HN 2: The British and their Works

4
4.1
The new man
Steps to Normality
From an early stage, the Industry Division in Minden was interested
in seeing the German management becoming stronger
and more independent. Throughout the British zone, the military
government was obliged to make a drastic reduction to its
exorbitant occupation costs by dismantling the administration
system. The amalgamation of the American and British zones of
occupation on 1st January 1947 was a vital step in this direction,
since Great Britain’s war debts with the USA had brought it to
the brink of economic ruin. After the decision to set up the
Bizone, which was a boost for the proponents of reconstruction,
the British military government’s medium-term policy was
directed at returning the factory to German hands, as Colonel
Radclyffe stated at the meeting of the Board of Control in early
December 1946. Because production had now been organised
and sufficient numbers of vehicles could be produced, he asserted
that there was no longer any need to exert strict control. 193
The Board of Control’s plans involved transferring responsibility
from the Mechanical Engineering Branch to the Property Control
Branch and entrusting the latter’s on-site representative, F. T.
Neal, with the position formerly occupied by Ivan Hirst. Together
with Colonel Radclyffe, Hirst was to maintain a relaxed supervision
of production through flying visits. Major Hirst was withdrawn
in December 1946 and sent home on leave.
The Property Control had raised objections to this decision as it
doubted strongly whether the interests of the Military
Government would be adequately protected under the new
arrangement. As it soon turned out, these doubts were justified.
The first attempt to transfer governance of the company to the
German management turned into a fiasco. Left to its own devices,
in the grave crisis of 1946/47 the factory management proved
incapable of keeping the operation going and attacking the
numerous problems to the satisfaction of the British. It failed in
its attempts to secure a regulated provision of raw materials,
and instead got itself entangled, at least in the view of the
Military Government, in dubious black-market deals with the
support of the Economic Administrative Office. Major Hirst
was hastily recalled and despite his official posting spent the
majority of the time performing his previous job in Wolfsburg,
helping to control the chaotic conditions. After this experience
the British temporarily shelved the idea of returning the company
entirely to German hands. It was feared, probably correctly,
that once control had been relinquished, supplies to the Allies
would no longer be assured. Major Hirst, now a civilian employee
of the German Section of the British Foreign Office, was
officially recalled to the Volkswagenwerk and assumed the
position of Senior Control Officer. 194
There was, however, no alternative to a strengthening of the
management. At the end of May 1947 the Bizone powers had set
up the "Wirtschaftsrat für das Vereinigte Wirtschaftsgebiet"
(Economic Council for the United Economic Region), thus creating
a German quasi-parliament. This was one reason why in
the summer of 1947 the Board of Control of the Volkswagenwerk
envisaged the setting up of a corporate Board of Management.