Langnam Association

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Langnam-Verein , also Langnamverein , was the abbreviated name used by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck for the association for the protection of common economic interests in Rhineland and Westphalia , which was founded on March 30, 1871 on the initiative of the Irish-born mining entrepreneur William Thomas Mulvany by Rhenish- Westphalian iron, textile and mining entrepreneur was founded as an industrial interest group in the Alte Tonhalle in Düsseldorf .

aims

The original purpose of the association was to improve the traffic routes in the industrial region and to overcome the coal shortage. In 1873, the introduction of protective tariffs on cheap pig iron imports was added as a concern, and finally, after the First World War, the aim was to establish a vertical monopoly for coal, coke, gas and steel throughout the German Empire .

Role in the Weimar Republic and in the time of National Socialism

In 1924, Oswald Spengler gave a lecture to the Langnam Association at the invitation of Paul Reusch .

On March 30, 1930 Heinrich Brüning became Chancellor of the first " Presidential Cabinet " of the Weimar Republic. At the general meeting of the association on November 4, 1930, the divided attitude of the Rhenish-Westphalian large-scale industry towards this cabinet became apparent:

  • For Brüning, Max Schlenker had already said before the event that he had “really tried to do his duty” as Chancellor. In the assembly itself, Brüning et al. a. supported by Müller-Oerlinghausen (from the Reichsverband der Deutschen Industrie ), Kehl (from Deutsche Bank AG ) and Walther Schreiber (the incumbent Prussian trade minister). Throat z. B. declared that a government with the NSDAP as an alternative to the Brüning cabinet was not acceptable, as industry “does not want experiments”, “neither in the field of politics nor in the economy itself”.
  • Fritz Springorum and Ernst Poensgen spoke out against Brüning . Poensgen demanded a "leader (...) who may lead our people again in a uniform and purposeful manner". Contrary to the Versailles Treaty, which was recognized by the imperial government, both campaigned for an end to reparations payments and the restoration of Germany's sovereignty.

Carl Schmitt, a constitutional lawyer, gave the guest speech at this general meeting .

In 1931 the anti-parliamentary demands of some of the members were not hidden from the public. Poensgen therefore considered it necessary to issue a public denial on June 17, 1931 “against the assertion that the Ruhr industry had demanded a directorate and the dictatorship. Western industry does not want a dictatorship, it wants economic and financial policy leadership that will save the German economy from impending collapse. "

At the meeting of the Harzburg Front on October 11, 1931, the Langnam Association was represented by its general manager Max Schlenker .

On other occasions, the leadership of the Langnam Association at that time asserted that the NSDAP had to be involved in creating the desired “right-wing government”. Because the industrialists help the NSDAP to get into government, one then also has the opportunity to "turn around the all too radical currents within the NSDAP." However, the preservation of the constitutional and democratic achievements of the Weimar Republic was not intended, but that big industry should influence the NSDAP according to its own interests because it mistrusted its economic and political ideas.

Brüning resigned on May 30, 1932, and Franz von Papen became Chancellor two days later . He soon dissolved the Reichstag and planned to change the Weimar constitution in line with a presidential dictatorship and no longer involve any party in the government, not even the NSDAP. These goals were largely supported by the association, which at this time kept its distance from the National Socialists. But von Papen did not succeed in getting a majority in the Reichstag for this; he resigned on November 17, 1932.

During these days, the association was involved in the activities of the so-called Keppler circle : the southern German chemical entrepreneur Wilhelm Keppler had been commissioned by Adolf Hitler to maintain the party's relationship with industrial and business circles. The industrialists' submission of November 19, 1932, in which several bankers, entrepreneurs and farmers urged Reich President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor, was signed by almost no representative of large-scale industry in the Langnam Association - apart from Fritz Thyssen and Emil Kirdorf . At that time, big industry wanted to get von Papens to be chancellor again. Its strategy - dismantling the welfare state , pushing back the trade unions and " parliamentarism " in favor of an authoritarian "presidential" government - corresponded to the political ideas prevailing in the Langnam Association at the time.

