Post-World War II rapid reconstruction of West Germany and Austria
For a list of post World War II "economic miracles", see Economic miracle. For the German band, see Wirtschaftswunder (band).
The Volkswagen Beetle was an icon of post-war West German reconstruction. The pictured example was a one-off version manufactured to celebrate the production of a million cars of the type.[1]
The Wirtschaftswunder (German:[ˈvɪʁt.ʃaftsˌvʊndɐ]ⓘ, "economic miracle"), also known as the Miracle on the Rhine, was the rapid reconstruction and development of the economies of West Germany and Austria after World War II (adopting an ordoliberalism-based social market economy). The expression referring to this phenomenon was first used by The Times in 1950.[2]
Beginning with the replacement of the Reichsmark with the Deutsche Mark in 1948 as legal tender (the Schilling was similarly re-established in Austria), a lasting era of low inflation and rapid industrial growth was overseen by the government led by West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and his Minister of Economics, Ludwig Erhard, who went down in history as the "father of the West German economic miracle." In Austria, efficient labor practices led to a similar period of economic growth.
The era of economic growth raised West Germany and Austria from total wartime devastation to developed nations in modern Europe. At the founding of the European Common Market in 1957 West Germany's economic growth stood in contrast to the struggling conditions at the time in the United Kingdom.
^Rieger, Bernhard (2009-09-01). "The 'Good German' Goes Global: the Volkswagen Beetle as an Icon in the Federal Republic". History Workshop Journal. 68 (1): 3–26. doi:10.1093/hwj/dbp010. ISSN 1363-3554.
^"Wirtschaftswunder, n." Oxford English Dictionary Online. September 2009. Archived from the original on May 2, 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
The Wirtschaftswunder (German: [ˈvɪʁt.ʃaftsˌvʊndɐ] , "economic miracle"), also known as the Miracle on the Rhine, was the rapid reconstruction and development...
The Wirtschaftswunder (sometimes simply called Wirtschaftswunder) was a German band consisting of musicians Angelo Galizia (vocals, Italy), Tom Dokoupil...
of Germany in 1949. The country enjoyed prolonged economic growth (Wirtschaftswunder) beginning in the early 1950s. West Germany joined NATO in 1955 and...
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Germany today was laid during the economic miracle of the 1950s (Wirtschaftswunder), when West Germany rose from the enormous destruction wrought by...
Japan (Japanese post-war economic miracle), West Germany and Austria (Wirtschaftswunder), South Korea (Miracle of the Han River), France (Trente Glorieuses)...
Saxony state and it grew rapidly in 1950s and 60s due to West German Wirtschaftswunder. This also saw the growth of a large migrant population, drawn largely...
post-World War II German social market economy and its attendant Wirtschaftswunder. The term "ordoliberalism" (German: Ordoliberalismus) was coined in...
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and East Germany. In the west, the Marshall Plan resulted in the "Wirtschaftswunder", an economic boom that caused 185% growth between 1950 and 1963....
growth starting in the 1950s fueled a 20-year "economic miracle" ("Wirtschaftswunder"). As West Germany's economy grew, and its standard of living steadily...
Rundschau. Retrieved 5 September 2016. "50 Jahre Tempo 50: Im Taumel des Wirtschaftswunders: Für das fehlende Tempolimit auf Autobahnen ist Deutschland weltberühmt...
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agriculture to become leading industrial states in the so-called Wirtschaftswunder. In Lower and Upper Franconia, there was still the problem, however...
market economy was a much more positive term and fit better into the Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle) mentality of the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1980s...
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the country. Bremen's economy boomed in line with the West German Wirtschaftswunder of the 1950s and 60s. This saw the growth, and permanent settlement...
postwar economic growth of West Germany, which is often called the Wirtschaftswunder ("economic miracle"). In his 1961 New Year's address, Chang Myon,...
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prosperity,[citation needed] particularly during the years of the Wirtschaftswunder in the 1950s. The population in the Saar Protectorate rejected in...
Western European nations experienced increased economic growth in the Wirtschaftswunder ("economic miracle"), Trente Glorieuses ("thirty glorious years")...
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