Wirtschaftswunder: The Post-WWII Rise of Germany

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[Sycokay]

As a German, this was very informative for me. In school I learned Ludwig Erhard was just a footnote and the Marshall plan did the trick. It's fascinating how much single people can change the fate of entire countries - for better or worse.

[AysKuz]

My dad came with the Gastarbeiter program. He said they came with translators to his village and every young person was asked if they were interested and if they have a profession. My dad is the son of a farmer and cared for the kettle or worked on fields. One friend of his said that is not enough, say something else. He said he cuts the hair of his family and was in. He worked more than 40 years as blacksmith in Ford company and pushed steel parts into the melting oven.
Now he is retired.

[ignitionfrn]

1:15 - Chapter 1 - The morgenthau plan
5:00 - Chapter 2 - The marshall plan
6:50 - Mid roll ads
8:05 - Chapter 3 - The father of the wirtschaftswunder
10:50 - Chapter 4 - Economic miracle

[abbofun]

An aspect not mentioned at all is the continuous education improvements, especially the apprenticeship mechanism is brilliant. By now I think it is a critical key-factor for continued success.

[TheMotz]

If it weren't for US consumers, Germany's economy would have taken much longer to develop. When I was a kid, I remember VW beetles and buses everywhere. They were relative inexpensive, reliable and easy to repair. I also remember everyone talking about the high quality of other German goods like washing machines, clothing, cheese, sausage and chocolate. It was a very good reputation to have, and the German people earned it.

[gilbertvehicleservices]

A great addition to this video would be the story of how British Major Ivan Hurst saw value in the Volkswagen production facility. He convinced his superiors to rebuild the factory to start producing and exporting the Volkswagen Type 1 a.k.a. “Beetle”.

[thomasborgsmidt]

Well, one should remember what Ludwig Erhard also did:

1) Turn to the Labour Unions and say: No wage increases - EXCEPT if productivity is increased commensurably. The upside to this was: Cheap imports - especially of food - as there would be no costoums protection.

2) Then to the employers saying - no wage increases - except in case of increased in case of increased productivity. The downside would be no protection against imports cutting prices.

To increase productivity you need investments in modern productive equipment which meant that Germany could remain competitive and raise wages and salaries.

In fact (I believe it was in 1962) Ludwig Erhard proposed to BUY East Germany from the Russians. At the time nothing came of that. But that was EXACTLY what Helmut Kohl did with the reunification.

Having travelled a bit in Turkey: There are a lot of ordinary people in the market that speak fluently German. Now these former "Gastarbeitern" are not in the mood to accept the muslim ways - and are as hardnosed as they come.

[patrickwalsh]

The Marshall Plan was brought up during conversation at the Air Base I was stationed at in Western Germany (1978). We (the USAF) had a small detachment to JagBog 34, Memmingen and with that a canteen (bar/club) for all ranks to enjoy. A fellow from the Black Forest area was talking to me there and the Marshall Plan came up. He thanked me many times for the help afforded him and his family. They were dying of starvation after the war and the aid received was a godsend. And yes, cigs, booze and many other items were still bartered. I was issued a ration card for coffee, tea, butter, cigs, booze and more. A very interesting time for a young twenty year old. I love Germany and I got to marry a Bavarian Girl!

[Darknamja]

The ROK President Park Chung Hee was so impressed by FDR's post-war recovery he visited FDR to learn more and use it as a model for the ROK's postwar recovery. He also sent many workers to FDR to gain knowledge and experience to bring back. The term "Miracle on the Han River" was coined after the phrase "Miracle on the Rhine" was used to refer to the economic rebirth of West Germany after World War II.😉

[kepanoid]

Simon, in the spirit of this video, could you please do a video on one of your channels about how Finland proudly paid its reparations after WW2, to the penny, and ahead of schedule, and in the process of producing everything the USSR wanted, made a transformation into a real industrial nation...? Even the Soviets were so impressed that they retired their military base in Porkkala, Finland after only about 10 years of use, instead of the 50 years agreed on in the peace treaty. Of course there had to be some really careful tiptoeing between the east and the west for us during those times, and well after as well.

[anydaynow]

You should definitely do a video on the Soviet project to move its war industry and workers to the Urals in the face of Barbarosa. That was the mega project of all mega projects at that time!

[sganzerlag]

I think perhaps one has to consider the people of Germany and their hand in the country's recovery. In 2008 and 2009 I worked in Europe, in connection with a large motorsport racing event. At the time I had never been to Europe. In the two years I was in Europe, I got to spend time in pretty much all of the Western European countries and also some of the Eastern European ones. One of the things that most dramatically stood out to me was how incredibly nice, smart and helpful the Germans were. I was extremely impressed (positively) by the Germans that I met, pretty much without exception. A country that has that kind of population is almost guaranteed to succeed.

[adrianrouse]

My mother and father met in germany working on the Marshall plan..my family still have friends in germany. Love the place

[HyperactiveNeuron]

I used to live in the middle of the Ruhrpott (the region... Ruhr is the river). It's very impressive with lots of industry and high tech companies and jobs. Can't forget about the cobblestone streets, shopping and amazing street food.

[pamelamays]

Yet another thing I didn't learn in my highschool history class.
Y'all are definitely making me smarter!

[donvalharris]

I've really learned something new things from this video, thank you Simon and the Mega projects team

[Beryllahawk]

Wonderful video! This really explains a lot of things for me in the stories my Oma used to tell. One of her favorites was how she and my grandfather met - because that black market you mentioned was in full swing at that time. "He had the coffee, but I had the sugar" she would say, and then laugh. Grandfather was US Army, and I suppose they must have faced a lot of difficulty from him marrying a German woman. She never talked about that kind of thing, instead focusing on all the Americans who were kind to her, both while she was in Germany and when she came to the States with her husband. She and my mother both regarded the "bounce back" as being 90% due to the hard work, sweat blood and tears, of Germans. This shows me how much of what they used to say was probably out of pride in their homeland and heritage - and how much was accurate. This also explains something that mystified me back in the 1990s (when I was learning German, and recent German history, in high school) - the immense tension regarding Turkish laborers. It didn't make any sense to me at that time - partly because I did NOT understand economics at all, but also because my fluency in the language made it very hard to understand articles in the German newspapers our teacher provided for study and practice.
So this was a video that really touched on some old old questions for me!

[alexholl]

Awesome video, you should one on japan's post war Rise to their current status as a technological powerhouse, would be pretty interesting

[richardsawyer]

Volkswagen had it's rebirth thanks to the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers needing transport in post war Germany. There's a part of their museum in Lyneham dedicated to it.

[jantschierschky]

What is missing is the Mittelstand, also the strong emphasis on apprenticeship.