Eisenacher Motorenwerk (EMW) was an

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles based in

Eisenach Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situat ...

. EMW also entered

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

as a constructor in 1953, but participated in only one race, the

1953 German Grand Prix The 1953 German Grand Prix was a Formula Two motor racing event held on 2 August 1953 at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. It was race 7 of 9 in the 1953 World Championship of Drivers, which was run to Formula Two rules in 1952 and 1953, rather than t ...

. The car retired after 12 laps with exhaust problems.

Continuing BMW production

1952-55 EMW 340 Limousine, at Wartburg 2006-08

One of the pre-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

BMW factories was located in Eisenach, which after the war was taken over by the

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...

, since Eisenach was situated in the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...

. The factory continued producing cars and motorcycles under the BMW brand, but after a lawsuit in 1952 they had to change the name to EMW instead. The logotype was also similar, but instead of the blue BMW used, EMW used red. The

Kasernierte Volkspolizei The Kasernierte Volkspolizei ( en, Barracked People's Police) was the precursor to the National People's Army (NVA) in East Germany. Their original headquarters was in Adlershof locality in Berlin, and from 1954 in Strausberg in modern-day Bran ...

(a paramilitary police branch which preceded the

National People's Army The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) an ...

) and the succeeding East German armed forces needed vehicles and expressed interest in reviving production of the BMW 325, an unsuccessful wartime off-road ''Einheits-PKW'' (standardized passenger vehicle) built by BMW in Eisenach. This was developed into the new EMW 325/3, of which 166 were built in 1952. This remilitarization, however, was in violation of the terms of the

Potsdam Conference The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris Pe ...

and led to protests from the West.

New designs

Later the automobile section of EMW became

VEB Automobilwerk Eisenach The Automobilwerk Eisenach (AWE) was an automobile manufacturer in Eisenach, Germany. History Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach Heinrich Ehrhardt founded the Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach (FFE) in Eisenach on 3 December 1896 as a stock company. Init ...

and built the

Wartburg The Wartburg () is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages. It is situated on a precipice of to the southwest of and overlooking the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the p ...

. Motorcycle manufacture ended in the 1950s and was replaced by the AWO 425 built by Simson at

Suhl Suhl () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located SW of Erfurt, NE of Würzburg and N of Nuremberg. With its 37,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest of the six urban districts within Thuringia. Together with its northern neighbour-town Zella- ...

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) * Constructors' Championship not awarded until .

References

Formula One constructors Formula One entrants BMW German auto racing teams German racecar constructors Auto racing teams established in 1953 Auto racing teams disestablished in 1953 Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Germany Motorenwerk Transport in East Germany Car manufacturers of East Germany 1945 establishments in Germany 1950s disestablishments in East Germany {{F1-stub de:Eisenacher Motorenwerk