Welocme Finance Complaints

At the end of WWII Germany stood in waste with most of its major towns and industrial heartland bombed far beyond recognition. The country was divided between the allies, with France, Britain and the USA holding land in the west and Russia holding land in the East. Like orphaned twins, separated at the start they became very different adults 40 years on. With one being rich and succesful and the other, the proverbial poor relation.

The success story in the west began very humbly, not with the economic genius of Ludwig Erhard (Economic Minister), but with the ladies who literally started rebuilding their cities and society, In a sentimental speech in 1985 the then leader of the FRG paid them this emotional tribute "at the end of the war it was they - the women of the rubble who first, and without any prospect of a secure future, set to work putting one stone upon another once more".

However, it soon became obvious that it was very hard to pay for an entire nation of starving families. Something needed to be done soon to bring back German prosperity and prevent the nation from falling in to complete disarray.

Important action was taken on the 20 June 1948 when the worthless Reichmark was abolished and each citizen received 40 of the new currency - DM. For an example of this go to the > Welcome Finance Complaints webpage.
It was a risk, as prices were still high and the black market was rife. Luckily it worked and prices soon began to drop and the black market was virtually wiped out. Rationing, which continued for several further years in Britain, ceased to be required in the FRG. This knowledge of currency conversion, was to play a massive part in the decision to abolish the Ostmark over 40 years later.

The FRG received further money under the Marshall plan and received another boost by the creationforming of the European Coal and Steel Community by France in 1950 which recognised Germany as an established trading partner and created an internal framework for German recovery. For more informaltion on the topic please visit this webpage > Welcome Finance Complaints .
With the formation of the Common Market, in 1958 Germany showed itself as a huge exporting nation and within the first 4 years of its being WG sales to the other 5 members had increased three fold.

This first stage of economic recovery was centered around the traditional heavy industries: mainly coal mining and steel production in the Ruhr area with the industrial giants of Krupp and Mannheim providing the bulk of employment in this region. By the end of the 60's however this first boom was over and Germany faced a period of high unemployment. For futher information, visit the > Welcome Finance Complaints department.

During the 80's Germany was to become one of the largest exporters in the world, with a trade surplus of exports to imports. But economic trouble finally hit at the end of Helmut Schmidts' government and for the first time since the war Germany's growth rate slowed dramatically and the country even experienced a fall in production levels. Although this was relatively bad for Germany, the country fared much better than neighbouring France or Britain, and still remained, economically, one of the strongest countries in Western Europe.

The 3rd stage of the economic miracle, which was to provide much needed wealth to finance unification began at the end of the 80's with Germany dominating the market for computer-controlled equipment and machine tools. Once again its exports were on the increase and rose by 18% which contributed to a sustained GNP rise of 5% p.a. At the close of 1989 Germany's GNP was 40% higher than Britains, and productivity levels were higher than that of Britain and France combined.