manfred Erdmann: The constitutional function of the economy in Germany 1815–1871 . In: Social science treatises. Issue 12, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1968, p. 213 (online)
  7. Reinhard Mehring: Carl Schmitt: Rise and Fall. Verlag CH Beck, 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-59224-9 , p. 37.
  8. ^ Susanne Hilger: Social capital and regional economic development - The example of Düsseldorf in the 19th and early 20th centuries . In: Gertrude Cepl-Kaufmann, Dominik Groß, Georg Mölich (eds.): History of science in the Rhineland with special consideration of spatial concepts . kassel university press, Kassel 2008, ISBN 978-3-89958-407-3 , p. 57.
  9. Irmgard Steinisch: Reduction of working hours and social change. The fight for the eight-hour day in the German and American iron and steel industries. 1986, ISBN 3-11-010483-0 , p. 39.
  10. ^ Friedrich-Wilhelm Henning: Düsseldorf and its economy: for the history of a region. Volume 1, Verlag Droste, 1981, ISBN 3-7700-0595-3 , p. 389ff.
  11. Michaela Paal: Stadtzukünfte in Germany: Strategies between boom and bust. (Research articles on urban and regional geography, Volume 4). LIT Verlag, Münster 2010, ISBN 978-3-643-10236-2 , p. 40.
  12. Liselotte Eckelberg, The importance of the Reich associations in the context of economic control for the commercial economy, Diss. Univ. Hamburg 1944, p. 47.
  13. See for example Kurt Düwell: "Operation Marriage" - British obstetrics during the founding of North Rhine-Westphalia. ( Memento of December 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 91 kB), speech manuscript, Düsseldorf 2006, p. 2 ff., Accessed on August 28, 2012.
  14. Volker Güttgemanns: Japanese direct investments in Germany and their regional economic effects using the example of the city of Düsseldorf . Bachelor thesis at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, Aachen 2008. Diplomica Verlag, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-8366-1909-7 , p. 29. (online)
  15. Japanese Consulate General in Düsseldorf
  16. Figure 13 in Werner Durth : Düsseldorf: Demonstration of Modernity . In: Klaus von Beyme: New cities from ruins. German post-war urban development . Prestel-Verlag, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-7913-1164-6 , p. 243.
  17. ^ Eckhard Bergmann, Karl-Werner Schulte: Real estate economics. Volume 3, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2005, ISBN 3-486-24447-7 , p. 354.
  18. ^ Frank Gesemann, Roland Roth: Local integration policy in the immigration society. VS Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-531-15427-5 , p. 383.
  19. ^ Holm Arno Leonhardt: Regional economic organizational art. Proposal to supplement NRW's application for UNESCO World Heritage . In: Forum Geschichtskultur Ruhr 2013 (2013), pp. 41–42.