Greece and Germany

[Thailandnotes]

William Pfaff...

“The wartime occupation of Greece by Germany, Bulgaria and Italy, as the Cambridge historian Richard Clogg has recently noted in the London Review of Books, caused “one of the most virulent hyperinflations ever recorded, five thousand times more severe than the [German] Weimar inflation of the early 1920s. Price levels in January 1946 were more than five trillion times those of May 1941.”

“The occupation produced one of the worst famines in modern European history. It is estimated that some 200,000 Greeks starved between 1941 and 1943. In addition, savage war continued between Greek guerrillas and Axis occupation forces, with the usual torture and reprisals on the order of 150 hostages shot for every attack on a German soldier.

“In 1944, the Germans conducted a scorched earth withdrawal, accompanied by atrocities for which many Greeks today consider German reparations inadequate. The official estimate is that 1.2 million Greeks—more than an eighth of the population—were made homeless by the occupation. There still is a controversy over what happened to Greece’s national gold stock.”

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/...e_20120829/?ln

[metalman]

Re: Greece and Germany

William Pfaff...

“The wartime occupation of Greece by Germany, Bulgaria and Italy, as the Cambridge historian Richard Clogg has recently noted in the London Review of Books, caused “one of the most virulent hyperinflations ever recorded, five thousand times more severe than the [German] Weimar inflation of the early 1920s. Price levels in January 1946 were more than five trillion times those of May 1941.”

“The occupation produced one of the worst famines in modern European history. It is estimated that some 200,000 Greeks starved between 1941 and 1943. In addition, savage war continued between Greek guerrillas and Axis occupation forces, with the usual torture and reprisals on the order of 150 hostages shot for every attack on a German soldier.

“In 1944, the Germans conducted a scorched earth withdrawal, accompanied by atrocities for which many Greeks today consider German reparations inadequate. The official estimate is that 1.2 million Greeks—more than an eighth of the population—were made homeless by the occupation. There still is a controversy over what happened to Greece’s national gold stock.”

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/...e_20120829/?ln

[don]

Re: Greece and Germany

There was plenty of looting of occupied countries by Germany - from art to crops to manpower - but it was in the Deutschmark's absolute control over currency exchange that the heavy lifting took place. It kept an essentially bankrupt war machine running.

(Sound familiar?)

[globaleconomicollaps]

Re: Greece and Germany

There was plenty of looting of occupied countries by Germany - from art to crops to manpower - but it was in the Deutschmark's absolute control over currency exchange that the heavy lifting took place. It kept an essentially bankrupt war machine running.

(Sound familiar?)

You sure? Didn't they have an epic ( THE epic) hyperinflation and "currency crisis"?

[don]

Re: Greece and Germany

You sure? Didn't they have an epic ( THE epic) hyperinflation and "currency crisis"?

Are you confusing the intentional money printing to satisfy Versailles debt in the early 20s with the war years of the late 30s and early 40s?

[astonas]

Re: Greece and Germany

Are you confusing the intentional money printing to satisfy Versailles debt in the early 20s with the war years of the late 30s and early 40s?

To save people the fact-checking: Don specified Deutschmark. From Wikipedia:

It was first issued under Allied occupation in 1948 replacing the Reichsmark, and served as the Federal Republic of Germany's official currency from its founding the following year until 1999, when the mark was replaced by the euro

It was the Reichsmark that underwent Weimar inflation. The Deutschmark's support structure was designed by Erhardt specifically to be the opposite of the Reichsmark's: strong, stable, and independent. One may reasonably argue that he overcompensated in this regard, but it is hard to argue that he failed.

[don]

Re: Greece and Germany

To save people the fact-checking: Don specified Deutschmark. From Wikipedia:


It was the Reichsmark that underwent Weimar inflation. The Deutschmark's support structure was designed by Erhardt specifically to be the opposite of the Reichsmark's: strong, stable, and independent. One may reasonably argue that he overcompensated in this regard, but it is hard to argue that he failed.

Thanks astonas, for the clarification. With foreigh reparations somewhat under control the new money addressed the hyperinflation.