ABSTRACT
The time between Dr Erhard assuming office in 1963 and his next appointment with the electorate, in September 1965, was not an easy period for him. It would have been difficult for any man to fill Adenauer’s shoes, and the ex-Chancellor, despite his advanced age, still wanted to play a role in German politics. He remained a member of the Bundestag and as Chairman of the CDU criticised his successor. In effect he claimed Erhard was becoming soft on the “Reds’ and was endangering West Germany’s good relations with France. This naturally encouraged his rivals to remain active. But he had troubles in other directions. There was a growing crisis in the Ruhr, a continuing crisis in agriculture and a new crop of scandals connected with Germany’s dark past. The crisis in the Ruhr mining industry did not suddenly arise in
1963. It had been going on since about 1958 and was similar to that facing the coalmining industries in other countries: oil was replacing coal as a means of cheap, economical fuel and therefore only the most efficient mines would survive in the shrinking market. In 1958 West Germany used 125.2 million tons of hard coal. The amount in 1963 actually rose to 127 million tons, but fell in 1965 to 114.4. In 1967 it was down to 97.1 million tons. The amount of mineral oil rose year by year over this period from 27.3 million tons in 1958 to 124.8 million tons in 1967. The amount of natural gas, though still small, rose greatly over the same period. In about the same years some 250,000 miners lost their jobs. Subsidies, tax on oil and protection against foreign coal were the main weapons used to fight the crisis. Nevertheless, in the sixties it appeared to be a losing battle. Critics have claimed more could have been done to attract outside industry to the area. The crisis of West German agriculture is illustrated by two figures.
