Reichswerke Hermann Göring

Reichswerke Hermann Göring was a state-controlled industrial conglomerate established in Nazi Germany in 1937 to exploit low-grade domestic iron ore around Salzgitter and reduce Germany’s dependence on imported raw materials. Its creation formed part of the economic mobilization associated with the Four Year Plan and Adolf Hitler’s drive for military self-sufficiency. The enterprise was placed under the political supervision of Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, who used his control over state financing and economic administration to build an industrial system less dependent on the privately owned Ruhr steel companies. The immediate rationale was technological and strategic. German steelmakers had traditionally relied heavily on imported ore, while the deposits at Salzgitter were considered commercially unattractive because of their low quality. Advances in processing technology made large-scale exploitation more feasible. In July 1937 Göring announced the formation of an integrated state company for mining and steelmaking, with Paul Pleiger as managing director. The project challenged major private producers including Vereinigte Stahlwerke, Krupp, Gutehoffnungshütte and Mannesmann. Rather than allowing private capital to determine the pace and location of investment, the Nazi state used Reichswerke to force rapid expansion in line with military priorities. The conglomerate expanded dramatically after Göring secured extensive state financing and after Hjalmar Schacht, who had resisted the project, lost influence and resigned as Economics Minister in late 1937. Reichswerke absorbed or controlled mining, steel, engineering, weapons, transport and related businesses. Its acquisition of Rheinmetall brought it directly into armaments production. Following the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, it took control of major Austrian heavy-industry assets, especially the Alpine Montangesellschaft complex and the vertically integrated works being developed around Linz. The company subsequently appropriated or controlled a substantial share of heavy industry in the annexed Sudetenland and occupied Czechoslovakia, and it repeated similar practices in Poland, France, Luxembourg, Romania and the Soviet territories conquered after 1941. By the end of 1941 Reichswerke was probably the largest company in Europe, with reported capital of about 2.4 billion Reichsmarks and approximately half a million workers. It supplied roughly one-eighth of German steel output and operated a geographically dispersed network extending from western Europe to Latvia and the Donbas. Its size reflected the Nazi regime’s preference for state-directed industrial concentration and confiscation, but also created severe management and logistical problems. The company spread resources across too many mines and factories, often acquired for political or strategic reasons rather than commercial viability. Its mining and steel division recorded losses throughout its existence. Reichswerke’s workforce was multinational and coercive. Salzgitter attracted workers from Germany, Austria, Italy and the Netherlands, while a large proportion of the workforce consisted of foreign laborers. Housing shortages led to the construction of numerous camps. From 1942, ammunition facilities used prisoners and forced laborers from concentration-camp subcamps, including the Drütte camp; a Gestapo-run camp also operated for workers classified as delinquent. These labor practices formed part of the broader system of exploitation that sustained Nazi wartime production. In 1942 the weapons and munitions businesses were transferred to the armaments authorities associated with Organisation Todt and the Ministry of Armaments. The remaining core concentrated on coal, iron and steel, including assets in Germany, Austria, Bohemia and Moravia, France, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania and the occupied Soviet Union. Allied advances between 1943 and 1945 dismantled the conglomerate and returned or redistributed many…

The enterprise emerged from the Nazi regime’s effort to make Germany less dependent on imported iron ore. During 1935–1936, German steel production was recovering strongly, but most ore was imported and private steel companies were reluctant to invest heavily in low-grade Salzgitter deposits. Göring used the Four Year Plan and the discovery that improved processing could make the deposits usable to justify a state-owned alternative. In July 1937 the Reichswerke was announced as an integrated mining and steel company, with Paul Pleiger appointed managing director. Its formation marked a direct confrontation with the established Ruhr steel interests and with Economics Minister Hjalmar Schacht, who opposed unrestricted state financing. After Schacht’s resignation in November 1937, Göring expanded the company’s capital and authority. The first Salzgitter pig iron was produced in October 1939 and the first steel in August 1940. A major nearby metalworking facility, Stahlwerke Braunschweig, was developed during the same period. The Salzgitter region grew rapidly but lacked adequate housing, leading to extensive camp construction and the recruitment of foreign workers. Later, concentration-camp prisoners were forced to work in the local industrial system, including ammunition production. The Anschluss transformed Reichswerke from a German development project into an instrument of economic annexation. It absorbed Austrian heavy-industrial interests, gained control of the Alpine Montangesellschaft and developed a large integrated steel center around Linz, including Eisenwerke Oberdonau. The same model was applied to Czechoslovak, Polish, French, Luxembourgish and Romanian assets. During the war the company claimed to act as a trustee for the German state, but its acquisitions frequently displaced private owners and transferred industrial wealth to Nazi-controlled enterprises. In the occupied Soviet Union it received responsibility for mines and steelworks in the Kryvbas and Donbas regions, although these assets were difficult to operate because of destruction, shortages and military disruption. At its peak the conglomerate employed around half a million people and operated across much of German-controlled Europe. Its organizational structure included coal, iron and steel; weapons and munitions; transport; and later captured Soviet operations. This scale did not produce corresponding efficiency. The company accumulated facilities faster than it could coordinate them, and its core mining and steel operations ran at a loss. In 1942 the weapons division was transferred to the central armaments administration, leaving Reichswerke focused primarily on raw materials and basic metals. Allied advances between 1943 and 1945 recovered or separated many of the conglomerate’s assets. The Austrian properties were nationalized after the war, with the Linz works reorganized into VÖEST. The Salzgitter works survived under the Reichswerke name until 1953 before becoming part of the postwar reorganization of German industry. The organization’s wartime history remains closely associated with Nazi state planning, industrial expropriation, forced labor and the exploitation of occupied territories.

