1122 Ch. 27 • Rebuilding Divided Europe

Table 27.2. Index of Industrial Production

1938 1948 1952 1959 1963 1967

United States 33 73 90 1 13 133 168

West Germany^532761107137158

France 52 55 70 101 129 155

Italy^434464112166212

Holland 47 53 72 1 10 141 182

Belgium^647888104135153

Britain 67 74 84 105 119 133

Austria^393665106131151

Spain^102149215

Sweden 52 74 81 106 140 176

Japan^582250120212347

Source: Walter Laqueur,Europe Since Hitler(New York: Penguin,1982), p.194.

resources. The German Federal Republic also had the advantage (one, to be

sure, bought at horrific cost during the war) of starting from scratch and

building new factories that utilized the most modern equipment. West Ger­

many’s other advantages included the presence of many engineers, a skilled

labor force, and protection by the Western Allies—so it did not have to spend

much for defense. The government of the German Federal Republic took a

lesser role in economic planning, but imposed short-term tariffs and encour­

aged agricultural modernization. The influx of refugees from East Germany

contributed to the remarkable growth of the West German economy. West

Germany in the 1960s attracted streams of migrant workers from Spain,

Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, and above all, Turkey.

As a result of the German economic “miracle,” West Germany’s gross

national product tripled between 1950 and 1964. West Germany’s imports

multiplied during the 1950s by four times and its exports by six times. Ger­

man industrial production more than doubled between 1948 and 1951, and

it increased by six times from 1948 to 1964. West Germany assumed pre-war

Germany’s role as a major producer of steel and machinery. The chemical

industry, strong in Germany since the late nineteenth century, continued to

develop. By 1960, the German Federal Republic was the world’s second lead­

ing exporter of goods, including machinery, appliances, radios, chemicals,

and automobiles, as Volkswagens now streamed off the assembly lines.

The continued concentration of industrial production in large companies

characterized the post-war period. Western Europe entered the world of

conglomerates. A single Belgian company controlled as much as 80 percent

of Belgian bank deposits, 60 percent of insurance business, 40 percent of

the iron and steel produced, 30 percent of coal, and 25 percent of electrical