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Selling Germany in South-Eastern Europe: Economic Uncertainty, Commercial Information and the Leipzig Trade Fair 1920–40

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2011

STEPHEN GROSS
STEPHEN GROSS*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of California, Berkeley, 3229 Dwinelle Hall, Berkeley, CA 94707-2550; stephengross@berkeley.edu
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Abstract

On the eve of the Second World War Germany dominated the exports and imports of south-eastern Europe. Yet the institutions that supported Germany's trade in the 1930s were formed during the previous decade. This article shows how one institution, the Leipzig trade fair, helped overcome many of the problems that had disrupted German commerce with Yugoslavia after the First World War. During a decade when German firms were only slowly returning to the region, the fair built an extensive trading network in south-eastern Europe that relayed economic news, found agents for German firms, and advertised for German products. By the 1930s the fair's representatives had become the backbone of Germany's trade network in south-eastern Europe.

Vendre l'allemagne dans l'europe du sud-est: incertitudes économiques, informations commerciales, et la foire de leipzig 1920–40

A la veille de la deuxième guerre mondiale, l'Allemagne dominait les imports et les exports dans les pays du sud-est de l'Europe. Les institutions soutenant le commerce allemand pendant les anneées 1930 remontaient pourtant à la décennie précédente. Cet article montre que c'est grâce à l'une des ces institutions, la foire de Leipzig, que le commerce entre l'Allemagne et la Yugoslavie se remit des dislocations qui avaient suivi la première guerre mondiale. Les commerces allemands faisaient traîner leur retour dans la région, mais la foire forgea un réseau commercial dans l'Europe du sud-est, réseau se dédia à transmettre les informations économiques, à déceler des agents prêts à repésenter les entreprises allemandes, et à faire de la publicité pour les produits allemands. Pendant les années 1930, ces représentants de la foire formaient la charpente du réseau commercial allemand dans la région.

Für deutschland in südosteuropa werben: wirtschaftliche ungewissheiten, handelswissen und die leipziger messe, 1920–1940

Am Vorabend des Zweiten Weltkriegs dominierte Deutschland die Exporte und Importe südosteuropäischer Länder. Die Institutionen, welche diese Handelsbeziehungen unterstützten, hatten sich bereits während der 1930er Jahre herausgebildet. Dieser Artikel zeigt, dass eine einzige Institution, die Leipziger Messe, Deutschland ganz wesentlich dabei half, die Probleme zu überwinden, die nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg seine Beziehungen zu Jugoslawien charakterisiert hatten. Während eines Jahrzehnts, während dessen deutsche Firmen nur langsam in diese Region zurückkehrten, half die Leipziger Messe ihnen dabei, ein groβ angelegtes Handelsnetzwerk in Südosteuropa zu etablieren. Dieses half ihnen dabei, Wirtschaftsnachrichten zu kommunizieren, Agenten für deutsche Firmen zu finden und übernahm auch die Werbung für deutsche Produkte. Anfang der dreiβiger Jahre waren die Vertreter der Messe dann zum Rückgrat der deutschen Handelsnetzwerke in Südosteuropa geworden.

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Articles
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , February 2012 , pp. 19 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

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25 Confidential parliamentary report on establishing a service for the promotion of German foreign trade from 1926, Aussenhandelsförderung 106582, Handelspolitische Abteilung (HA), Politisches Archiv des Auswärtiges Amt (PAAA).

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30 Ibid.

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32 Leipzig chamber of commerce to German legation in Belgrade, 14 Aug. 1926, Vertreter Deutsche Firmen in Jugoslawien 54226/Film 41401, AA/R901, BA.

33 Business report of Aussenhandelsverband-Handelsvertragsverein (AHV) for 1926–27, AHV 1040, R 57/Neu, Bundesarchiv Koblenz (BAK); report from the branch office for foreign trade from 15 July 1925, AHV 1040, R 57/Neu, BAK.

34 Report on the German-Yugoslav Chamber of Commerce, 20 Feb. 1930, Handelskammern in Yugoslawien 54222/film 41336, AA/R901, BA.

