ECONOMIC - METALLURGICAL INDUSTRY, IRON AND STEEL PRODUCTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00415R006900130001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 37
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 9, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: June 13, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

1006900130001-0
REPORT F_
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German Democratic Republic
Economic - Metallurgical industry, iron and
r,11 T1rnciir?+i nn
CD NO.
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1948 - 1950
DATE D I ST. /3 Jun 1951
NO. OF PAGES 37
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES WITHIN THE MEANING OF ESPIONAGE ACT 50
U. S. C., SI AND 52, AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR THE REVELATION
OF ITS CONTENTS IN ANY MANNER TO AM UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS PRO-
HIBITED BY LAW. REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM IS PROHIBITED.
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THE IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY OF SOVIET ZONE GERMANY
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jhis report includes dd'ta on installations, personnel, materials,
equipment, products, etc., of the Soviet Zone iron and steel industry.
An "Analysis of the 1949 Steel Balance" and eight tables giving pro-
duction figures are appended.
Iron and steel plants in the Eastern Zone are as follows:
VEB ffeople-Owned Enterprise] Maxhuette, Unterwellenborn, Thueringen
VEB Hennigsdorf Steel and Rolling Mill, Hennigsdorf near Berlin
VEB Riesa Steel and Rolling Mill, Riesa, Sachsen
VEB Groeditz Iron and Steel Works, Groeditz, Sachsen
VEB Auerhammer Semifinished Products Works, Aue, Sachsen
VEB Olbernhau Sheet-Iron Rolling Mill, Olbernhau-Gruenthal, Sachsen
VEB Kirchmoeser Rolling Mill, Kirchmoeser
VEB`Burg Rolling Mill, Burg near Magdeburg
VEB Jomplete name not given Ilsenburg, Ilsenburg, Harz Mountains
VEB Faradit Tube and Rolling Mill, Chemnitz, Sachsen
VEB Lippendorf Electrical Plant, Lippendorf, Sachsen
SAG /Soviet Corporation Hettstedt
SAG Thale, Thale, Harz Mountains
GAG Vogel Cable Works, Berlin
Hoffmann and Motz, Finow-Eberswalde.
In addition, there are a number of smaller rolling and drawing mills, and
a large number of small pig-iron foundries, the total production of which amounts
to little in comparison with that of the first four large plants listed above.
Of the steel foundries, only the Riesa and Hennigsdorf plants and the Leipzig
Iron'and Steel Works (formerly Meier and Weichelt) are of importance. Other
steel foundries are:
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Leipzig-West Electric Steel Foundry (formerly Jahn)
Copitz Steel Foundry
Ketschendorf Steel Foundry, Ketschendorf-Fuerstenwalde
United Torgelow Foundries, Plant No 5, Torgelow, Mecklenburg
Uckermuende Steel Foundry.
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There are also the steel foundries of the G firm and of the Sack machine-
building plant, the SAG Krupp-Gruson Works at Magdeburg, SAG Otto Gruson stl:Magde-
The production figures of these plants do not materially affect the total
production of the Eastern Zone, although the products of the steel and pig-iron
foundries and of the cold-rolling and drawing mills not listed here are used by
machine-building and other iron-processing plants and constitute an important
factor for them, especially in the filling of reparations orders. However, it
is certain that Me conditions which govern the large plants also apply to the
medium-sized and small plants.
ourg y,.I3AG Pate:. eat . ,Magddbiucsg end t biers ,_
;[TI. RSONIIIEL
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The information given below on the number of employees and key personnel is
only approximate because both fluctuate. Only persons who are still active and
Total number of employees: approximately 4,540
Key personnel:
Plant Manager: Hensel, leading SED (Socialist Unity Party) official,
formerly a tailor
Technical Manager: Professor Sedlaczek, SED member, formerly general
manager of the Vereiniz a Oberschlesische Huettenwerke (United Metallurgical Works
of Upper Silesia); a leader in the German war industry; is a first-
rate specialist.
2 5X1 Blast-Furnace Chief: Zieger, expert
Steel Mill Chief: Jacobsen, expert
Rolling Mill Chief: Gruenn, expert, capable, oriented toward the West
Materials testing and laboratory posts are occupied by experts..
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Riesa
Total number of employees: approximately 4,000
Key personnel:
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Plant Manager: Pfroetschner, SED member, veteran Communi:tt, ,f't 'me 'ly.;;a
welder. Despite being a Communist, he has remained humane. Furthermore, he wisely
realized the value of the old expert staff of the plant, and did not dismiss them
even if they had been Nazis; instead, as the plant developed, he put them back
into their old jobs. This policy has made Riesa the best-managed metalli.gical
plant in the Soviet Zone.
Technical Manager: Dreschel, first-rate expert; has been with the
plant for more than 20 years; former Nazi Party member; reeists hare-brained
Russian construction plansy.. usually with success; SED member, but oriented
entirely toward the West.
Chief Designer: Kaden, first-rate expert, oriented turd the West,
nonparty man.
Business Manager: Hoheisel, BED member, oriented toward the West;
has been with the plant for 20 years; first-rate expert.
Steel Mill Chief: Woytt, SED member, fair knowledge of his field;
has been with the plant for 20 years; was a Nazi Party member and was at the
Muehlberg concentration camp until summer 1948.
Steel Foundry Chief: Grellmann, SED member, competent expert.
The heat-treatment plant, the laboratory, the materials testing depart-
ment and the statistical department are manned by first-rate experts. The roll-
ing mill, Germany's most modern installation of its kind, is run by a former mi.l
master.
