Most Valuable Asset of the Reich: A history of the German National Railway I, 1920-32, The

Journal of Transport History, The, Mar 2001 by Zeilinger, Stefan

Alfred C. Mierzejewski, The Most Valuable Asset of the Reich: a history of the German National Railway I, 1920-32, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill NC and London (1999), 482 pages, L59.95.

The Deutsche Reichsbahn was the biggest commercial enterprise in the world in the 1920s. It is therefore perhaps striking that no scholarly business history of the German National Railways has appeared until now. Alfred Mierzejewski, an authority in the field, has finally filled the gap.

Not only the sheer size of the enterprise but also its peculiar history deserves the historian's attention, as it reflects the history of Germany itself during the period of its existence. Created in 1920 as a result of defeat in war, it symbolised the shift from the Bismarckian Reich with its strong constituent states to a dominant federal State in the Weimar Republic. The main opposition to the unified railway authority represented by the Reichsbahn came, as at the political level, from Bavaria. The Reichsbahn faced its most severe economic crisis in the early 1920s. Inflation hit it severely because rates could not be increased as quickly as prices were rising. Furthermore it was a major actor in the so-called Ruhrkampf, the passive resistance against the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr and Rhine regions in 1922-24. The Ruhr was one of the main suppliers of raw materials (particularly coal) and products such as steel on which the railways were heavily dependent. Moreover the Reichsbahn suffered further in that the Ruhr constituted a vital source of operating revenue.

After the Occupation the Reichsbahn became a pillar of the reparations scheme known as the Dawes plan. It was reorganised as a semi-private enterprise, the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft, with the task of paying reparations to Germany's former enemies as well as operating according to market principles while serving the economic and social welfare of the country. The main emphasis throughout is on the Reichsbahn's `attempt to resolve the artificial contradiction between commercial management and the commonweal'. He sees the former as the basis of Anglo-American political and economic thinking, while the latter is more representative of a particularly German tradition. Against that background the control mechanisms of the Dawes plan are described as an attempt to westernise the German railways and, thereby, German society. In public discourse in Germany the Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft was often seen as a 'foreign' enterprise serving the will of the former Entente powers and managed according to their principles.

An example of the commonweal tradition is the Reichsbahn's political role in the labour market. After the First World War it employed ex-servicemen and ordered new rolling stock in large quantities in order to strengthen the national industry. This practice weakened the railway, particularly in the first few years before restructuring. Wilhelm Groener, the Transport Minister (1920-23), tried to resolve the problems that arose, such as poor morale and high labour costs. He reduced the number of employees substantially, and the Reichsbahn-- Gesellschaft under its board chairman Carl Friedrich von Siemes (1924-34) continued these measures. However, even though the new enterprise was on a footing of independence from the State, it had to fight many battles with the government, which usually ended in compromise. It still ordered more locomotives than it needed and had to face government-imposed wage increases without being free to set its own rates. During the depression after 1929 it again became part of the government's job creation apparatus, although to a lesser extent than after 1918.

The problems the Reichsbahn faced with 'commonweal' principles are clearly shown in the final chapter, which deals with modal competition. In the 1920s truck and bus companies won freight and passenger business from the Reichsbahn. Its response was to try and gain control over its competitors, e.g. by buying the Schenker forwarding company. On the other hand it did not change a rate structure that disadvantaged more prosperous passengers and shippers in particular market segments in order to subsidise uneconomic secondary lines and freight operations. In the 1920s and 1930s such discrimination was still possible; with the advent of mass car ownership after the Second World War it was no longer feasible.

This first volume of the Reichsbahn's business history has been written, of course, from an American perspective. It emphasises economic questions and principles - perhaps too much - yet it is generally convincing. The book is written not for railway enthusiasts, or scholars interested in technical developments, but rather for the economic and political historian. The conflicts between the Reichsbahn, the German government, the states, the trade unions, industrial suppliers and foreign regulators are covered in great detail and make it a convincing, if lengthy, work. Forty-six illustrations, including figures, tables, maps and two portraits, provide the reader with excellent material on the Reichsbahn's operations as well as on the development of its finances and rolling stock. Mierzejewski has produced a highly informative book which will resonate widely and provoke interest in the forthcoming second volume, dealing with the Reichsbahn during the years from 1933 to 1945.