Page 79 - The Making of the German Post-war Economy

52 THE MAKING OF THE GERMAN POST-WAR ECONOMY

noted by Anthony Nicholls, ‘Erhard entered into his kingdom. [...] He
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now had the opportunity to put his theories into practice.’
Although the political implementation was still far from being assured,
Erhard now had at his disposal a so-called ‘information office’ within the
Administration for Economics. Indeed, virtually all public relations were
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incumbent on the Administrative Council’s Oberdirektor Hermann Pünder
(CDU), or rather his Direktorialkanzlei (Directorial Office) headed by Carl
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Krautwig, however, Erhard managed to maintain an effective press office
for his administration. This did not even change after Pünder aimed to
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gradually deprive the independent press offices of their competencies and
assigned the coordination of press releases to a centralised press office
headed by Karl Heinrich Knappstein due to increasing criticism on the
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part of members of the Economic Council regarding inconsistencies in the
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dissemination of information. In charge of Erhard’s so-called ‘Secretariat
II’ for information affairs, which was later renamed Department I for
press and information, was Kuno Ockhardt. By means of this secretariat,
Erhard was able to conduct an active public relations campaign for the
Social Market Economy. Using the Administration for Economics and its
information journals, namely the Informationsdienst der Verwaltung für
Wirtschaft and the Wirtschaftsverwaltung which both had a respective
circulation of 30,000 issues twice per month, he was able to address
journalists in press conferences held at regular intervals and launched
newspaper articles in order to inform the public about his economic
programme and policy. However, although all actions of the
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administration had to be concerted and virtually all publications were
coordinated, the information by the Administration for Economics
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barely reached the general public.
Thus Erhard aimed to win the public media as multiplicator over to his
socio-economic conception. According to the former advertising manager,
great ideas require interpretation by the press; a permanent discussion in
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the media was necessary in order to create awareness and anchor the
Social Market Economy in the general public. Thus economic journalism
became for him both a functional instrument and an appreciated partner.
Ludwig Erhard constantly concerned about public opinion attached
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great importance to the cooperation with the media as he unambiguously
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revealed: ‘it essential that all cooperate in order to restore the faith and
hope of the German people [...] to reverse our destiny. [...] Therefore, I
request your support. […] In your function rests an immense
responsibility. In addition to the collaboration between official authority
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and the media for which he was very grateful, Erhard aimed to establish
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a relationship of mutual trust between him and selected journalists in
order to receive support for his economic policy. The Director of the