Business Trips to Friedrich Krupp AG in the Late 1920s – 1930s: The Problem of Ensuring an Effective Adoption of Technologies in the Changing Political Conditions

Abstract

The article examines the role of foreign business trips of Soviet scientists, engineers and workers in the implementation of the technical assistance agreement signed with the German company Friedrich Krupp AG, Essen in 1929. The study is based on a wide range of archival materials and personal sources. For the first time, the 1933 “Report on the Inspection of the Contract with the Company Friedrich Krupp AG, Essen (Technical Assistance with High-Quality and Special Steels and Cast Irons)” is introduced, which is kept in the Russian State Archives of Economics. It is noted that, given the specifics of the terms of the agreement, the work of Soviet trainees, carried out under the supervision of commissioners authorized by the Metallurgical Bureau of Foreign Technical Assistance, was the main way of adopting Krupp’s technologies. Despite a number of problems related to the organization of the work of Soviet specialists, the goal of the agreement was achieved: Soviet industry mastered Krupp’s technologies for high-quality steel and cast-iron smelting. This was largely due to the systematic approach to the implementation of the transfer, as well as due to the fact that the position of commissioner was held by competent scientific and technical personnel with a successful track record of adopting foreign technologies. The author notes that cooperation with Krupp continued even after 1933, although the coming to power of the Nazis in Germany significantly complicated further contact with the German side. In 1934, the company set a course for terminating the contract. From then on, the intensity of cooperation with Krupp started to decrease. However, individual trips of Soviet specialists to Essen continued up to 1939.