Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction: Politics, Security, Economics, Culture, and Society - Dimensions of Transatlantic Relations
- POLITICS
- “No Harder Enterprise” - Politics and Policies in the German-American Relationship, 1945-1968
- 1 The Allied Council of Foreign Ministers Conferences and the German Question, 1945-1947
- 2 The United States in the Allied Control Council - From Dualism to Temporary Division
- 3 Supervised Democratization: American Occupation and German Politics
- 4 Life Rewarded the Latecomers - Denazification During the Cold War
- 5 The Marshall Plan and the Origins of the Cold War
- 6 Winning the Peace - The United States, Western Germany, and the Ambiguities of “Dual Containment” 1945-1950
- 7 The United States and the Founding of the Federal Republic, 1948-1949
- 8 From Occupation to Alliance - German-American Relations, 1949-1955
- 9 Rollback - An Offensive Strategy for the Cold War
- 10 From Supreme Authority to Reserved Rights and Responsibilities - The International Legal Basis of German-American Relations
- 11 Germany Between the Superpowers, 1948-1968
- 12 The United States and the German Question, 1949-1968
- 13 Divided Loyalties in Transatlantic Policy Toward Europe
- 14 The U.S. Congress and German-American Relations
- 15 Political Parties and German-American Relations - Politics Beyond the Water’s Edge
- 16 Personalities and Politics - The American Ambassadors to the Federal Republic
- 17 The Ambassadors of the Federal Republic of Germany in Washington, 1955-1968
- 18 Berlin - Catalyst and Fault Line of German-American Relations in the Cold War
- 19 “Little Room for Maneuver” - Relations Between the United States and the GDR
- SECURITY
- Security Through Deterrence? German-American Security Relations, 1945-1968 - The Primacy of Security Policy
- 1 Overcast, Paperclip, Osoaviakhim - Looting and the Transfer of German Military Technology
- 2 The Dilemmas of Dual Containment - Germany as a Security Problem, 1945-1950
- 3 Partners in Defense - America, West Germany, and the Security of Europe, 1950-1968
- 4 Variable Architectures for War and Peace - U.S. Force Structure and Basing in Germany, 1945-1990
- 5 The Shifting Military Balance in Central Europe
- 6 NATO Strategy and the German-American Relationship
- 7 German-American Disagreements over Arms-Control Policy
- 8 The Origins of Intelligence Cooperation Between the United States and West Germany
- ECONOMICS
- From Enlightened Hegemony to Partnership - The United States and West Germany in the World Economy, 1945-1968
- 1 From Weakening an Enemy to Strengthening an Ally: The United States and German Reparations
- 2 Restructuring and Support - Beginnings of American Economic Policy in Occupied Germany
- 3 From Decartelization to Reconcentration - The Mixed Legacy of American-Led Corporate Reconstruction in Germany
- 4 Opting for the Structural Break: The West German Currency Reform and Its Consequences
- 5 The Marshall Plan
- 6 Protégé and Partner - The United States and the Return of West Germany to the Liberal World Economic System
- 7 American and German Trade Relations
- 8 Technology and the Construction of the Alliance - Technology Transfer, the Cold War, and German-American Relations
- 9 Occupation Costs, Stationing Costs, Offset Payments - The Conflict over the Burdens of the Cold War
- 10 From Reconstruction Aid to Capital Interlocking: Direct and Portfolio Investments
- 11 German and American Economic and Monetary Policy
- 12 The Influence of the United States on German Economic Thought
- CULTURE
- A New Start and Old Prejudices: The Cold War and German-American Cultural Relations, 1945-1968
- 1 U.S. Cultural Policy and German Culture During the American Occupation
- 2 American Influences on the German Educational System
- 3 American Cultural Policy in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1949-1968
- 4 Between Elitism and Educational Reform - German-American Exchange Programs, 1945-1970
- 5 Science and Scientific Exchange in the German-American Relationship
- 6 American Literature in Germany and Its Reception in the Political Context of the Postwar Years
- 7 The American Reception of Contemporary German Literature
- 8 Cold War Politics and American Popular Culture in Germany
- 9 Popular Music in Germany - The Genesis of a New Field of Discourse
- 10 German Musical Influences in the United States
- 11 Side by Side - Hollywood and German Film Culture
- 12 From Reeducation to Alternative Theater - German-American Theater Relations
- 13 Fascination, Ignorance, and Rejection - Changing Transatlantic Perspectives in the Visual Arts, 1945-1968
- 14 Architecture as Political Medium
- 15 The Legacy of the Holocaust in Germany and the United States
- SOCIETY
