ABSTRACT
Under the Potsdam agreement, the United States Government has unwittingly become a partner to mass starvation, particularly in Germany, contrary to the established and humanitarian concepts of international law, which have always placed upon the victor the responsibility of protecting to the best of its ability the innocent victims of the population conquered. Although the Morgenthau Plan was not officially adopted by the Western Allies, much of it reappeared in JCS/ 10673 and in this form played an important role in shaping American and British occupation policy in the first months and years following the German surrender, during which a thoroughgoing de-industrialization of Germany was carried out. For numerous reasons this directive was disproportionately harsh. For one, Germany had traditionally enjoyed a higher standard of living than most of her neighbours, being the most highly industrialized country in Europe.
