Chamber of Commerce (1935–1942)

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In the National Socialist German Reich from 1935 to 1942 , economic chambers were public-law organizations that brought together the chambers of industry and commerce , chambers of crafts and economic groups on a regional level.

prehistory

With the seizure of power by the Nazis, there was also a DC circuit of the organizations of the economy. The presidents of the IHKs (now called leaders) were replaced by supporters of the new regime and the leader principle was introduced. The idea of ​​self-government of the economy was diametrically opposed to the political ideas of the National Socialists (even if this term was still used in Nazi propaganda ).

The National Socialists were critical of the market economy and advocated a managed economy. This economic policy, which was controlled in the four-year plan from 1936 , required organizations through which the regime could influence the economy. The previous chambers were therefore not dissolved, but initially retained. It was different with the industry associations . These were dissolved and grouped into Reich groups (e.g. the Reich Insurance Group ). In addition, with the Gau economic advisors , the National Socialists had created a party-owned parallel organization to control the economy.

The coexistence of different organizations created in this way contradicted the idea of ​​a tightly controlled economy (Nazi propaganda spoke of an “organic structure” of the economy; a class system in which everyone had their place). Accordingly, from the beginning there were considerations to combine these organizations in uniform structures, the chambers of commerce.

founding

The economic chambers were set up to implement the law to prepare the organic structure of the German economy. The members of the Chamber of Commerce were "the district groups of the Reichsgruppen and the economic groups, the IHKs and Handwk of the economic district". 18 chambers of commerce were formed according to the districts of the trustee of work . Some chamber districts (such as Rhineland and Westphalia; there a chamber of commerce for Westphalia and Lippe was formed in Dortmund and an economic chamber for the administrative district of Düsseldorf in Düsseldorf) had different borders. The boundaries of the economic chambers did not coincide with the IHK districts.

It was an umbrella organization with no direct members. The office of the Chamber of Commerce was in the lead IHK; Head and managing director were at the same time head or managing director of this IHK. The chambers of commerce had an advisory board as the highest body. Its members were appointed and consisted of the presidents of the chambers and associations and other members.

In 1936 the chambers of commerce received their own legal capacity and their own budgets. However, their practical importance remained small. In terms of their own tasks, they only took on three aspects of economic life. They were the bearers of the courts of honor (this contained previous arbitration boards and courts of honor of the associations and chambers), the statistical office / publishing house and the district equalization office. This should distribute the public contracts to the companies of the chamber district. This planned economy procedure replaced the earlier public tenders.

With an ordinance of September 24, 1938, the chambers and associations in Austria were incorporated into the system of the Reich German Economic Chambers after the Anschluss . The chambers in the Sudetenland , Luxembourg , Alsace , Lorraine and the German-speaking parts of Belgium followed later .

Replacement by the Gau economic chambers

The economic chambers had not achieved the National Socialists' goal of ensuring uniform economic management through their establishment as umbrella organizations. With the beginning of the Second World War and the associated war economy , the need for centralized management of the economy increased. In 1942, therefore, the IHKs, chambers of crafts and economic groups as well as the chambers of commerce were dissolved and transferred to 42 district chambers of commerce . Within these regional economic chambers, there were 18 economic chambers (new type): These were regional sub-organizations within the regional economic chambers and not the previous chambers of the same name.

See also

literature

  • Ralf Stremmel: Chambers of the commercial economy in the “Third Reich”: general developments and the case study Westphalia-Lippe, 2005, ISBN 3-87023-197-1 , pp. 99–159
  • Heinz Abel: The Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the National Socialist State, Diss., 1940, online

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ § 27 of the First Ordinance for the Implementation of the Act to Prepare the Organic Structure of the German Economy of November 27, 1934, RGBl. 1934, Part I, pp. 1194-1199
  2. ^ Order of the Reich Minister of Economics on the delimitation of economic districts and the formation of economic chambers of March 14, 1935
  3. ↑ Third ordinance for the implementation of the law for the preparation of the organic structure of the German economy of October 26, 1936, RGBl. 1936, part I, p. 918
  4. ^ Ordinance on the introduction of the organization of the commercial economy in Austria of September 24, 1938; RGBl. 1938, Part I, No. 147, p. 1201, online