BMW 340 - The Eisenach Plant

The Eisenach Plant

BMW became a manufacturer of commercially viable automobiles when late in 1928 they acquired the business of Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach A.G. whose assets included a manufacturing facility at Eisenach then engaged in manufacturing under licence British designed Austin 7s. During the 1930s BMW automobile production blossomed: the Eisenach plant was throughout this period BMW's volume automobile manufacturing facility.

In 1945 the town was occupied by American forces, but by then it had already been agreed between the allies that the whole of Thuringen would fall within the Soviet occupation zone: transfer of the region to the Soviets took place in July 1945. It seemed likely that BMW’s manufacturing facility would be crated up and taken by rail to the Soviet Union as part of the substantial post war reparations package. In the meantime, surviving workers returning from the war recommenced production, and a small number of the 326s were assembled following that car's prewar design. Albert Seidler, the man in charge of Eisenach motor bike production, demonstrated the smaller 321 model to Marshall Zhukov and secured from him an order for five new cars.

The future of the Eisenach plant was a contentious issue in the uncertainty of late 1945. Munich based BMW’s attempts to recover their plant were not sympathetically received by the occupiers, who evidently were mindful of BMW’s wartime role as manufacturers of engines for war planes. Nevertheless, in November 1945 the plant received from the Russians an order for a further 3000 cars and motor bikes, and less than one year later, in September 1946, the plant was integrated into the Soviet AWO business entity: for Eisenach, membership of the command economy had begun.