- America and Social Change in Germany
- 1 Gentle Conquest in the West: Americans and Germans, 1944-1945
- 2 Gender, Race, and Power - American Soldiers and the German Population
- 3 CARE Packages - Gifts from Overseas to a Defeated and Debilitated Nation
- 4 Remigrants and Reconstruction
- 5 Immigration and Emigration Before 1968
- 6 The German Churches and the Specter of Americanization
- 7 From Negation to First Dialogues - American Jewry and Germany in the First Postwar Decades
- 8 German and American Women Between Domesticity and the Workplace
- 9 Support and Dissent - German and American Labor’s Transnational Ties
- 10 Study Tours, Trade Fairs, Publicity Campaigns - German-American Business Encounters and Cold War Anxieties
- 11 Producing to Consume Becomes Consuming to Produce - Advertising and Consumerism in German-American Relations
- 12 American Influences on Urban Developments in West Germany
- 13 Blurred Sovereignty - The German-American Media Relationship in the Postwar Era
- 14 In Hitler’s Shadow
- 15 Old Stereotypes and New Realities - The West German Image of the United States
- 16 The Good and the Bad America - Perceptions of the United States in the GDR
- 17 Neither East Nor West - Anti-Americanism in West Germany, 1945-1968
- 18 Americanization
- 19 Westernization - The Transition in Political Culture
- Index
1 - From Weakening an Enemy to Strengthening an Ally: The United States and German Reparations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2013
- Frontmatter
- Introduction: Politics, Security, Economics, Culture, and Society - Dimensions of Transatlantic Relations
- POLITICS
- “No Harder Enterprise” - Politics and Policies in the German-American Relationship, 1945-1968
- 1 The Allied Council of Foreign Ministers Conferences and the German Question, 1945-1947
- 2 The United States in the Allied Control Council - From Dualism to Temporary Division
- 3 Supervised Democratization: American Occupation and German Politics
- 4 Life Rewarded the Latecomers - Denazification During the Cold War
- 5 The Marshall Plan and the Origins of the Cold War
- 6 Winning the Peace - The United States, Western Germany, and the Ambiguities of “Dual Containment” 1945-1950
- 7 The United States and the Founding of the Federal Republic, 1948-1949
- 8 From Occupation to Alliance - German-American Relations, 1949-1955
- 9 Rollback - An Offensive Strategy for the Cold War
- 10 From Supreme Authority to Reserved Rights and Responsibilities - The International Legal Basis of German-American Relations
- 11 Germany Between the Superpowers, 1948-1968
- 12 The United States and the German Question, 1949-1968
- 13 Divided Loyalties in Transatlantic Policy Toward Europe
- 14 The U.S. Congress and German-American Relations
- 15 Political Parties and German-American Relations - Politics Beyond the Water’s Edge
- 16 Personalities and Politics - The American Ambassadors to the Federal Republic
- 17 The Ambassadors of the Federal Republic of Germany in Washington, 1955-1968
- 18 Berlin - Catalyst and Fault Line of German-American Relations in the Cold War
- 19 “Little Room for Maneuver” - Relations Between the United States and the GDR
- SECURITY
- Security Through Deterrence? German-American Security Relations, 1945-1968 - The Primacy of Security Policy
- 1 Overcast, Paperclip, Osoaviakhim - Looting and the Transfer of German Military Technology
- 2 The Dilemmas of Dual Containment - Germany as a Security Problem, 1945-1950
- 3 Partners in Defense - America, West Germany, and the Security of Europe, 1950-1968
- 4 Variable Architectures for War and Peace - U.S. Force Structure and Basing in Germany, 1945-1990
- 5 The Shifting Military Balance in Central Europe
- 6 NATO Strategy and the German-American Relationship
- 7 German-American Disagreements over Arms-Control Policy
- 8 The Origins of Intelligence Cooperation Between the United States and West Germany
- ECONOMICS
- From Enlightened Hegemony to Partnership - The United States and West Germany in the World Economy, 1945-1968
- 1 From Weakening an Enemy to Strengthening an Ally: The United States and German Reparations
- 2 Restructuring and Support - Beginnings of American Economic Policy in Occupied Germany
- 3 From Decartelization to Reconcentration - The Mixed Legacy of American-Led Corporate Reconstruction in Germany
- 4 Opting for the Structural Break: The West German Currency Reform and Its Consequences
- 5 The Marshall Plan
- 6 Protégé and Partner - The United States and the Return of West Germany to the Liberal World Economic System
- 7 American and German Trade Relations
- 8 Technology and the Construction of the Alliance - Technology Transfer, the Cold War, and German-American Relations
