Vom Röhren-Manager zum Verteidigungs-Staatssekretär und zurück: Der mehrfache Seitenwechsel von Ernst Wolf Mommsen

Abstract

Abstract Ernst Wolf Mommsen (1910–1979) was one of the best-known steel managers of the old German Federal Republic. In 1970 he was recruited as an under-secretary of state by the Federal Ministry of Defence with responsibility for armaments and procurement and returned to industry in 1973 as Chairman of Friedrich Krupp GmbH. Based on extensive archival research, the article examines the background to this twofold switch through the «revolving door». The focus is on the question of whether Mommsen’s entrepreneurial activity could be used successfully in the state administration. Furthermore, the meaning of this revolving door phenomenon with respect to the entanglement of politics and industry in the German Federal Republic of the 70s will be discussed.