Austria (Vienna) The Austrian cartel system was definitely dominated by the city of Vienna as the political and administrative center of Austria-Hungary or of the republican Austria. The historical
Viennese cartel landscape was characterized by a graduated geographical scope of the recognizable cartels. The responsibility of these associations ranged from the wider town area (in most cases craft cartels) via Lower Austria, crownland/republic Austria, the Austrian part of the Habsburg monarchy, the whole Austria-Hungary up to an international or global reach. In terms of architecture, the Viennese cartel residences don't stand out: They feature the same pomp style as the neighboring buildings and are not marked with specific trade symbols. Removals of cartel seats, mainly of smaller administrations, which fitted into large apartments, can be ascertained.
International • International Ferrosilicon Company in Vienna, Universitätsstr. 11 (up to 1930) and (since 1931) in Hegelgasse 13 (both Inner City), obviously only in rented flats. File:Universitätsstraße 06.JPG|Ferrosilicon Company (Universitätsstr. 11) File:Wien - Hegelgasse 13.jpg|Ferrosilicon Company (Hegelgasse 13)
Imperial Austrian-Hungarian • Central Warehouse of Austrian & Hungarian String Factories, registered cooperative, Maximilianplatz 2, Vienna (later: Freiheitsplatz or Rooseveltplatz 2). • Procurement Cooperative of Austrian-Hungarian Power Plants, Mariannengasse 4 (at that time located in the administration building of the Vienna Public Utility and Power Plant, Mariannengasse 4–6) • Procurement, Sales- & Credit Cooperative of Austrian & Hungarian Shoe Factories, Mariahilferstr. 17 (large building consisting of several business premises; shops in the basement, offices upstairs) • Central-Sales Bureau of the United Austrian-Hungarian Knitting Yarn Spinning Mills, Lindengasse 41, Vienna File:Wien - Rooseveltplatz 2 (Maximilianplatz 2).jpg|Central Warehouse of Austrian & Hungarian String Factories (Maximilianplatz 2 [today: Rooseveltplatz 2]) File:Wien9 Mariannengasse 4.jpg|Procurement Cooperative of Austrian-Hungarian Power Plants (Mariannengasse 4) File:Wien - Mariahilferstr. 17.jpg|Procurement, Sales- & Credit Cooperative of Austrian & Hungarian Shoe Factories (Mariahilferstr. 17) File:Wien - Lindengasse 41.jpg|Central-Sales Bureau of the United Austrian-Hungarian Knitting Yarn Spinning Mills (Lindengasse 41)
Cisleithanian • Cooperative of the Austrian Sugar Refineries (original name stated in German, Czech and Polish), established in 1896, Elisabethstr. 18. Building erected in 1862 as Palais Mayr.
Austrian (crownland or republic) • Main Sales Point of the Austrian Cement-Factories: Ditscheinergasse 2 (
Landstraße district) • Cement Sales Agency Ostmark, Seilerstätte 13, Vienna (Inner City) • Procurement Cooperative of the Austrian Power Plant Association, Schleifmühlengasse 4 • Procurement Cooperative of the Association of Austrian Local Trains, Schleifmühlengasse 4 • Sales Office of the Austrian Gypsum Works, Rudolf von Alt-Platz 7, Vienna (East Vienna) File:Wien - Ditscheinergasse 2.jpg|Main Sales Point of the Austrian Cement Factories (Ditscheinergasse 2) File:Wien - Seilerstätte 13.jpg|Cement Sales Agency Ostmark (Seilerstätte 13) File:Wien - Schleifmühlengasse 4.jpg|Procurement Cooperative of the Association of Local Austrian Trains (Schleifmühlengasse 4) File:Wien - Rudolf von Alt-Platz 7.jpg|Sales Office of the Austrian Gypsum Works (Rudolf von Alt-Platz 7)
Lower Austrian • Sales Cooperative of the Lower Austrian Lime Works, Plankengasse 6, Vienna (Vienna-Inner City) • Sales Bureau of Lower Austrian Forrest Owners, Schauflergasse 6, Vienna (Vienna-Inner City) File:Haus-Plankengasse 6-01.jpg|Sales Cooperative of the Lower Austrian Lime Works (Plankengasse 6) File:Wien - Schauflergasse 6.jpg|Sales Office of Lower Austrian Forest Owners (Schauflergasse 6) File:Liliengasse3.jpg|United Sole and Strap Leather Factories (Vienna, Liliengasse 3)
Urban Viennese • Procurement, Sales- & Credit Cooperative of the United Sole and Strap Leather Factories in Vienna, Weihburggasse 9 (corner house together with Liliengasse 3, with separate entrances from each street). • Central Business Cooperative of the Master Shoemakers in Vienna. Kirchengasse 32 (crossroad to Mariahilferstr.). • Central Procurement Cooperative of the Austrian Hairdressers and Hairdresser Cooperatives in Vienna, Mollardgasse 1. The building belongs since 1910 to the Viennese Hairdresser guilt.
