RECONSTRUCTION AND COLD WAR IN GERMANY: THE KREDITANSTALT FUR WIEDERAUFBAU.
Series: MODERN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY SERIES
Publisher: ASHGATE
Published: 2004
Place of publication: ALDERSHOT
Language: und; eng
Number of pages: 278
Description: "In this study the critical role of the Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) is closely examined. Established by the Anglo-American occupying powers in 1948, the main remit of the KfW was to provide investment for German industry, to help kicks-start the economy. Its particular function was to provide loans to key industries that the commercial banks considered too risky or which offered unacceptably low returns. Yet as this study makes clear, its work was from the outset highly politicized, and its role in German reconstruction went much further than simply providing funds for capital investment.

Bankrolled mainly by American Marshall Plan counterpart funds, the KfW was viewed in Washington as an essential tool in the wider Western response to the challenges of Soviet communism." "Utilizing archives in Germany, Britain and the United States, Dr. Grunbacher has provided a clear synthesis of this multi-faceted and complex subject. By approaching the economic development of Federal Germany through the locus of the KfW, he offers a fascinating insight into the interactions of economics, politics and ideology that will be welcomed by all scholars with an interest in the reconstruction of post-war Europe."--Jacket.