1. 1953Salzgitter operation ends under the Reichswerke name

   The surviving Salzgitter works is reorganized after continuing to operate under the Reichswerke name in the postwar period.

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2. 1944Allied dismantling begins

   Allied reconquest and occupation begin breaking apart Reichswerke’s network of appropriated industrial assets.

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3. 1942Weapons businesses transferred to armaments authorities

   The conglomerate is reduced in scope as its weapons and munitions operations move to the central Ministry of Armaments system.

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4. 1941Conglomerate reaches European-scale peak

   By the end of the year Reichswerke is described as Europe’s largest company, with a vast workforce and extensive occupied-territory holdings.

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5. 1940First Salzgitter steel

   The Salzgitter complex produces its first steel in August.

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6. 1939First pig iron at Salzgitter

   The Salzgitter project produces its first pig iron in October.

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7. 1938Expansion into armaments

   The absorption of Rheinmetall extends Reichswerke’s activities from mining and steel into weapons production.

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8. 1937Reichswerke is founded

   The Nazi state establishes the conglomerate to mine Salzgitter’s low-grade iron ore and build an integrated steel industry outside private Ruhr control.

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9. 1937Paul Pleiger becomes managing director

   Pleiger is appointed to manage the rapidly expanding state industrial project under Göring’s political supervision.

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A state-directed, vertically integrated industrial and armaments complex designed to advance Nazi Germany’s autarky, rearmament and control of strategic heavy industry.

• Salzgitter iron and steelSteelmaking1937

  The original core of Reichswerke was the extraction of low-grade iron ore around Salzgitter and its conversion into pig iron and steel. The project was built to overcome Germany’s dependence on imported ore and to support rapid military-industrial expansion. Its first pig iron appeared in 1939 and its first steel in 1940, although the division remained economically inefficient and loss-making.

• Linz integrated steelworksSteelmaking1938

  The Linz complex, assembled through the takeover of Austrian heavy-industry assets after the Anschluss, became Reichswerke’s most important foreign industrial center. It combined ore, steelmaking, engineering and supporting infrastructure and was intended to form a vertically integrated production base less exposed to Allied bombing than the Ruhr.

• Rheinmetall armaments operationsWeapons and munitions1938

  The absorption of Rheinmetall brought weapons manufacturing into the Reichswerke system. The armaments activities supplied Nazi Germany’s rearmament program before being transferred in 1942 to the centralized armaments administration.

• Coal and mining operationsMining1937

  Reichswerke controlled coal mines and other mineral assets in Germany and territories conquered or annexed during the war. These operations supported its integrated steel system and were also used to appropriate strategic resources from occupied economies.

• Transport and engineering facilitiesIndustrial infrastructure1938

  The conglomerate included rail and river transport interests, construction companies, engineering works and shipyard-related assets. These businesses supported the movement of ore, coal, finished steel and military goods across its geographically dispersed network.

• 1942Separate armaments from the mining and steel coreStrategy

  The conglomerate had become too large and administratively unwieldy to manage effectively, while the Nazi regime was centralizing weapons production.

  What changed. Weapons and munitions assets were transferred to Organisation Todt and the Ministry of Armaments, leaving Reichswerke focused mainly on coal, iron and steel.

  Aftermath. The organization became smaller but its core operations continued to suffer losses through the end of the war.

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• 1938Absorb Rheinmetall and Austrian heavy industryM&A

  Reichswerke sought to connect raw materials, steel, engineering and weapons production under state direction while exploiting the annexation of Austria.

  What changed. It absorbed Rheinmetall and acquired or controlled major Austrian industrial companies, including Alpine Montangesellschaft and the Linz works.

  Aftermath. The conglomerate became a multinational industrial and armaments system and a principal vehicle for Nazi economic appropriation.

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• 1937Build a state-controlled Salzgitter steel complexStrategy

  Germany’s steel industry relied heavily on imported ore, while private producers considered Salzgitter’s deposits uneconomic and resisted rapid state-led expansion.

  What changed. The Nazi government created Reichswerke to mine the deposits and process them through an integrated state-owned steel system.

  Aftermath. The project established a major new industrial center but intensified conflict between the Nazi state and private steel companies.

  • Vereinigte Stahlwerke — The private steel group opposed the project and attempted to limit its expansion, but state pressure prevented an effective challenge.
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• 1942Forced labor in Reichswerke productionControversy

  Reichswerke facilities, including Salzgitter-area ammunition plants, used foreign workers and concentration-camp prisoners. The Drütte subcamp and other camps supplied coerced labor under the Nazi camp system.

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• 1938Industrial expropriation in Austria and CzechoslovakiaControversy

  After annexation and occupation, Reichswerke took control of major heavy-industry assets through pressured sales, state intervention, proxy arrangements and outright confiscation, displacing previous owners and strengthening Nazi state control.

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• 1945Allied forces capture and dismantle Reichswerke assets

  Allied occupation brought the conglomerate’s wartime expansion to an end and led to the redistribution, nationalization or dismantling of its assets.

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• 1938Reichswerke absorbs Rheinmetall and expands into armaments

  The conglomerate entered weapons production through the absorption of Rheinmetall as its capital and industrial scope rapidly expanded.

  M&AProduct launch
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• 1938Reichswerke takes control of Austrian heavy industry after Anschluss

  Following Germany’s annexation of Austria, Reichswerke acquired or controlled major Austrian mining and steel assets, including the Linz industrial complex.

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• 1937Reichswerke established for Salzgitter ore and steel production

  The Nazi government created the state industrial enterprise to exploit domestic iron ore and accelerate steel production outside the control of private Ruhr producers.

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1. Reichswerke Hermann Göring