Liaison office for the German railways in the French-occupied zone
The Liaison Office of the German Railways of the French Occupied Zone (VADE) was created in 1946 to advise the Détachement d'Occupation des Chemins de fer Français (DOCF), the railway authority of the French occupying power in the French occupation zone , after the end of the Second World War .
prehistory
After the attempt was unsuccessful to create a central authority for all railways under the occupying power for the three railway departments located in the French occupation zone with the Upper Directorate of the German Railways of the French Occupied Zone (ODE), this was given the Nôte No. 8 of the DOCF of June 13, 1946 dissolved and the management of the railway reorganized. The DOCF took the management of the railway into its own hands: the DOCF supervisory authority thus itself became a “senior management”.
founding
Under this new structure, German competence was to be preserved by creating the liaison office for the German railways in the French-occupied zone in Speyer , where the DOFC also resided. The VADE was initially a specialist authority that did not have the right to issue instructions to the three railway departments, but only advised the DOFC.
organization
The VADE was directly subordinate to the head of the DOFC. The VADE department heads elected an “advisory delegate” from among their ranks. This choice had to be confirmed by the head of the DOFC. This “advisory delegate” was in fact the German head of the authority (there was no legal regulation). He advised the head of the DOFC - independently of the department heads of the DOCF. The “advisory delegate” was also active in relation to international bodies if the head of the DOFC requested it. The first “advisory delegate” was Theodor Acker, then head of the construction department of the Mainz Railway Directorate , and later President of the Mainz Federal Railway Directorate .
development
It was possible to organize a functioning cooperation between the authorities and to establish a working relationship with the unions . It was achieved that the crew paid for the services of the railway, which generated income and funded the reconstruction and operation. The legal basis were Articles 42–56 of the Hague Land Warfare Regulations . Corresponding agreements between the occupying power and the railway were concluded so that legal and planning security were restored. A variety of regulations were drawn up, for example concerning the removal of debris at crossings of railway lines with other modes of transport, shipping traffic on Lake Constance or the German railway lines on the sovereign territory of Switzerland .
In practice, the VADE acted like a “senior management”, but without having the right to issue instructions to the three individual divisions. This situation, which VADE perceived as unsatisfactory, led to an application to the military government on July 25, 1946, to re-establish an authority over the individual directorates with the right to issue instructions in Speyer. But that was unsuccessful.
On October 17, 1946, the French military government convened an organizing committee at its headquarters in Baden-Baden , which was supposed to create a new legal basis for railway operations in the French occupation zone. VADE played a key role in this work.
On May 16, 1947, a main vehicle office was set up as part of the VADE . For the first time, this also had the authority to issue instructions to the railway authorities. On June 7, 1947, the DOCF decreed that the VADE had to be involved in all matters that affected the entire zone of occupation or were classified as particularly important. In addition, the VADE was responsible for all agreements with the railways in the other occupation zones.
When the Saar Protectorate was separated from Germany on April 1, 1947 , the VADE also ceased to be responsible for this area. The Saar Protectorate received its own railway administration with the Saarland railways.
The End
In the meantime, the federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate , Baden (southern Baden) and Württemberg-Hohenzollern had been founded in the French occupation zone . Representatives of the federal states also took part in the deliberations of the organizing committee in Baden-Baden, which were concluded on January 31, 1947 with a draft statute based not least on an agreement between the three federal states. Agreements and statutes were from the three countries and the occupying power to ratify and, as in the countries to July 1, 1947 Act came into force. The company association of the Southwest German Railways was thus founded, to which the tasks of the VADE were transferred.
literature
- Friedrich Wachtel: Legal and organizational development of the railway in the French occupation zone . In: Bundesbahndirektion Mainz (Ed.): The Bundesbahndirektion Mainz. Festschrift for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Mainz Railway Directorate . Carl Röhrig, Darmstadt 1956 = special print from Die Bundesbahn 22/1956, pp. 23–28.
Remarks
- ^ Reichsbahndirektion Karlsruhe for the railways in South Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern , Reichsbahndirektion Mainz for the railways in Rheinhessen , the Palatinate and the French-occupied areas to the right of the Rhine in the Westerwald and in the Lahn valley , Reichsbahndirektion Saarbrücken for the southern area of the former Prussian Rhine province .