A few days later, on November 23, 1932, the Langnam Association therefore met to continue to support von Papen's strategy despite his resignation. As a well-known proponent of Papens, Carl Schmitt was again invited to give a lecture. Under the title " Strong State and Healthy Economy" , however, he surprisingly supported Kurt von Schleicher's strategy , the next Chancellor of the Reich, to formally maintain the existing constitution, but to use Article 48 of the emergency consistently. Carl Schmitt was personally acquainted with Kurt von Schleicher, who was later killed by the National Socialists, but joined the NSDAP on May 1, 1933.

During von Papen's chancellorship, von Schleicher pointed out the civil war-like escalation between his presidential exercise of power and the left who were excluded from political formation and, not least, campaigned with the Reichswehr for his "third" path. Like Hitler, he described himself as “neither a supporter of capitalism nor socialism”. Unlike von Papen, he did not want to achieve his goals through emergency ordinances , but in parliamentary terms with the help of a " cross front " by involving the unions, parts of the SPD and the "socialist" Strasser wing of the NSDAP. On December 3, 1932 he was appointed Reich Chancellor.

Leading industrialists represented in the Langnam Association continued to distrust the NSDAP. Gregor Strasser's speech in the Reichstag on May 10, 1932 on the “immediate economic program of the NSDAP” contributed to this. She reinforced her impression that this party was “unreliable” in economic policy, as it might take a socialist course. Strasser's speech was therefore z. B. in an article in the " German Guide Letters " (see below) heavily criticized.

Synchronization, dissolution and replacement

The previously so powerful industrial associations were after the " seizure of power " forced more and more under the dictates of the state economy, characterized by " synchronization " and centralized economic plans in Berlin .

An important step towards bringing the Langnam Association into line took place on April 4, 1933: Together with the Economic Advisory Council West of the NSDAP, a "leadership group" was formed under the direction of the Düsseldorf NSDAP district economic adviser Josef Klein .

Finally, Fritz Springorum was urged to resign and the Langnam Association was finally dissolved at the instigation of the regime. The heavy industry on the Rhine and Ruhr had created an organization independent of the NSDAP in the form of the Central European Business Day (MWT) in Berlin towards the end of the 1920s . The Marxist philosopher, economist and sociologist Alfred Sohn-Rethel , foster son von Poensgen, was employed by this organization from 1931 to 1936 as assistant to the managing director Max Hahn . Among other things, he compiled economic statistics there and occasionally wrote articles for economic magazines and for the "Deutsche Führerbriefe". The files of the Langnam Association are, unless they were destroyed or lost during the Second World War and thereafter, housed in a scattered place. a. at the following institutions:

Significant members

literature

  • Henry Axel Bueck: The Central Association of German Industrialists, 1876-1901 . Volume 2, Guttentag, Berlin 1905.
  • Communications from the association to safeguard common economic interests in Rhineland and Westphalia (Langnamverein) , Düsseldorf, z. B. Year 1927, Issue 6 / Year 1930, Issue 19.
  • Josef Winschuh: The club with the long name. History of a business association . Dux, Berlin 1932.
  • Martin F. Parnell: The German tradition of organized capitalism. Self-government in the coal industry . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1994, ISBN 0-19-827761-X .
  • Reinhard Neebe: Big Industry, State and NSDAP 1930-1933 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , Göttingen 1981, ISBN 3-525-35703-6 , p. 107. ( online as PDF (2003))

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kurt Düwell: "Operation Marriage" - British obstetrics during the founding of North Rhine-Westphalia ( Memento of the original from December 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Speech on September 14, 2006 on the 60th anniversary of the founding of North Rhine-Westphalia to members of the German-British Society in Jägerhof Palace, Düsseldorf, lecture manuscript as PDF file, accessed on October 23, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.debrige.de
  2. ^ Hugo Weidenhaupt : Brief history of the city of Düsseldorf . 9th edition, Triltsch Verlag, Düsseldorf 1983, p. 121.
  3. ^ Gustav Luntowski: Hitler and the gentlemen on the Ruhr. Economic power and state power in the Third Reich. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2000, p. 71 f.