Marshall Plan

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The US reconstruction programme for Europe after World War II: $13.3 billion (about $170 billion today) over 4 years. Germany received $1.4 billion – the starting signal for the “economic miracle” of the 1950s.

The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program) was the largest economic aid programme in history – named after US Secretary of State George C. Marshall.

Facts:

• Period: 1948–1952
• Total volume: 13.3 billion dollars (today approx. 170 billion dollars)
• Recipients: 16 European countries
• Germany: 1.4 billion dollars (approx. 10%)

Largest recipients:

• United Kingdom: $3.3 billion (25%)
• France: $2.7 billion (20%)
• Italy: $1.5 billion
• West Germany: $1.4 billion
• Netherlands: $1.1 billion

How did it work?

• Deliveries of goods: food, raw materials, machinery from the USA
• Counterpart funds: European governments sold the goods and put the proceeds into a fund – for investment in infrastructure and industry
• ERP Special Fund: still exists in Germany TODAY – as KfW funding programmes

Significance for Germany:

• Rebuilding of industry (steel, coal, mechanical engineering)
• Stabilisation of the Deutsche Mark (currency reform 1948)
• Integration into the Western economic order
• Foundation for the economic miracle (Wirtschaftswunder) of the 1950s

Did you know? The ERP Special Fund created from the Marshall Plan still exists TODAY. Germany's KfW uses it to give cheap loans to start-ups and SMEs. Over 75 years, $1.4 billion in Marshall aid has turned into billions in business support.

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