For the first craft fair in Munich, 365,000 visitors flocked to the former exhibition grounds in the Theresienhöhe exhibition park. Fifty-five special trains and two thousand special buses are counted. Few visitors come by car and it is still unaffordable for most people. 820 companies presented their crafts, machines and tools from July 15 to 31, 1949 – just two months after the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany. Entry costs one D-Mark.
“The Americans granted us this trade fair back then,” says Franz Xaver Peteranderl, President of the Chamber of Crafts for Munich and Upper Bavaria (HWK), which launched this event 75 years ago. In 1950, the event was renamed the German Crafts Fair and ennobled as “nationally important”. With the growing participation of international exhibitors, it was finally called the “International Craft Fair” from 1962 onwards.
But back to the beginning: In 1949, a new entrepreneurial era began in Munich. The Second World War only ended a few years ago, and Munich should be rebuilt as quickly as possible. And the American occupation officers set about “transferring their bare-bones economic views to Germany,” as in one Mirror-Article from 1953 is to be read. There is no comparable level of craftsmanship in the USA; anyone who feels capable of doing a job is allowed to do it. This should now also apply in Germany.
In order to stimulate the economy and alleviate the ever-present need, especially the housing shortage, the US military government introduced unrestricted freedom of trade on November 29, 1948. Joining a guild is again voluntary; the chambers of crafts are being downgraded from public corporations to associations. From January 10, 1949, a postcard is sufficient to register a business.
The success of this measure can be read in the “Statistical Handbook of the City of Munich” from 1954: While 7,039 business registrations were registered in the city in 1948, in 1949 there were already 27,593. It also says that it is no longer true if Munich is only considered a… “the city of cosiness, of quietly babbling life”. Because, it continues: “Munich is very labor-intensive and has a proportion of women in professional life that is otherwise rarely achieved.”
Computer technology on the loom. This is how the combination of tradition and innovation presented itself in 1992.
(Photo: GMH)
When HWK President Peteranderl visited the craft fair for the first time, then still a boy holding the hand of his father, who was a building contractor, the 1960s began. “At that time the focus was on construction and expansion,” he says. “Everything that has to do with the construction industry, metalworking equipment, carpentry, window production and the like is represented.” There is an entire hall just for machines that can be used to make windows.
In other halls, small devices from drills to demolition hammers are on display, which interested parties can even test. “At the trade fair you could see the performance of the German trade, especially the construction industry, which now has its own trade fair,” says Peteranderl. But handicrafts, design and folk art, clothing and fashion can also be seen.
The appeal of the trade fair increases from year to year: in its second year, the approximately 1,050 exhibitors also include companies from France, Italy, Austria and the former Yugoslavia. More and more companies see the exhibition as an opportunity to win new customers. As competition in the craft industry grows, this is becoming more and more important; Exports to foreign countries and the procurement of raw materials around the world are also increasingly playing a role.
Federal Minister of Economics and later Chancellor Ludwig Erhard has been a prominent supporter of the trade fair since the beginning. He opened it for the first time in 1951.
(Photo: GHM)
Since the beginning of the craft fair, high-ranking politicians from the Bonn and later Berlin Republic have been showing up in Munich. The Federal Minister of Economics and later Chancellor Ludwig Erhard has been a prominent supporter of the trade fair since the beginning. It appeared for the first time at the opening in 1951. In the years that followed, the “father of the German economic miracle” took the opportunity to promote the social market economy in front of a large audience at Theresienhöhe no less than 15 times.
When industry and trade met for the first “Munich Top Discussion” in 1965, Erhard was still Federal Chancellor. Since then, representatives of the leading trade and industry organizations as well as the federal and state authorities, including the Federal Chancellor, have taken part in this conversation every year. In 2019, Angela Merkel (CDU) called for a European strategy for artificial intelligence at the craft fair, while BDI President Dieter Kempf called on Deutschlandfunk from the federal government for more commitment to German AI research. The prospects for state support are poor: the Federal Finance Minister is Olaf Scholz (SPD) – he does not want to provide any additional funds for this.
The building trade and carpentry always played a major role at the craft fair. However, the photo is from 1985, when there was a lull in construction.
(Photo: GHM)
Even if politics and business rarely agree, Peteranderl believes such discussions are important. “It’s like at the security conference or in Davos. You deepen certain topics, but what is said is not made public. This creates a mutual understanding.” What is important is not the press release that is sent out afterwards, but what is said behind closed doors. However, one can easily imagine what will be the topic of the top discussion this year.
From February 28th to March 3rd, the exhibition halls will be about building, renovating and modernizing, about living, kitchen and garden. There is also a special exhibition for jewelry, where around 60 artists and more than 90 designers under the age of 35 show their exhibits. A big topic will also be attracting young talent to the trades. In Hall C1 almost everything revolves around vocational training and dual studies. “Young Generation” is the name of this area in which various trades can be introduced and tried out. School classes are welcome.
“In Bavaria, around 20,000 craft businesses are due to be handed over in the coming years,” says Peteranderl. “We don’t find enough young people who want to take risks and take over a company.” Only a third of the young masters wanted to become self-employed, the others feared bureaucracy and excessively long working hours.
The freedom to trade in Bavaria was withdrawn in 1953 and the master craftsman examination was reintroduced – customers were supposed to be protected from botching.