Belgium •
Brussels: the building of the International Wire Export Company (IWECO) from 1932 to 1939, 54 rue de Namur. In this world cartel for wire exports,
Belgium, France, Germany,
Czechoslovakia,
Hungary and
Poland were regular members. The United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy were affiliated to the cartel through individual agreements. •
Brussels: the building of the Convention internationale des glaceries, an association of European plate glass producers between 1904 and 1914/15.
Czechia Also in
Czechoslovakia, the capital (Prague) was the most favored location for cartel headquarters. Nevertheless, other places can be found (e.g. Brno), but were comparably rare. •
Brno, Jesuitengasse 6 (now: Jezuitská 4): the building of the „Čechoslovak Cloth Association" from October 4, 1921. The underlying agreement intended the unification of the payment and delivery conditions. Almost all important firms of the Czechoslovak cloth industry were affiliated. Besides the cloth industry in the narrow sense, there were plush, felt and other specialities. The control of the conditions was to the duty of the participating six subgroups of the cartel. The conditions of sale were fixed by each group autonomously. •
Prague, Na Poříčí 26: the building of the Czechoslovak "Spiritusverwertungsgesellschaft G.m.b.H.". In this sales organization, the Czechoslovak or respectively the Bohemian-Moravian spirit distillers had been united since 1923 and up to the mid-1940s years. •
Prague, Opletalova 55, formerly: Lüzowova 55: the building of the Czechoslovak Steel Syndicate, 192? -1939. In that organization the Czechoslovak iron and steel producers were united. The syndicate was an associate member of the
International Steel Cartel between 1927 and 1931 and its reestablishment from 1933 to 1939. File:Činžovní dům Brno Jezuitská 585-4.jpg|Čechoslovak Cloth Association (Brno, Jesuitengasse 6, now Jezuitská 4. File:Palác Archa a Legiobanka.jpg|Spirit Distillers Company (Prague, Na Poříčí 26, left building) File:Prague Opletalova 55-7.JPG|Czechoslovak Steel Syndicate (Prague, Opletalova 55, formerly: Lüzowova 55)
France •
Longwy/
Lothringen: the building of the
Comptoir métallurgique de Longwy, 1876–1914, Member firms: pig iron smelters of French Lorraine. Significance: in the 19th century (until the
First World War) most famous and by turnover strongest sales cartel in France. Building: reused, without monument protection. File:Picard - LONGWY-Bas - Place Giraud.JPG|Comptoir building in the center of Place Giraud. Longwy Bas, pre-1914 File:Place Giraud Feldpost.jpg|Comptoir building in the center of Place Giraud. Longwy Bas, pre-1914 File:Comptoir de Longwy frontside II 2017.jpg|Former Comptoir building from the frontside left, 2017 File:Longwy_Place_Giraud_frontside_2017.jpg|Former Comptoir building from the frontside right, 2017 File:Longwy_Place_Giraud_backside_2017.jpg|Former Comptoir building from the backside, 2017 File:164_rue_du_Faubourg-Saint-Honoré.jpg|Former Comptoir Siderurgique de France • Paris, rue du Faubourg 164: the first building of the
Comptoir Siderurgique de France, moved in by 1919. This association was the French national steel cartel. The Comptoir was privileged founding member of the
International steel cartel between 1926 and 1931. • Paris, rue Paul-Cézanne 1: the second building of the
Comptoir Siderurgique de France, documented for 1938. The Comptoir was privileged founding member of the
International steel cartel between 1933 and 1939. • Paris,
Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin: the building, wherein the „
Aluminium Association" (AA) resided between 1912 and 1914. The AA was a European quota and price cartel, which did not sell directly, but registered the aluminium sales of the national groups. • Paris, 23 rue Balzac, the former building of the
Pechiney corporation which housed the national French aluminium cartel during the inter-war period. The premised were replaced by a new building in the 1980s.
