International Port and Economic Center

In the first decade of the 20th century, Hamburg still lived mainly from shipping and trade. In 1912, its port was the world's third largest after New York and London, and the most important port on the European continent. Shipping companies whose routes spanned the globe were based here. They included Hamburg-Süd, German East-Africa Line, Levante Line, Woermann Line and the world's biggest shipping company, HAPAG. In 1913, HAPAG had a fleet of 175 ships. Inland navigation on the Elbe, coastal and above all transmarine shipping with regular steamer connections to North, Central and South America, Western and Eastern Africa, and to the Middle and Far East shaped the city’s economy.

Shipping spawned an increase in shipbuilding, and Hamburg acquired an excellent reputation as a shipyard location. Alongside the older yards Reiherstieg and Stülcken, Blohm & Voss, Vulcan Yard (1909) and German Shipyard (1914) provided employment for tens of thousands of Hamburgers. Warships and the giant ocean liners "Imperator," "Vaterland" and "Bismarck," built between 1912 and 1914, were symbols of the German Reich's drive for maritime power.

Manufacturing activities made Hamburg the second largest center of industry in the German Reich after Berlin, though this sector had far less impact on public awareness. The Free Port, Hammerbrook and Billbrook, Barmbek and Winterhude and neighboring Prussian towns were home to engineering and electrical companies, oil refineries and asbestos factories, as well as coffee roasting and rice mills.

Given this economic dynamism, banks and insurance companies naturally also played an important role in Hamburg, along with other service providers. Architecturally elaborate department stores offering a wide range of goods were en vogue. In 1912, such stores were opened by Rudolf Karstadt on Mönckebergstrasse and by Hermann Tietz on Jungfernstieg.


Hamburg in the 20th.century (1)
-    Imperial Germany and the Struggle for Voting Rights
-    Life in Wilhelmine Germany
-    The Mobile City
-    International Port and Economic Center
-    Revolution in Hamburg
-    Democracy and its Enemies
-    A Decade of Economic Crisis
-    Greater Hamburg
-    Life Under the Swastika
-    The Abolition of Democracy
-    Towards a War Economy
-    Persecution and resistance in the National Socialist state
-    Hamburg at war
-    Destruction by Fire Storm

Hamburg in the 20th.century (2)