ABSTRACT

The reconstruction process in post-war West Germany has been closely linked to, and influenced by, Cold War developments. The area of what would become the Federal Republic, due to its economic potential, was the crucial cornerstone in the process of European economic rehabilitation. The Kreditanstalt received Government Appropriations for Relief in Occupied Areas (GARIOA) funds and began the reconstruction process months before the more famous European Recovery Program counterpart funds became available. Support for agriculture, which began on a relatively small-scale, was driven by the need to improve the desperate situation in the food supply. The Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau great contribution has to be the financing of the Berliner Licht- und Elektrizitatswerke AG project and its subsequent success in convincing The Economic Cooperation Administration to reduce interest rates for loans to Berlin. The link between reconstruction and Cold War is nowhere more visible than in the case of West Berlin and the aid the city received throughout th.