Germany • the
Ruhr cartel cluster in Northwest Germany: Since the end of the 19th century, the extended Ruhr region (including the northern
Rhineland and neighboring low mountain ranges) was the area with the world's most intense cartelization. Cartels in coal mining, in iron smelting and steel refining, and further processing industries were typical of the region. In addition, there were cooperative producer associations in numerous other branches of industry such as glassmaking, pulp production, etc. Alone in the iron and steel industry at the beginning of the 20th century there were 13 cartels or cartel establishments in Düsseldorf; in Hagen there were even more: 15, in
Cologne 8, in Essen, Siegen, Solingen and
Velbert 2 each. Proof of the diverse cooperation structures in and between cartels could provide a more accurate topography of the earlier cartel economy on the Rhine and Ruhr. • the
Berlin cartel cluster: As early as the beginning of the 20th century,
Berlin was a sought-after location for cartel headquarters or selling agencies. In the iron and steel industry alone, 9 cartels were established in Berlin at the beginning of the 20th century. or „ideal cartel of the world", thus an organizational celebrity. File:Syndikatsgebäude RWKS.jpg|Headquarters of the Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate, around 1900 File:RWKS Syndikatsgebäude-2.jpg|Headquarters of the Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate, around 1910 File:Evonik-Zentrale 2013.jpg|Here stood the buildings of the coal syndicate and up to 1997 the "Ruhrkohlehaus" (now: headquarters of the Evonik Corporation) • the “Stahlhof”, Düsseldorf, since 1908 the headquarters of the
Stahlwerksverband, the German steel cartel. Members: Steel works of the Ruhr, since 1909 steel works nationwide. The building is listed only because of its architecture and as the "cradle of democracy in North Rhine-Westphalia" (seat of the British military government). No commemorative plaque because of its origin as the largest steel cartel worldwide. File:Düsseldorf Stahlhof, Bastionstr. 39, Architekt Johannes Radke. Quelle Die Architektur des XX. Jahrhunderts – Zeitschrift für moderne Baukunst. Jahrgang 1909, Nr. 83.jpg|Stahlhof, vor 1909 File:Stahlhof-Duesseldorf.jpg|Stahlhof, from the east File:Stahlhof, Düsseldorf, roof.JPG|Stahlhof, north front File:Düsseldorf Walzstahlhaus.jpg|Walzstahlhaus, facade • the "Walzstahlhaus" (Rolled Steel House),
Düsseldorf, the sales office of the Association of German rolled steel entrepreneurs since 1940. The prestigious new building, planned years earlier, was apparently intended to yield appropriate premises also for the three Düsseldorf divisions of the International Steel Cartel (1933–1939). By this association, the
rolled steel grades heavy plate, medium plate and universal iron were allotted to the German syndicate group, that is, the worldwide export of these product types was controlled from Düsseldorf. The building is listed because of its architecture only. • the buildings of the German
Potash Syndicate (Kalisyndikat), Staßfurt, since 1910 Berlin. Significance: conduct of a world export monopoly for
potash until the First World War, then cartel leadership (along with France) for the world exportation of potash until the Second World War. In Staßfurt, the potash syndicate resided in Bodestraße. In Berlin, the syndicate complex Dessauer Str. 28–31 extended over four house numbers, which included three buildings. The photos on the bottom right show only half of the occupied building volume (No. 28/29). File:Stassfurt, Bodestr, 1890 (Kalisyndikat).png|Premises of the German Potash Syndicate in Stassfurt, Bodestr., since 1890 File:Stassfurt, Bodestr, 2015 (Kalisyndikat).JPG|former syndicate headquarters, Stassfurt Bodestr. (streetview), 2015 File:Stassfurt, Bodestr, 2015-2 (Kalisyndikat).JPG|former syndicate headquarters, Stassfurt Bodestr. (left front), 2015 File:Stassfurt, Bernburger Str, 2015 (Kalisyndikat zweites Gebäude).JPG|Potash mining office, Bernburger Str., 2015 File:Kalisyndikat Berlin 1910.png|Premises of the German Potash Syndicate in Berlin Dessauer Str. 28/29, 1910 File:Berlin, Dessauer Str, 2015 (Kalisyndikat).JPG|Premises of the German Potash Syndicate in Berlin Dessauer Str. 28/29, 2015 • the building of five salt-industrial syndicates, Berlin: Since 1930, the sales organizations for
