Paradoxically, even after Western industrialisation, wood remained an indispensable material. The historian Jean-Baptiste Fressoz even speaks of ‘energy symbioses’, for example between wood and coal from the 19th century onwards, and between wood and oil from the 20th century onwards. Modernisation trends aimed at making wood the raw material for growth have been particularly noticeable since the inter-war period. In view of the concerns about the competitiveness of the German timber industry after the First World War, and the claim by Nazi politicians and officials in the 1930s to eliminate Germany's dependence on foreign oil through the industrialisation of timber, the question arises as to the extent to which the inter-war period in Germany was a starting point for this story of modernisation. Before and after the Second World War, many German scientists, engineers, businessmen and politicians worked to make the most of wood in various industrial sectors (construction, furniture, energy, transport, paperboard) and to ensure a more abundant supply of wood at national and global scales. We need to look at how the large-scale projects of the inter-war period were implemented in different ways after the Second World War in West and East Germany, between scientific and technical research, political strategies and environmental conflicts.