“Germany in 1962. The magazine "Quick," quite popular at the time, ran a headline on the occasion of Ludwig Erhard's 65th birthday: "A symbol celebrates its birthday: The man who made schnitzel grow." The first Federal Minister of Economics is an indispensable part of the founding myth of the young Federal Republic.
And for good reason: his dynamism, his political instinct, and his economic expertise decisively shaped post-war West Germany – in a congenial collaboration and yet also marked by a cordial aversion towards Konrad Adenauer.
But Erhard was above all one thing: a brand. He was the face of the social market economy; he captivated the masses.
The "Kieler Nachrichten" once wrote about him after an appearance: "It wasn't the content of his speeches that so enthralled the people of Pinneberg. He could have told them about Chinese vase painting." "People applauded because Erhard was there."
But the Erhard brand was not a fluke of nature, but the result of hard work—and ample financial resources.
In her dissertation "The Miracle Man Ludwig Erhard," at the intersection of history and communication studies, Katharina Schmidt traces the rise and fall of the Erhard brand and offers numerous insights that will surprise even seasoned Erhard researchers. She achieves this in a balanced way, so that neither Erhard's supporters nor his critics will look back on the text with resentment or bitterness after reading it.
The path to becoming a brand was a long one for Ludwig Erhard. In 1951, three years after the currency reform, only 14 percent had a favorable opinion of the Minister of Economics. By the 1957 Bundestag election campaign, which ended with an absolute majority for the CDU, he had become a popular figure among the general public. In May 1963, at the end of his time as minister and shortly before the beginning of his chancellorship, his approval ratings stood at 81 percent. This media success among the population was supported by numerous companions, journalists, and advertising professionals who were friendly with him and contributed clever ideas and strategies—but also by entrepreneurs who invested a great deal of money in Erhard. The model for this was American PR campaigns.
A special role in this, as Katharina Schmidt demonstrates using numerous sources, was played by the association "Die Waage" (The Scales). Starting in 1952, the association, in close consultation with the Federal Ministry of Economics, personalized the social market economy with the figure of Ludwig Erhard. The social market economy became "Erhard's Social Market Economy." The "inventor" of the new economic system was omnipresent in advertisements—classically with, but also without, a cigar, because this—as market research at the time determined—was better received by women.
He became the counter-image to Adenauer. Here the stern chancellor, there Erhard as the convivial, down-to-earth, and approachable figure. Minister close to the people.
In the run-up to the 1953 federal election alone, "Die Waage" (The Scales) spent the then-staggering sum of 3.8 million marks on Erhard's image strategy – financed primarily by industry and supported by funds from the ministry.
Nevertheless – and Schmidt demonstrates this with wonderful attention to detail – Erhard was far more than a mere "puppet" of advertising strategists. He himself was a key driving force and guarantor of his success. He was also supported by loyal and capable staff – Karl Hohmann, Ludger Westrick, and Alfred Müller-Armack are the best-known names from the early days – to whom he granted considerable autonomy and opportunities for development. And Erhard was, as Schmidt writes, "a propagandist in his own right." While the Minister of Economics was considered rather reserved and even shy in private, he transformed into a great communicator in public.
As Schmidt writes: "The minister's speeches combined pathos and determination with composure and optimism."
But Schmidt illuminates not only the Minister of Economics but, above all, Chancellor Erhard. And, mirroring his rise to power, she shows that despite the large sums of money spent during his chancellorship, an increasingly opaque media strategy, dwindling support among journalists, unclear decision-making structures, and an increasingly weary Erhard ultimately ruined precisely what had once made him a brand: his good relationship with the media. Even during the 1965 federal election campaign, which Erhard still managed to win, the journalist Hans Ulrich Kempski, who accompanied him on his special train, wrote ambiguously: "The locomotive is smoking, but it lacks power."
Katharina Schmidt has produced, in the best sense of the word, a meticulous work of scholarship with a significant and thoroughly researched message: Successful politics, especially economic policy, must also reach the hearts of the people. A fool would doubt it, while thinking about the here and now.
Katharina Schmidt: The Miracle Man Ludwig Erhard. Myth, Self-Presentation and Public Relations, Herbert von Halem Verlag, Cologne 2024, 624 pages, 47 euros.” [1]
1. Die Marke Ludwig Erhard: Hinter den Kulissen des Wirtschaftswunders. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 03 Nov 2025: 16. NILS GOLDSCHMIDT
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