table salt,
epsom salt,
chloromagnesium salt,
bromine salt and
bromine have been located at Schöneberger Str. The building no longer exists (since about 1990) and has been replaced by a narrow remainder house and a further road break. The size of the vacant lot (about 40m frontage) reveals the scope of the previous premises and the glimpse of its extensive administrative functions. File:Berlin, Schöneberger Str, 2015 (Spezialsalzsyndikate).JPG|Former large building Schöneberger Str. 5, in 2015 File:Berlin, Schöneberger Str, 2015-2 (Spezialsalzsyndikate).JPG|Former administration building for five special salt syndicates, now street breakthrough, in 2015 • the building of the cloth syndicate, Berlin, Anhalter Str. 5. Significance: Management of the cloth distribution in the
planned economy of the
Third Reich. • the building of the
rayon sales organization, Neue Kantstr. 32. Significance: Management of rayon distribution (for the production of high quality textiles) in the
planned economy of the Third Reich. • the building of the Imperial Iron Agency ("Reichsvereinigung Eisen"), Badensche Str. 24, Berlin-Wilmersdorf: destroyed or/and demolished, new building as a commercial building. File:Berlin, Anhalter Str, 2015 (Tuchsyndikat).JPG|Tuchsyndikat: cloth distribution in the Third Reich, building in 2015 File:Berlin, Neue Kantstr 32, 2015 (Zellwollring).JPG|rayon ring: rayon distribution in Third Reich, building in 2015
Great Britain • London (Westminster): the Steelhouse, Tothill Street. This was the seat of the British Iron & Steel Federation, the British Iron and Steel Corporation Limited and also the British Steelwork Association. While the "Association" and the "Federation" were political organs, the "Corporation" did the practical sales and clearing work. • London, SW 1: the building of the International Black Sheets Sales Agency of 1936, 14 Waterloo Place. Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy Poland were regular members of this export cartel. The United States was affiliated to the cartel through individual agreements. • London: the building 11 Ironmonger Lane, where the
International Rail Makers Association (IRMA) was based, was a subtenant of the Chartered Accountants Plight, Warwick, Mitchell & Co. The previously existing cartel was re-established in 1926. Its members were Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Great Britain, the United States and two independent business groups. • London, in the same building 11 Ironmonger Lane was the seat of the International Tin Plate Association. This association was founded in 1934. Members were France, Germany, Great Britain, the United States, Belgium and Norway. Italy was connected by a special contract.
Luxembourg •
Luxembourg City, the building of
COLUMETA SA (Comptoir luxembourgeois de métallurgie), 1920–1976. Members: two steel companies
ARBED, Terres Rouges. Joint building of both companies and COLUMETA since 1922. Significance: joint Luxembourg sales office since the secession from the customs union with Germany causing the end of the syndication with German steel companies. The building has been listed since 2013 as a historical headquarters of ARBED.
Netherlands •
The Hague: the building of the Nederlandsch Cement-Syndicaat (circa 1900–1970), Bezuidenhoutseweg 1. The association was originally established in
Rotterdam but later relocated its sales office to Den Hague.
