Die Affäre Borgward (2019)

In 1959, the automobile manufacturer Borgward tests a new model, the “Arabella.” Although everything goes well, a minor defect is discovered, which employee Alfred Linden does not report further. He assumes it is just an assembly error that will be fixed right away. He does not want to worry the company owner, Carl F. W. Borgward, with such trivialities, since financial problems are currently dominating the agenda. The rise of the automobile industry at home and abroad is already causing the first losses in sales. Managing director Otto Carstens therefore makes his boss some sensible suggestions: they should merge the company’s three divisions to reduce overhead costs. But Carl Borgward wants none of it. He is determined to remain independent at all costs, and certainly does not want to merge with other companies. His business, successful for all these years, began in 1924 with the design of the open, three-wheeled “Blitzkarren” and the three-wheeled passenger car “Goliath Pionier.” It is now Germany’s third-largest car company. After the war, he rebuilt his destroyed production halls through his own efforts. Growing demand for his cars helped him build one factory after another. His workers were allowed to use cars or motorcycles privately for free on weekends, which helped strengthen their loyalty to Borgward. On his 70th birthday, Carl F. W. Borgward, a successful independent entrepreneur, is awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany with Star. For Bremen’s politicians, this is yet another reason to dislike Borgward. He provides the region with many jobs and the city with reliable tax revenues, but he is always rubbing this in people’s faces. This puts him in a poor position given his current financial circumstances, because, with the banks refusing further loans, Borgward now has to ask the Senate for a guarantee after all. But when he seeks to increase the initially requested 50 million marks by a further 30 million, a dispute breaks out. Critics such as Economics Senator Karl Eggers had anticipated this, and people begin considering their own plan to safeguard the jobs without the company owner. Finance Senator Wilhelm Nolting-Hauff therefore meets with management consultant Johannes Semler, while Mayor Wilhelm Kaisen plans to establish a public limited company. Cooperation with VW or BMW is considered possible; both have already expressed interest. Mayor Kaisen also asks Federal Economics Minister Erhard for support, but Erhard rejects federal participation. Nolting-Hauff’s initiative therefore goes ahead, and management consultant Semler is officially brought in to help. Until then, no one in Bremen’s Senate knows that Semler is also a member of BMW’s supervisory board. In 1961, the Bremen Senate votes on whether to grant the automobile plant another loan. The Senate approves it on the condition that Carl F. W. Borgward transfers all rights to the new company. Hoping this will preserve the jobs of his 19,000 employees, Borgward signs the contract. Semler, officially appointed by the Senate, now moves into his office. But instead of getting the company back on its feet so it can continue operating independently, Semler plans to bleed it dry so that BMW can take over the Borgward factories at the lowest possible price. He immediately sends six Borgward engineers to Munich, describing this as further training for the employees. But his plan fails: BMW is interested only in Borgward’s main factory and rejects Semler’s purchase offer. The Bremen Senate also grows uneasy, since Semler has no visible successes to show for his efforts. After he demands a further 50 million for the new company and is unable to sell the Borgward factories, his general power of attorney is revoked, sealing the final end of automobile production. Carl F. W. Borgward suffers greatly from losing his company and from never having been given the chance to correct his mistakes. In a statement, he speaks to the press for the first time since the company’s closure. He admits to having made mistakes, but says that the Bremen Senate and its chosen economic expert, Semler, are the real culprits behind the Borgward factories’ final downfall. He is broken by the loss of the company and by his failure to keep the promise he made to his workers, and dies in 1963. For his competitors, it was a deliberate process of market consolidation; for those affected, it was a catastrophe. Three years later, Der Spiegel reports that Borgward was pushed into bankruptcy prematurely, though the Bremen Senate presents a different account in its report on its actions. A subplot shows the fate of car dealer Peter Zech, who specializes in selling Borgward models. It is the newest model, the “Arabella,” that develops more and more defects, and buyers begin to withdraw. Because the manufacturer is facing liquidity problems, the dealer too eventually has to file for bankruptcy and loses the capital he invested.