Central purchasing company
The Zentral -kaufgesellschaft mbH (ZEG), which emerged from the Reichkaufs-Gesellschaft founded in 1914 , was a German (semi) state-owned foreign trade company during the First World War , which over time largely centralized foreign trade and, until the establishment of the War Nutrition Office in 1916, also other ones Took over tasks in the state food industry.
Foundation and organization
At the beginning of the First World War, the public sector initially had little influence on the food supply. However, the state soon began to regulate foreign trade. The import of scarce goods was encouraged and, on the other hand, other goods were banned from export. Against the background of these regulations, the Reich purchasing company was founded on August 3, 1914. It was subordinate to the Reich Office of the Interior and had its seat in Hamburg . It had the legal form of a GmbH . The founding was not least due to Carl Melchior , Max Warburg and Albert Ballin , who also headed the organization. The company should import goods such as grain, flour, rice and colonial goods from the neutral states and the areas occupied by the Germans . The company stepped alongside the existing private foreign trade companies. It quickly came into competition with buyers for the army and the cities.
The reallocation to the central purchasing company in December 1914 had the aim of centralizing foreign trade in the company. The ZEG was financed by grants from the Reich, the federal states and some large companies. The company's headquarters were relocated to Berlin. The leading positions were held by Reich officials, and the Reich Office of the Interior held two-thirds of the share capital. As a result, the Reich Office played a central role in German foreign trade.
Monopoly of foreign trade
The ZEG stood at the beginning of similar organizations of the state war economy. Like the Reich Examination Office founded in 1915, it was a special body that was not included in the system of war economic offices that was built up later. After the establishment of the War Food Office in 1916, the ZEG was more closely involved in the increasingly centralized system of food management, but remained subordinate to the Interior Ministry.
At first, foreign goods were not subject to maximum prices and could be sold at exorbitant prices in Germany. Newly founded, unreliable companies played an important role. The countries of origin began to regulate foreign trade to protect their market. Against this background, the ZEG was granted ever more extensive monopoly rights from September 1915 . The trading companies that already existed in the pre-war period were included, while the new speculative companies were not taken into account. Some of the imported goods were also confiscated by the ZEG and distributed to the federal states and Prussian provinces according to a certain key.
The monopoly of the ZEG depended on Austria-Hungary recognizing this claim. In fact, after German concessions , the governments in Vienna and Budapest refrained from importing goods themselves on a large scale. In return, they received a share of the ZEG's imported goods. Only when purchasing grain in Romania in early 1916 did the Central Powers proceed together. Karl Helfferich and the Austrian inventor and wholesale merchant Gustav Robert Paalen played an important role in establishing the cooperation. A cartel of the three grain centers was used, which, according to its own statements, managed to buy two million tons of grain in Romania and Bosnia-Herzegovina between April and September 1916 . These imports were of enormous importance for the supply situation in Germany, as at this point in time, in contrast to the turnip winter of 1916/17, a reduction in bread rations was not necessary. In 1918 Paalen received the Franz-Joseph Order from Emperor Karl I (Austria-Hungary) in particular for his successful purchases in Bosnia-Herzegovina .
Structural problems and criticism
The German municipalities had long called for the centralization of foreign food trade by the ZEG. As long as this was not the case, they tried to buy goods abroad themselves. With the monopoly of the ZEG, the cities were dependent on the supplies of the company. They took on an intermediary role between the ZEG and the grocery stores and consumer associations in the respective cities and continued to control prices.
The dependence on the ZEG and the not always functioning cooperation triggered resentment and criticism in the municipalities. This was the case, for example, when urban buyers who could have bought goods at relatively low prices did not get approval from the ZEG. Cooperation with the municipal associations was also problematic. The ZEG's inflexible and bureaucratic structure was a particular hindrance. It was also not possible to prevent the preferential treatment of large and financially strong municipalities. The fat distribution aroused great resentment because the allocation was initially made on the basis of completely inadequate data. For example, the province of Westphalia was viewed as a uniform area without taking into account the differences between the large cities of the Ruhr area and the rural regions. After protests by the municipal associations, the distribution system was more closely adapted to the actual conditions.
In the event of a shortage of certain products, the ZEG has been made responsible in public since the extensive monopoly of foreign trade. Since there were initially only a few central organizations in the nutrition sector, the ZEG also had to take on tasks that did not fall within its actual area of competence. That made them even more vulnerable to public criticism of government food management measures. Last but not least, the organization was held responsible for the high prices. Because of a fairly high number of Jewish Germans, it was also exposed to anti-Semitic attacks.
After founding the War Food Office
After the establishment of the War Food Office, the ZEG remained the task of foreign trade, but had to hand over the remaining competences to the newly established Reich offices. In the area of distribution, the municipalities and districts were no longer supplied directly, but via purchasing organizations at the provincial level.
Later, the CPB was the Reich Economics Office and after the November Revolution the Reichsernährungsamt assumed.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andreas Neufert: On love and death. The life of the surrealist Wolfgang Paalen . Parthas, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-86964-083-9 , p. 60 ff.
- ↑ Oliver Janz: 14 - the great war. Frankfurt am Main, 2013 p. 271
- ↑ Subordination of the central purchasing company to the Reich Nutrition Office. From November 23, 1918. Entry in documentarchiv.de
literature
- Anna Roehrkohl: Hunger Blockade and Home Front. The communal food supply in Westphalia during the First World War. Stuttgart, 1991
- Oswald Barber: Establishment and tasks of the central purchasing company. Breslau, 1917 digitized