Poland •
Katowice: the building of the "Syndicate of Polish Ironworks" (Syndykat Polskich Hut Żelaznych) in
Katowice , Lompy 14. The association had commissioned the building in 1926 and moved to it after completion in 1932. In this
trade association, the iron and steel producers of Poland were united. Housed under the same address was the sub-organization Export Union of the Polish Ironworks (Zwiazelc Eksportowy Polskich Hut Zelaznych). File:Katovice Józefa Lompy 14 from left.jpg|Headquarter of the Polish steel industry, built in 1926–32, from left File:Katovice Józefa Lompy 14 facade decoration.jpg|Headquarter of the Polish steel industry, facade decoration File:Katovice Józefa Lompy 14 from right.jpg|Headquarter of the Polish steel industry, from right •
Opole, formerly "Oppeln": the building of the "Central sales office of the Silesian Portland cement factories" or respectively the "Association of Silesian Portland Cement Factories" (until 1929), later the "Norddeutsche Cement-Verband GmbH., Verk.-St. Opole, Hippelstr. 10 "(today: Opole, Damrota 10). File:Opole Księdza Konstantego Damrota 10 athlete.jpg|The building of a former cement cartel / facade decoration File:Opole Księdza Konstantego Damrota 10.jpg|The building of a former cement cartel / entrance & facade decoration File:Opole Księdza Konstantego Damrota 10 workman.jpg|The building of a former cement cartel / facade decoration
Spain •
Madrid, Calle José Abascal, 53: the building of OFICEMEN (Grupo Nacional Autónomo de Fabricantes de Cementos Artificiales), the Spanish Cement Manufacturers’ Group. This was a cartel between 1931 and 1980 and successor of a loose first association of cement factories that was formed in 1906. OFICEMEN was supported by the Ministry of Industry in Madrid, which for the entire cement sector set the prices and production quotas according to proposal from their six largest industry companies. Since 1980, OFICEMEN is only a normal trade association without pricing functions. •
Madrid, Calle Ruiz de Alarcón, 5: the building of the headquarters of the former Sociedad General Azucarera, Spanish Association of Sugar Manufacturers. This was a cartel, which was founded in 1903 and existed since at least to 1936. Also here, the government had regulatory influence on prices, tariffs and other parameter.
Sweden •
Malmö: the building of INTERCEMENT/Cembureau, 1937-1960s. Members: European cement manufacturers.
Switzerland Switzerland was a location for domestic as well as international cartels. •
Bern: the building of the
Swiss Cheese Union, 1914–1999. Members: Swiss cheese traders and makers under control of the Swiss government. •
Geneva: the building of the
Phoebus S.A., Compagnie Industrielle pour le développement de l’Eclairage, 1925–1963, rue de la Rôtisserie 2 et 4, residence of a cartel until 1942. Members: the – almost 10 – greatest
incandescent light bulb producers around the world. •
Zürich: the building of the Swiss "Aluminium Industrie Aktiengesellschaft" (AIAG), in which from 1901 to 1909 the
International aluminium cartel named "Aluminium Association (AA)" was hosted. The AA was the joint sales syndicate for the European Aluminium producers.
Slovakia • ‘‘
Bratislava‘‘, Palisády 42: the building of the Slovak Cement Syndicate, 1939–1944, called "Evidence Office of the Slovak Cement Factories Pressburg". Members of the cartel were the Slovak cement works. The Slovak Cement Syndicate was from the end of 1940 to the beginning of 1945, the Slovak cement syndicate was a direct member of the German Cement Federation, i.e., on par with the five German cement syndicates. Until 1939, the Slovak cement plants had been organized in the Czechoslovak cement cartel based in
Prague.
United States • New York City (Lower Manhattan), 75 West Street, the building in which the Steel Export Association of America was established in 1926. This association was an export cartel, which was exempted from the cartel ban by the renewed
antitrust legislation according to the
Webb-Pomerene Act of 1918. The Steel Export Association became a participating member of the
International Steel Cartel in 1938, which run defunct already in 1939 because of the Second World War. The moved-into building is known as
Old New York Evening Post Building. It was erected in 1906–07 for the newspaper of the same name and is decorated in a magnificent
Art Nouveau style. In 1926, the
Evening Post moved into a larger new building. == References ==