Deutsche Werften in der Zwischenkriegszeit (1918-1939). T. 2, Symptome der Krise, Stilllegungen, Schließungen, Fusionen und Innovationen (1924-1934)

Abstract

After World War I, the war-inflated shipbuilding operations in Germany had a capacity of some thirty to fifty percent over demand. A reduced demand for new vessel constructions, low cargo rates and the lack of orders for war vessels led to a ruinous crisis in the shipbuilding sector lasting from 1924 to 1934, with an interim respite from 1927 to 1929. Shut-downs, closures and mergers were the consequence. Due to their unfavourable location, the shipbuilding companies in the Baltic Sea regions were hit disproportionately hard by the capacity scale-down and the structural crisis. By means of strikes, the shipyard workers and labour unions attempted to hold onto the privileges they had obtained after World War I, but to little avail. The Verein Deutscher Schiffswerften (VDS; association of German shipyards) tolerated the tough competition within the sector, to which many well-known German shipyards fell victim despite numerous technical innovations. The shipbuilding business was suffering internationally, as was shipping itself - two further factors accounting for the crisis in the German shipbuilding industry. In 1925, as a means of overcoming the crisis, the Reich government supported the faltering ship yards with a “ship renewal fund” of fifty million Reichsmarks (loan for financing up to fifty percent of new vessel constructions). In 1926/27 there was moreover a programme for reducing interest on loans for new ships. In 1932 the Reich government instituted a scrappage programme with a budget of twelve million Reichsmarks for ships twenty years and older, with bonuses and interest-free loans. The world economic crisis and the agreement concluded in 1930 between Hapag and the Norddeutsche Lloyd (Hapag-Lloyd-Union) brought about a further reduction in the demand for new tonnage since the concentration of the two major German shipping companies led to a slackening of orders for new ship constructions. The National Socialist government then introduced rearmament measures which encompassed a fleet-building programme for the navy. In conjunction with the aspirations toward selfsufficiency which led to the expansion of deep-sea fishing and the establishment of a whaling fleet, these measures were what finally brought about a noticeable improvement in the circumstances of the German shipbuilding industry, where there was now full employment. The social advantages which the labour unions had achieved for the manual labourers and office workers in the shipyard sector during the Weimar Republic, however, were revoked during the National Socialist period. The laws governing forced compliance with the NS system ultimately led to the defeat of the labour movement and the break-up of the unions.