Essen     


- The reconstruction of Essen after World War II -



The foundation fo the economic miracle - The Marshall Plan




The post-war years:

In the night of April 6th 1945 American armies penetrated into the municipal area of Essen. Thus World War II was practically brought to an end in Essen. The reconstruction could begin. Essen was subordinated to the management of the Britains. They attained the total control and the complete command over the economic potential of the Ruhr area by the confiscation of the whole industry in Essen and in other cities of the Ruhr area.
Until 1946 many thousands of refugees returned. Within one year the population of Essen grew from 285,192 inhabitants (1945) to 524,728 inhabitants (1946), which did not make the situation in the city easier, naturally. In addition there were some disasters ( most of them naturally triggered by the war ), like e.g. breaches in the dyke as it happened on February 8th 1946 in Essen - Karnap. After several days' rain the dyke broke and many thousand of people were partly cut off the outside world. Series of strikes at the end of March, at the beginning of April 1947 were not particularly beneficial for the reconstruction. Hundreds of thousands of miners demonstrated in support of a better supply of food. The same happened at the beginning of 1948.


On April 3rd 1948 the today best-selling newspaper in Essen comes out the first time - the "Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung".
On 31st of July 1948 Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, the only owner of the Krupp factories of Essen, was sentenced in the war criminal - case of Nuernberg to 12 years in prison and his whole fortune was confiscated.


The reconstruction makes progress:

In the following years the reconstruction got along. Not at last with the help of the Americans ( Marshall - Plan ). Especially mining supplied the necessary jobs. (1956 coal mining in Essen reached its climax.) Many things were controlled by the British until 1949. After that their influence was reduced because of the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The next event that is worth mentioning ( from a sporting point of view ) occurs not until the 26th of June 1955. This is the day Rot - Weiss Essen became German Football League Champion the first and unfortunately the only time.
On 1st of September 1958 the Gruga hall (picture 23 KB) of Essen was completed.
Until 1959 Essen developed to the biggest shopping city in the whole Ruhr area. With turnovers of about 76.6 thousands of million marks a good 33% of the turnovers in Essen concluded.


The sixties:

In the sixties the long time of the foreign workers began. Already in the first years thousands of foreign workers flock out of Italy, Spain and Greece to Essen. In these years the lowest unemployment rate since the end of WW II was reached. However, the first signs of the economic crisis could be spotted. So already in 1964 the first mines were closed. At this time already 10,000 miners were affected by the closures.
1965 the Bundesgartenschau took place in the Gruga Park of Essen.