From Craftsmen to Capitalists: German Artisans from the Third Reich to the Federal Republic, 1939–1953

308 Pages·2016·1.07 MB·English

by  Frederick L. McKitrick

From Craftsmen to Capitalists
Monographs in German History
Th e complexities and peculiarities of German history present challenges on various
levels, not least on that of historiography. Th is series off ers a platform for historians
who, in response to the challenges, produce important and stimulating contributions
to the various debates that take place within the discipline.
For full volume listing, please see pages 287 and 288
From Craftsmen to Capitalists
German Artisans from the Th ird Reich
to the Federal Republic, 1939–1953
(cid:2)
Frederick L. McKitrick
berghahn
N E W Y O R K • O X F O R D
www.berghahnbooks.com
Published in 2016 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
©2016 Frederick L. McKitrick
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages
for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book
may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented,
without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: McKitrick, Frederick L.
Title: From craftsmen to capitalists : German artisans from the Th ird Reich to the
Federal Republic, 1939–1953 / Frederick L. McKitrick.
Description: New York : Berghahn Books, 2016. | Series: Monographs in German
history ; volume 37 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2015047982 | ISBN 9781785332487 (hardback : alkaline
paper) | ISBN 9781785332494 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Artisans—Germany—History—20th century. | Artisans—
Political activity—Germany—History—20th century. | Handicraft industries—
Germany—History—20th century. | Germany—Economic conditions—
1918–1945. | Germany—Economic conditions—1945–1990. | Social
change—Germany—History—20th century. | National socialism—History. |
Democratization—Germany—History—20th century. | Germany—Politics and
government—1933–1945. | Germany—Politics and government—1945–1990.
Classifi cation: LCC HD9999.H363 G345 2016 | DDC 331.7/94—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015047982
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78533-248-7 hardback
ISBN 978-1-78533-249-4 ebook
CONTENTS
List of Tables and Figures vii
Acknowledgments viii
Preface x
Note on the Handwerk Trades xiii
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms xviii
PART I
Handwerk in Crisis, 1918–1933
1 From Zünfte to Nazism: German Handwerk to 1939 3
PART II
Handwerk at War, 1939–1945
2 Handwerk in the War Economy, 1939–1941 31
3 Th e Speer Ministry, 1942–1945: Th e Coordination of Industry
and Handwerk 63
PART III
Th e Occupation Period, 1945–1949: Th e Confrontation with
the American Free Market
4 Th e First Stages of the Occupation and the Revival of Handwerk
Institutions in the West 83
5 Th e Legal Consolidation of Handwerk Corporatism in the
British Zone 107
vi | Contents
6 Developments in the US Zone Leading up to the Introduction
of Gewerbefreiheit 123
7 Th e Role of Organization and Leadership in the Modernization
of Handwerk 141
PART IV
Th e Early Federal Republic, 1949–1953: Revolution in the
German Mittelstand
8 Th e Eff ects of Gewerbefreiheit on Handwerk 159
9 Th e Integration of Handwerk Organizations into the Political
Fabric of the Federal Republic 179
10 Changes in the Structure and Outlook of Handwerk 207
11 Th e Handwerk Act of 1953 226
Conclusion. Revolution in Handwerk? 248
Bibliography 253
Index 276
TABLES AND FIGURES
Tables
Table 0.1. Index of Trades Th at Can Be Practiced as Handwerk as
Listed in the Handwerk Ordnung of 1953 xiv
Table 8.1. Rate of Increase in Handwerk Firms in Württemberg-Baden,
1947–1949 163
Table 8.2. Rate of Increase in Handwerk Firms in Unterfranken,
1948–1949 163
Table 8.3. Rate of Increase (Decrease) in Handwerk Firms in the
British and U.S. Zones, 1948–1949 164
Table 8.4. Comparative Rate of Firm Closing in the British and
U.S. Zones, 1950–1951 165
Table 8.5. New Firm Owners with Master Title, 1950–1951 166
Table 9.1. Handwerk Shops by Firm Size 190
Table 10.1. One-ManShops as a Percentage of Total Handwerk Shops 211
Table 10.2. Handwerk Firms and Employees 212
Table 10.3. Consolidation and Productivity Trends in Handwerk
from 1949 214
Table 10.4. Proportion of Economic Value Created by Handwerk
and Industry, 1936–1951 214
Figures
Figure 8.1. Registered and Dissolved Handwerk Firms in Hesse,
1948–1949 164
Figure 8.2. Registered and Dissolved Handwerk Firms in Oberfranken,
1940–1949 165
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Th is page is the last one to be written. It is also an occasion for heartfelt refl ection
over a period of writing and research that, even though so much of it has been
solitary, in truth has relied upon the generosity and kindness of so many institu-
tions and individuals. It is a pleasure to acknowledge them here.
Th e Friedrich Ebert Foundation, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD),
and Columbia University funded preliminary work in Germany, and a grant from
the Fulbright Commission enabled me to carry out the main part of the archival
research there. Th ese foundations not only provided generous fi nancial support,
but also off ered important contacts and advice. Many archivists, librarians, and
