The Postwar Setting

Abstract

The geographical area of controversy which is the major concern of this study is the Ruhr industrial district of Germany, an area of some 2,000 square miles bounded on the south by the Ruhr River. Most of it is included in the old Prussian provinces of Rhineland and Westphalia and extends from the Dutch border on the west to Hamm in the east. It lies mainly between the Ruhr and the Lippe rivers. Aside from the fact that it is the major industrial region of Germany, with approximately 20 per cent of the population, 20 per cent of the people in industry, and 40 per cent of the installed power from all sources, it is one of the world’s densest and most important industrial concentrations. The area produces 80 per cent of the coal of Germany as well as 80 per cent of the pig iron and steel. The basis of its industries has been its huge anthracite basin which supplies coal not only for the heavy industries of the Ruhr itself but also for those of France and other countries. The major industry is steel production, which relies heavily on imports of iron ore from the Lorraine Basin and from Sweden. Coal, tar, and chemicals are major by-products.¹

Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die. And it is youth who must inherit the tribulation, the sorrow, and the triumphs that are the aftermath of war. Herbert Hoover (1944)