Ein Vierteljahrhundert danach: Gedanken zur Schließung der AG "Weser" in Bremen im Jahre 1983

Abstract

In the years immediately following the cessation of operations at the AG "Weser" shipyard of Bremen in 1983, countless arguments were voiced as to how the enterprise could have been saved. There were claims that the shutdown could have been avoided with a bit of good will, and that the shipyard was still viable at that late date. Even today, the opinion is expressed that politics would have been in a position to save the yard. The further the commentators were re moved from the economic constraints of shipyard operation, the less well-informed they were about the relevant mechanisms of global developments in merchant shipping, the more indignant their accusations sounded, and the more their arguments seemed to laypersons to make sense. Now, from the perspective of twenty-five years and nearly an entire generation later, we can take a more objective view of the historical events. The situation from the reconstruction of the Bremen shipyard beginning in 1949 until its shutdown in 1983 can now be assessed without being distracted by the hustle and bustle of everyday business. We are helped greatly in this endeavour by the fact that many of the arguments cited back then can today be evaluated in light of how things actually developed. The present article undertakes to grant insight into the shipyard’s rise to what was then Germany’s largest shipbuilding operation and the reasons for its downfall from the point of view of someone who was directly involved, at least in the decisive final years.