Freie Bahn dem Marshallplan?

Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Western Europe grade: 10 Humboldt-University of Berlin (Institut für Sozialwissenschaften) course: Die USA und die Modernisierung Europas language: English abstract: On 5 June 1947 the US-Secretary of State George C. Marshall in his later famous speech at Harvard University proposed a reconstruction program for Europe. Ten months later on 2 April 1948 the Foreign Aid Act was passed by the US Congress. Thus the European Recovery Program (ERP) more commonly called the Marshall Plan came into effect. It was the biggest ever project of international economic cooperation in times of peace. Between 1948 and 1952 the goods and services provided for Europe by the U.S. amounted to 13 billion dollars . Sixteen European nations took part in the program and West Germany after Great Britain France and Italy was the fourth biggest receiver of American support . This money played a crucial role in creating the West German Wirtschaftswunder and integrating the country into the West. Much has been written about the Marshall Plan also from a German perspective. Its development the institutions organising it and its consequences have all been described in detail by political scientists and historians alike. This paper sets a different focus and concentrates on the West German reception of the Marshall Plan. How did the West Germans react to the European Recovery Program only three years after their ultimate defeat with their economy destroyed their cities bombed to rubble and their collective conscience having by no means confronted the guilt of Fascism? Was it really all Freie Bahn dem Marshallplan ? Up to now this very aspect has been nearly unexplored so there is not much literature about it. In any case I have tried to base my essay on as many sources as possible to be able to offer a balanced analysis my main sources for the German perspective being the