35 Report from Dr Schmidtlein on the condition of Germany's business in Yugoslavia in response to the Enquete Ausschuss, 21 April 1927, Wirtschaftsbeziehungen mit Jugoslawien 43085, AA/R901, BA. Also found in R 243085, RZ 206, AA/PAAA; German diplomat in Vienna to Berlin Foreign Office, 18 Dec. 1923, Vertretern deutsche Firmen in Jugoslawien 54226/Film 41406, AA/R901, BA; Harm Schröter, ‘Siemens and Central and South-East Europe between the Two World Wars’, in Teichova and Cottrell, Business, 175–80; Matis, ‘Disintegration’, 93; Aleksic, Vesna, ‘The History of the Allgemeiner Jugoslawischer Bankverein AG in Belgrade in the Context of Yugoslav Banking History after 1918’, in Rathkolb, Oliver, Venus, Theodor and Zimmerl, Ulrike, eds., 150 Jahre österreichische Bankengeschichte im Zentrum Europas (Vienna: Zsolnay, 2005), 226–38Google Scholar.

36 Branch office for foreign trade in Nuremburg to the Berlin Foreign Office, 20 April 1922, Aussenhandel mit dem Balkan 54160, AA/R901, BA; Report from chamber of commerce in Munich, 12 Jan. 1926, Handel mit Yugoslawien 54223/Film 41368, AA/R901, BA. On the trade treaty see Hopfner, Hans Paul, Deutsche Südosteuropapolitik in der Weimarer Republik (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1983)Google Scholar.

37 German Consul in Belgrade to Berlin Foreign Office, 2 Oct. 1920, 63, Handel mit Yugoslawien 54163/Film 40724, AA/R901, BA; see also the numerous complaints about the Yugoslav tariff and border control from 1925 and 1926, 35–62, Handelpropaganda 54223/Film 41368, AA/R901, BA.

38 Walbeck to Berlin Foreign Office, 12 Feb. 1923, Handel mit Jugoslawien 54164/Film 40725, AA/R901, BA.

39 Walbeck to Berlin Foreign Office from 12 Feb. 1923 and 6 Nov. 1925, Handel mit Jugoslawien 54164/Film 40725, AA/R901, BA.

40 Walbeck to Berlin Foreign Office, 6 Nov. 1925, Handel mit Jugoslawien 54164/Film 40725, AA/R901, BA.

41 Bulletin about commercial exchange with Yugoslavia, 9 Jan. 1926, Vertretern deutsche Firmen in Jugoslawien 54226/Film 41404, AA/R901, BA; The Foreign Office, the Foreign Trade Association and the Association of Saxon Industrialists echoed these remarks in their own reports. Sächsische Industrie: Organ des Verbandes Sächsischer Industrieller, Sächsische Industrie- und Handelszeitung, 12 Feb. 1927; Report from Dr Schmidtlein, 21 April 1927, Wirtschaftsbeziehungen mit Jugoslawien 40835, AA/R901, BA.

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46 Firms with 1–4 employees were counted as small, firms with 5–49 were counted as medium, firms above 50 were considered large. Statistisches Jahrbuch für den Freistaat Sachsen (1929), 80–1; Leipzig Fair Business report, 31 Dec. 1931, Messen und Märkte – Leipzig 117904, SW, PAAA.

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55 On the founding of the Messeamt see Jochen Geyer, ‘Die Selbstverwaltete Messe: Der Messestandort zwischen 1916 und 1945’, in Zwahr, Messen; Köhler was the director of the fair until 1937. Personalakten Raimund Köhler, Geschäftsakten (GA) 1544, LMA, SSAL.

56 Quoted in ‘Urteile, Berichte, und Zahlen über Messeverlauf’, 92, DS 248, LMA SSAL. This refers to the Vierteljahreshefte zur Konjunkturforschung, 3, 3 (1928), 42.

