deutsche mark


NARRATOR: Germany, 1948 - its sovereignty and economic life still lies in the hands of the victors of World War II - the Americans, British, and French, and the Soviet Union. Three years since the end of the war and many shops are still closed. But what little there is to buy doesn't satisfy the population. The old money continues to lose value.

MADELEINE GROTEWOHL: "I tried to sell father's leather jacket on the black market, and quickly found a buyer, and got 1000 Marks for it, which was lot of money for us - at least five loaves of bread."

NARRATOR: In all of the occupied zones goods are traded for other goods. Theft of food out of pure desperation is common. In the West a currency reform is supposed to boost the economy. Ludwig Ehrhardt - he counts among the fathers of the new money. The reform is prepared by the U.S. military government. Even the name and design of the D-Mark are made in the U.S.A.

TAYLOR OSTRANDER: "It was of wider interest on the part of military government and the wider role of Germany - some part of Germany or all of Germany. And the future, it was that Germany be a functioning part of the European economy."

NARRATOR: In a secret mission at the end of 1947, the Americans ship 23,000 boxes of money to Germany. Operation Bird Dog is the beginning of a new era in the western zones. And it's supposed to intimidate the Soviet Union, which controls East Germany. The launch of the new currency is set for Sunday, June 20, 1948. The introduction of the Deutschmark creates an atmosphere of hope and optimism.

OTTO SCHLECHT: "The first thing I did was to buy a pound of sausage and eat it in one sitting."

ERICH MENDE: "I bought a half-pound of butter and made myself some mashed potatoes and eggs, cauliflower in brown butter, and then cherries for dessert. The whole meal cost 4 Marks, and was for me, if you will, a banquet in honor of the new currency."

NARRATOR: And suddenly the shop windows are full. Because, suddenly, the merchants receive hard currency for their goods which, until then, they had been storing away.

DIETER HILDEBRAND: "On the next day you walked by the shop windows to see them full with cigarettes, chocolate - everything - spirits, schnapps, wine - everything."

NARRATOR: For the west, the Deutschmark is the foundation of the coming economic miracle. But it also sharpens the division in Germany.

"THE EYEWITNESS" WEEKLY NEWS SHOW: On June 20, Germany is torn in two. With great ceremony the western powers fulfill their commitment to introduce a separate currency in West Germany.

OSTRANDER: "I think in the German populus and on the military government side, that when the currency reform came on a tri-zonal basis, that was the creation - the beginning of the creation - of the West German state."

NARRATOR: In the market economy of the west, the Deutschmark becomes a symbol.
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