Groeditz
Total number of employees: approximately 3,000
Key Personnel:
Plant Manager: Zocher, BID member, businessman, not an expert
Technical Manager: Hoepfner, SED member, former Nazi Party member;
capable expert; oriented toward the West. The reconstruction of the plant is
due to his initiative and tireless energy.
Chief Designer: Brandt, first-rate expert; has been with the plant
for more than 20 years.
Sales Manager: Apitz, SED member, oriented toward the West; has been
with the plant for 30 years; fairly capable.
The rest of the personnel are of inferior quality and hardly deserve
to be called experts.
Hennigsdorf
Total number of employees: approximately 3,500
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-Key personnel:
Plant Manager: until recently Bochow, SED member and leading party
official, ministry official; used to be on excellent terms with the Soviet
Military Administration at Karlshorst, but has now fallen into disfavor and
has been dismissed for mismanagement of investment funds and incorrect finan-
cial policy. His place was taken by Dr Kuentscher, SED member, capable ex-
pert, opportunist, who is also the Technical Manager.
Sales Manager: This post changes hands continually.
Steel Mill Chief: Steinheisser, SED, fairly capable.
Rolling Mill Chief: This post is vacant at present.
Chief Designer- Ziese, capable expert; oriented toward the West; is
now quittibg his job.
Laboratory, heat-treatment plant, statistical department, and mater-
ials testing department are poorly managed.
Burg Rolling Mill
Total number of employees: approximately 370
Key personnel:
Plant Manager: formerly Golke;who built up the plant; he resigned about
3 months ago and went to the Western Sector of Berlin. His place was taken by
his deputy, Engineer Papenkort, SED member, not an expert in the field.
Business Manager: Elsholz, SED member, not an expert; was a professional
soldier until 19)+5.
Rolling Mill Chief: Schmitz, capable expert; was head foreman at SAG
Thale until recently; intends to leave fbr West Germany.
Kirchmoeser
Plant Manager: Stemmle, SED member, not an expert; originally from the
textile industry.
Ilsenburg
Plant Manager: Dr Niles, first-rate expert, oriented toward the West
Technical Manager: Bormann, competent expert, oriented toward the West
Lippendorf
Plant Manager: fame not listed.7, first-rate expert.
The above list shows that some of the chief posts are occupied by first-rate
men. In general, however, tie is a lack of qualified personnel. There is a
shortage of assistance in the Oteel and rolling mills, and so masters and foremen
are trained to be assistants. 'However, there is also a shortage of qualified
masters and foremen. To,these problems must be a$ded the Communist aversion for
persons with higher education, so that uneducated wor ers are frequently given
posts for whCc .- lif ea en innee are available. Party politics play a import-
ant in the ass
O .,,in of personne`.. The qualified men formerly available
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either switched to other fields or left for West Germany during the first years
of the SED regime Today, this mistake has been recognized, and the former Nazis,
who had been discriminated against, are being given jobs. tempts are also being
made, through recruiting drives, to get qualified personned'from West Germany.
The unemployment in West Germany is being propagandized to advantage, and some
of :these attempts have been successful.
To train replacements, of which there are absolutely none, schools of tech-
nology have been set up: one for rolling mill workers at Maxhuette, and one for
steel workers at Hennigsdorf. Another such school is to be organized at Riesa.
Replacements with higher education are also completely lacking in the Eastern
Zone, because there is no university to teach the required subjects. It is hoped
that graduates from Wei- erlin and West Germany will gladly take jobs in the
Eastern Zone, because there are practically none to be had in the West; further-
more, the chances for advancement in the East are excellent, not only on the job,
but also in the numerous administrative authorities.
The bottleneck in all sectors of metallurgy is, therefore, the shortage of
masters and engineers. Craftsmen are again becoming qualified, since formerly,
also, they came from the ranks of those originally untrained.
This section gives data on demand, stocks, sources of supply, quality,
quantities imported and exported, and uses of iron ore, scrap, manganese, chrome,
molybdenum, etc., in the Eastern Zone.
The only iron ore deposits of importance in the Eastern Zone are those in
the Saalfeld region of Thueringen. The, Maxhuette plant was built to operate on
this supply base. The requirement for the Maxhuette blast furnaces at the present
Vproduction rate (about 250,000 tons of pig iron per year) is probably around
750,000 tons of ore. This amount is available at all times. The ore which is
mined contains about 1.8 percent phosphorus. This phosphorus content is a little
too ,, :s production of Thomas pig iron. Maxhuette used to import apatite
to compensate for this deficiency in the blast furnaces, but since 19+5 this has
been impossible in the Eastern Zone. The blast furnace and the Thomas installa-
tion, therefore, have had constant difficulties. Repeated pleas'by the German
/Economic Commission for the import of apatite from the Soviet Union remained un-
answered for a long time, but lately there have been reports that apatite has
been mportedk~';*iThe quantity and origin are not known.
Additional ore mines are those of Buechenb g near Elbingerode in the R rz
and Braunesumf near Huettenrode in the Harz, but both are very small. The ores
mined there are used for the production of foundry pig iron and ferro-manganese.
As far as is known, no iron are is being imported. If such imports are being
obtained, they are used merely for improving quality and not for maintaining
production.
Scrap
Scrap constitutes a serious bottleneck for the East German metallurgical
.industry. The large scrap Mocks of the plants were removed during the complete
dismantling of the plants. This removal of scrap II~ ` used even during reconstruc-
t /Lion of the Riesa, Kenn igsdorf, and Groeditz plant s`&~ ii fall 1948, so that these
plants today do"nothave any sizable reserve stocks of scrap. The Bern S-Bahn
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