57 Leipzig Fair annual business report, 31 Dec. 1931, Messen und Märkte – Leipzig 117904, SW, PAAA.

58 From 1928 to 1930 the fair conducted regular surveys, the results of which indicate a lower figure for its export business. ‘Messen und Weltwirtschaft’, 21, DS 900, and also ‘Aus der Praxis der Exportpropaganda’, DS 908, LMA, SSAL; ‘Die Lage der verarbeitenden Industrie’ by the Institut für Konjunkturforschung, DS 911, LMA, SSAL; See the report about these polls, pages 95, 101, 133 in ‘Urteile, Berichte, und Zahlen über Messeverlauf’, DS 247–8, LMA, SSAL; Saxon Consul in Berlin to Dresden Foreign Office 3 Mar. 1931, Leipzig Messe 7843, AA 10717, SSAD.

59 Articles translated from Croatian into German by the Messeamt's business offices in Belgrade, 79–80, Jugoslawisches Ausstellung, GA 146, LMA, SSAL.

60 See the correspondence between Walbeck, the Messeamt and the Belgrade Legation, 179–90, Leipziger Messe 54232/Film 41488, AA/R901, BA.

61 ‘Die Lage der verarbeitenden Industrie 1929’, DS 913, LMA, SSAL; see also Paul Voss on ‘Das Problem der Exportförderung’ who saw the one of the Messeamt's primary tasks to be finding good ‘information about exports and schooling for exporters’. ‘Das Problem der Exportförderung’, DS 902, LMA, SSAL.

62 Messeamt to Dr Borota in Novisad, 29 Apr. 1925, GA 1000, LMA, SSAL.

63 Paul Voss, ‘Die Entwicklung der Leipziger Messe und ihre Bedeutung für die Volkswirtschaft’, 4, DS 905, LMA, SSAL.

64 Calic, Marie-Janine, ‘The Socio-Economic Development of Yugoslavia during the Inter-war Period: A Regional Point of View’, in Batou, Jean and David, Thomas, eds., Uneven Development in Europe: The Obstructed Growth of the Agricultural Countries, 1918–1939 (Geneva: Droz, 1998), 332Google Scholar.

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66 ‘Aus der Praxis der Exportpropaganda’, DS 908, LMA, SSAL.

67 In comparison, the Messeamt's budget for their work in Italy in 1926 was 31,000 RM. ‘Produktive Erwerbslosenfürsorge durch Auslandspropaganda’, DS 906, LMA, SSAL.

68 ‘Aus der Praxis der Exportpropaganda’, DS 908, LMA, SSAL.

69 Dittrich, Erich, Südosteuropa und die Reichsmesse Leipzig (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1941)Google Scholar; Messeamt to the Ministry for Trade and Industry in Belgrade, 2 Jun. 1926, GA 146, LMA, SSAL.

70 Report to D. Voach, 154, Jugoslawische Vertreter in Novisad, GA 1000, LMA, SSAL.

71 Dr Carl Georg Bruns to Councillor Krahmer-Möllenberg, 2 Nov. 1926, Jugoslawien 978, Deutsche Stiftung (DSt)/R8043, BA.

72 Mathies to the Economics Ministry, 20 Oct. 1926 and Hubert Kolletnig of Marburg to Councillor Krahmer-Möllenberg, 24 Feb. 1927, Jugoslawien 978, DSt/R8043, BA.

73 Although this idea for a study trip found strong vocal support from the German consul in Belgrade, neither the Foreign Office nor the Economics Ministry were able to support the trip financially, and it is difficult to ascertain from the sources whether such a trip eventually occurred or not, 217–20, Jugoslawien 978, DS R8043, BA.

74 Walbeck to Berlin Foreign Office, 6 Nov. 1925, Handel mit Jugoslawien 54164/Film 40725, AA/R901, BA; Report from Dr Schmidtlein, 21 April 1927, Wirtschaftsbeziehungen mit Jugoslawien 40835, AA/R901, BA; Sächsische Industrie, 12 Feb. 1927 and 7 Jan. 1928.

75 Report from Walbeck circulated by Belgrade consul to Berlin Foreign Office, 22 Jun. 1925, Handel mit Jugoslawien 54164/Film 40725, AA/R901, BA.

