50 years of the Marshall Plan - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1997 - 100 Pfennig

On June 5, 1947, US Secretary of State George C. Marshall delivered his famous speech to students of Harvard University announcing the so-called Marshall Plan. This unique recovery program has also gone down in history as the European Recovery Program (ERP). The aim of this initiative was the conviction that, following the devastating destruction of World War II, Europe would need to be able to rebuild economically. Germany, the former enemy of the war, was also to return politically to the circle of peoples. The program was intended for the whole of Europe, but the European countries in the Soviet sphere of influence and also the Russian-occupied part of Germany were prevented by Moscow from receiving the aid. Under this program, the US Congress approved about $ 13 billion over three and a half years. This financed goods manufactured in America and used in Europe, but which could not be bought by Europe as a result of a lack of foreign exchange. The German importers had to deposit the equivalent value of the goods in German currency into a special account with the Central Bank. This equivalent account initially belonged to the USA; After Germany had settled the debt set by the 1953 London Debt Conference from the federal budget, the counterpart accounts became German property and formed the basis of the ERP Special Fund. From this ERP Special Fund until today mainly low-interest loans have been granted, especially for the promotion of medium-sized businesses. (Text: Federal Ministry of Economics, Bonn)