It's complicated! The relationship between the Ruhr's mining industry, the German government and the ECSC's High Authority in the 1950s and 1960s
Principal investigator: Juliane Czierpka
The foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community in the early 1950s changed the relationship between the Ruhr’s mining
industry and the national government fundamentally. The responsibility for the coal and steel industries was taken away from the
national governments and given to the supranational High Authority. Up to now the relationship and interdependences between the three
groups of actors has not played a great role in historical research.
The research project by Juliane Czierpka tries to close this gap by looking at the interests of the three groups and analyzing their
alliances and how they managed to get what they wanted. This will shed new light on the influence of the High Authority’s policy and
politics on the development of the Ruhr’s mining industry. At the same time the power of the High Authority as a supranational institution can be reexamined.