Trade and industry 1950 up to 2000

In 1953 more than 500 hotel and guesthouse owners were ousted and prosecuted.

As well as the Neptune shipyard money was also invested in the Warnow shipyard, Matthias-Thesen shipyard and the supplier industries. Coasters were built initially. From 1957 the Warnow shipyard supplied 10,000 tonne ships. This led to the creation of the Rostock overseas port. In 1973 the shipyards were centralised in the Rostock shipbuilding state combine and ports, shipping companies and service providers in the “state combine for maritime traffic and port management”. The food and luxury food industries were also centred in district towns. The last remaining private businesses were nationalised in 1973. From 1954 onwards the construction industry was industrialised through large block construction. In 1972 the number of guests in the Baltic region reached the 2 million mark.

Motorways were built from Berlin-Rostock and Berlin-Hamburg. Schwerin had a plastic works, plastic processing works and leatherworks. In the three northern districts the food industry extended the way to the “industrial-agricultural districts.”

From 1990 onwards money was invested in telecommunications and infrastructure. Small and medium-sized businesses in the food and luxury foods industry developed more slowly. Shipyards often changed ownership and were subsidised. New locations were created through biomedical engineering in Rostock, Teterow and Schwerin. Tourism experienced a significant boom. The number of guests exceeded the 5 million mark. From an economic perspective the coastal regions and weak south-easterly region of Western Pomerania drifted apart.

Maritime industry develops in the three northern districts. The national shipyard in Stralsund, the Peene yard in Wolgast and the supplier industry create a new source of employment. Almost 90 per cent of the fishing and processing vessels are delivered into the Soviet Union. Fish processing plants are built in Barth and Sassnitz. Coastal fishing reorganises in 1954, forming production cooperatives. The food and beverages industry settles in smaller towns as well. The last privately owned businesses are nationalised in 1973. Construction is industrialised from 1954 onward through the use of large-scale prefab architecture. This starts in 1956 with the erection of an agricultural facility in the northern district of Greifswald. The state-owned chalk works open 1957 in Rügen.

Over 500 hotel and hostel owners are expropriated and prosecuted in 1953, especially on Rügen. New managers and owners are installed in the facilities. The recreational division at the Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB) runs flourishing holiday homes, sanatoriums, rehabilitation centres and bungalow settlements. Baltic tourism attracts over three million guests by 1988. Larger new builds are constructed in Binz and Heringsdorf.

The ferry terminal in Mukran opens in 1986. Faced with the political transformation in Poland, it secures the merchant shipping routes to the Soviet Union.
The metal working industry in Torgelow is incorporated as the combined foundry and machinery cooperative 'Max Matern'. It has 2,300 employees and continues to operate with a reduced workforce as Eisengiesserei Torgelow GmbH from 1990 onward.

Significant investment in telecommunication and infrastructure begins in 1990. Rügenfisch AG and Rügener Badejunge, owned by Rotkäppchen GmbH, become paradigms of success in the food industry. Omya AG from Switzerland takes over and modernises the chalk works. The subsidised shipyards change hands repeatedly. Tourism experiences a significant upturn. The number of guests passes the 5-million mark. A growing disparity between the economy of the coastal areas and the weak region in the south-east of Pomerania emerges.