artisanal offi cials in Germany and the United States took a great interest in my
work and provided me with immeasurable help. In particular I would like to men-
tion Th omas Köster and K. van Wesel of the Düsseldorf Chamber; Joachim Lilla
of the Rhineland-Westphalian Handwerk Association (Rheinisch-Westfälischer
Handwerkerbund); the wonderful librarians at the Archive for Christian De-
mocratic Politics (Archiv für Christlich-Demokratische Politik); Peter John of
the German Federation of Trade Unions (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund); Dr.
Schleidgen of the North-Rhine Westphalian State Archive (Nordrhein-Westfäli-
sches Hauptstaatsarchiv), Düsseldorf; Dr. Wolff and his staff at the Wiesbaden
Handwerk Chamber; as well as the staff s of the Federal Archive (Bundesarchiv)
in Koblenz, the Cologne Handwerk Chamber, and the Archive of Social Demo-
cracy (Archiv der sozialen Demokratie) in Bonn.
I am grateful to Fritz Stern, Robert Paxton, Volker Berghahn, Allan Silver, and
Peter Johnson, all of whom took the time to read my work carefully and off er
comments that were tremendously helpful. Th e friendships of John Efron, Ann
Ramsey, Pamela Radcliff , and Laura Lee Downs were formative. Th e late William
C. McNeil was a dear friend who never lost sight of the truth that scholarship
is at heart a human enterprise. I will always miss him. Maria Mitchell and Guil-
laume deSyon were wonderfully encouraging archive companions. Frank Domu-
rad shared my fascination with German Handwerk, and it is a happy coincidence
that his own work on the subject will soon see the light of day. Alfred Mierzejew-
ski, James Van Hook, Frank Zdatny, Jonathan Morris, and Adelheid von Saldern
have been generous with their insight and advice, and I thank the anonymous
Acknowledgments | ix
reviewers for their perceptive readings and suggestions. Th anks to my editors
at Berghahn Press, Chris Chappell and Jessica Murphy, for their patience and
steadfast support, and to Allison Hope for her razor-sharp eye in proofi ng the
manuscript.
My colleagues in the Department of History and Anthropology and the
administration of Monmouth University have provided an ideally supportive
academic home. In Germany our dear friends Monika Heusgen and Ulrich
Hecht-Fischer have so often opened their warm home to us in Freiburg. To my
wife, Kerstin McKitrick, I owe more than I can say. She has been with me every
step of this long journey. Our daughter Anna: Has she suff ered the neglect of a
book-writing academic parent? Perhaps, but my hope is that, because this project
aff orded her the opportunity to spend the third grade in Germany, to put down
roots there, and to become fl uent in the language, it has helped widen her world
as it has mine. Finally, my late parents, Eric L. and Edyth S. McKitrick, sur-
rounded their children with books and the values of learning and art. I can think
of no greater inheritance.
PREFACE
Th is book seeks to address some of the important questions in German history
concerning the consequences of Nazism, both intended and unintended, and the
stability of the (Western) government that followed it. At its core is a problem
of modernization: One of the “peculiarities” of the industrialization of Germany
was the coexistence of highly modern, technologically advanced socioeconomic
groups side by side with the most traditional, rooted, and conservative ones; the
tensions produced by this disjuncture were what helped bring Hitler to power.
How was it, then, that these contradictions were resolved to produce the stable,
capitalist, parliamentary democracy of the Federal Republic?
Th ere is, of course, no one set of answers to this problem. In order to address
one aspect of it, I have proceeded from several assumptions. First, because an
important part of how individual Germans conceived their self-identities before
1933 tended to be in terms of socioeconomic groups, or Stände (and indeed,
given the narrow interest focus of most political parties before that time, this was
refl ected in the structure of political life), I have chosen one such group to ex-
amine from the lower-middle classes: master craftsmen, in German Handwerker.
Th ese classes have been problematic in German history. Consigned variously by
Marxists and liberals alike to the dustbin of history as outmoded, or condemned
as the incorrigible custodians of preindustrial, antimodern, or proto-fascist atti-
tudes, the Mittelstand—to use the more complex and evocative German term—
formed one of the core constituencies of the Nazi movement. But just as surely,
after World War II it formed one of the key supporting social groups of the
Federal Republic.
I have chosen handwerk because it seems to bring many of the contradictions
at issue into high relief. Handwerk encompasses an enormous number of highly
diverse trades, varying in skill and organization of work. Yet, despite this diver-
sity, it is and has been in German cultural and economic life a consistently iden-
tifi able entity, a Begriff , and one with tremendous cultural resonance. It connotes
a certain traditionalism, but also a continued vitality and adaptability unique to
Germany. For this reason, I have decided to employ the German terms—hand-
werker for the individual masters, and handwerk for the entity—in order to at-