CaliforniaGuy

Hi everyone,

I have a question, before the Second World War, where was the economic and financial center of Germany. During the Cold War, and today, it is mainly in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Cologne, etc., in the west. But before the war, during Imperial and Weimar, was it also in the west, or was it more spread out or even centered in the east - Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, or even the now lost eastern territories - Danzig, Breslau, Königsberg etc.?

Have always been curious about this.

Qymaen

Does the Ruhr Valley count?

CaliforniaGuy

Yeah, I'm mainly talking about the strip of cities along the west. I'm just wondering if before the war, the eastern cities also were centers of industry and commerce/finance, etc., or if the heartland of the German economic engine was always centered in the west part of the country.

Like what is today, western Poland and Kaliningrad (East Prussia), was this area peripheral, or was it the heart of the German nation? I know that kaisers were in fact crowned in Königsberg, hence my interest in the question.

kimi

Well, from 1871 to 1914 was the time where germany really industrialized. It changed rapidly - and violently - from an agricultural country to an industrialized and urbanized nation with all the bad and good that came with it. It was in the works before too, but only after the formation of the federal Reich with all the harmonization and so on did it really take off nationally. So we're talking about the time where everything was still in flux and where centeres where in the process of being defined, rather than already having been defined like London or NY.

Of interest for you is probably the "Gründerzeit" and the following "Gründerkrach" in 1973.
Gründerzeit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm not firm at all but you're pretty safe imo to look at the Ruhr valley, saxony and silesia for the major centers.

Oh, and of course the various capitals of major german states. Berlin, Munich, Dresden...

dragoner

Yes, it was always the west for the most part, from the middle ages to today.

kimi

I have to disagree. This is a west-centric view thats so bemoaned all over this sub-forum.

Saxony and silesia are not western germany and they both where always major sources for german industry and wealth. Saxony for instance not only had silver but also brought the white gold to europe and got rich... well, it was before so ... it stayed rich?

Frank81

This is an interesting question though difficult to answer. We would need data on GDP from different areas of Germany, but i think that Upper Saxony and Silesia were with Rheinland the three centres of the country, surpassing trading cities such as Hamburg, or present high tech Munich. I think so because during that age the industrial output of developed countries in Europe were the bigger one in every economy, being agriculture the first before 1800 and services after 1950

pugsville

The big three banks were in Berlin. They were sidelined and not influential once the Nazis came to power.

dragoner

In total wealth, population, development and production; the Rhine area has been dominant, even back to the Roman times. No question.

Silesia is part of Poland, not Germany. Metals are not the source of Germany's wealth, science and industy is.

beorna

"Hi everyone,

I have a question, before the Second World War, where was the economic and financial center of Germany."

This was the question of the thread. And you want to tell us that pre-WW2-Silesia wasn't german?