- 9 Occupation Costs, Stationing Costs, Offset Payments - The Conflict over the Burdens of the Cold War
- 10 From Reconstruction Aid to Capital Interlocking: Direct and Portfolio Investments
- 11 German and American Economic and Monetary Policy
- 12 The Influence of the United States on German Economic Thought
- CULTURE
- A New Start and Old Prejudices: The Cold War and German-American Cultural Relations, 1945-1968
- 1 U.S. Cultural Policy and German Culture During the American Occupation
- 2 American Influences on the German Educational System
- 3 American Cultural Policy in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1949-1968
- 4 Between Elitism and Educational Reform - German-American Exchange Programs, 1945-1970
- 5 Science and Scientific Exchange in the German-American Relationship
- 6 American Literature in Germany and Its Reception in the Political Context of the Postwar Years
- 7 The American Reception of Contemporary German Literature
- 8 Cold War Politics and American Popular Culture in Germany
- 9 Popular Music in Germany - The Genesis of a New Field of Discourse
- 10 German Musical Influences in the United States
- 11 Side by Side - Hollywood and German Film Culture
- 12 From Reeducation to Alternative Theater - German-American Theater Relations
- 13 Fascination, Ignorance, and Rejection - Changing Transatlantic Perspectives in the Visual Arts, 1945-1968
- 14 Architecture as Political Medium
- 15 The Legacy of the Holocaust in Germany and the United States
- SOCIETY
- America and Social Change in Germany
- 1 Gentle Conquest in the West: Americans and Germans, 1944-1945
- 2 Gender, Race, and Power - American Soldiers and the German Population
- 3 CARE Packages - Gifts from Overseas to a Defeated and Debilitated Nation
- 4 Remigrants and Reconstruction
- 5 Immigration and Emigration Before 1968
- 6 The German Churches and the Specter of Americanization
- 7 From Negation to First Dialogues - American Jewry and Germany in the First Postwar Decades
- 8 German and American Women Between Domesticity and the Workplace
- 9 Support and Dissent - German and American Labor’s Transnational Ties
- 10 Study Tours, Trade Fairs, Publicity Campaigns - German-American Business Encounters and Cold War Anxieties
- 11 Producing to Consume Becomes Consuming to Produce - Advertising and Consumerism in German-American Relations
- 12 American Influences on Urban Developments in West Germany
- 13 Blurred Sovereignty - The German-American Media Relationship in the Postwar Era
- 14 In Hitler’s Shadow
- 15 Old Stereotypes and New Realities - The West German Image of the United States
- 16 The Good and the Bad America - Perceptions of the United States in the GDR
- 17 Neither East Nor West - Anti-Americanism in West Germany, 1945-1968
- 18 Americanization
- 19 Westernization - The Transition in Political Culture
- Index
Summary
planning and decisions by the victorious powers, 1941–7
German reparations were one of the major economic and political problems that poisoned the international atmosphere during the period between the world wars. Nevertheless, it was undisputed among the Allies during and after World War II that Germany and its allies would again have to pay reparations. That was a consequence of, among other things, Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles. The Allies had consistently defended the idea they found in (or at least read into) the treaty that the Germans were obligated to make reparations because they were to blame for the war. If they had dispensed with reparations in 1945, it would have meant that they felt Germany was less to blame this time than it had been in 1914.
However, there was not much discussion of reparations during the war. In the United States, only lower-level agencies were working on the issue prior to 1945. They made extravagent estimates of the German capacity to pay reparations. One committee within the State Department named sums between $10 billion and $50 billion. In fall 1944, the Foreign Economic Administration even considered it possible that Germany could make payments of well over $200 billion.
Reparations did not become a major policy item until the Soviets presented the outline of a concrete plan at Yalta. Germany was to pay reparations in the amount of $20 billion, of which the Soviet Union would receive half, because it had sustained by far the greatest damage. Ten billion dollars would be taken from the German economy in the form of dismantling and other reductions in assets, the rest from current production.
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- The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War, 1945–1990A Handbook, pp. 271 - 277Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004
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