76 The archival trade files are filled with such requests. See, for example, the letters of 27 May and 19 July 1922, Vertreter deutsche Firmen in Jugoslawien 54226/Film 41404, AA/R901, BA; confidential Bulletin for trade with the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from 1926, 254, Handel mit Jugoslawien 54164/Film 40725, AA/R901, BA.

77 Consular reports of 15 Dec 1922, and 5, 25, 29 Jan. 1923, Handel mit Jugoslawien 54164/Film 40725, AA/R901, BA.

78 Hopfner, Südosteuropapolitik, 343–53.

79 German figures compiled from Wirtschaft und Statistik, 7–9 (1927–1929); Yugoslav figures drawn from Statisticki Godisnjak/Annuaire Statistique, 1 (1929) (Belgrade: Državnoj štampariji Kraljevine Srbije, 1932).

80 Foreign Minister Neurath in a circular to German missions in 1936 urging them to promote German exports: ‘no task is more important than this one’, Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918–1945, From the Archives of the German Foreign Ministry (Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1949–64), Series C. vol. 5, no. 485, 30 July 1936, 842.

81 Hayes, Peter, ‘Corporate Freedom of Action’, Bulletin of the German Historical Institute, 45 (2009), 30Google Scholar.

82 What businessmen found most obnoxious in the New Plan was ‘the need to locate purchasers and suppliers in the predominantly non-industrial countries that were willing to enter into special trade balancing or clearing agreements with the Reich’. Hayes, Industry and Ideology, 131.

83 Documents on Foreign Policy, Series C. vol. 5, no. 511, Aug. 17, 1936; Overall, between the conclusion of Germany's commercial agreement with Yugoslavia in 1934 and the end of 1937 the German–Yugoslav trade commission met and changed the rules of commerce at least seven separate times, not including alterations negotiated outside the auspices of the official trade conferences.

84 In addition, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, Egypt and Brazil organised official displays in 1937. Messeamt to Alexander Cincar Markovic 13 Feb. 1937, GA 147, LMA, SSAL.

85 Correspondence between Voss and Leipzig Messeamt, 9 Nov. 1937, and Description of Yugoslav exhibition, 135, GA 147, LMA, SSAL.

86 Dittrich, Reichsmesse, 101–12; Krugmann, Robert, Südosteuropa und Grossdeutschland (Breslau: Breslauer Verlags- und Druckerei- G.m.b.H, 1939), 85, 187–92Google Scholar; Grenzebach, Empire, 42–3.

87 Voss in Belgrade to Messeamt, 12 Dec. 1935, and Messeamt to Voss, 28 Dec. 1935, 147, GA, LMA, SSAL.

88 Statisticki Godisnjak: Kraljevina Jugoslavija, 9 (1938–1939).

89 ‘Ergebnis der Leipziger Frühjahrsmesse 1936’, 932, DS, LMA, SSAL; Belgrade Business office to Berlin DRHK, 28 Jan. 1937 and Belgrade Business office to Dr Ernst Neer, 4 Feb. 1937, and Köhler to DRHK Berlin, 28 Jan. 1937, GA 152, LMA, SSAL; Messeamt to Heydendorff, 4 Feb. 1937, GA 811, LMA, SSAL.

90 Dittrich, Reichsmesse, 59, 114–17; Berend and Ranki, East-Central Europe, 279.

91 Report from the Mitteleuropäische Wirtschaftstag, 294a Gutachten, R 63/Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft, BA.

92 Tooze, Wages, 67–71; see also Schweitzer, Arthur, ‘Foreign Exchange Crisis of 1936’, Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft, 118, 2 (1962), 243–77Google Scholar.

93 Basch, Danube Basin, 183.

94 On the new place of the Leipzig fair in the Nazi economy see Köhler, Raimund, ‘Leipziger Messe im Vierjahresplan’, Der Vierjahresplan: Zeitschrift für Nationalsozialistische Wirtschaftspolitik, 1 (1937), 153–4Google Scholar.