The New Order and the French Economy 0751201464, 9780751201468

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THE NEW ORDER AND THE FRENCH ECONOMY

THE NEW ORDER AND THE

FRENCH ECONOMY BY

ALAN S. MILWARD

O XFO RD A T TH E C LA R E N D O N PR ESS

1970

Oxford University Press, Ely House, London W. i OLASOOW NEW Y O U

TORONTO M U O U R N B W K U N O TO N

CA PI TOWN SALISBURY IBADAN NAIROBI DAR IS SALAAM

LUSAKA ADDO ABABA

BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI LAHORS DACCA KUALA LUMPUR SINGAPORE HONG KONO TOKYO

© O X FO R D U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S 1 9 7 0

P R IN T E D IN G R E A T B R IT A I N AT TH E U N I V E R S I T Y PRE SS, O X FO R D B Y VIVIAN

RIDLER

P R I N T E R TO TH E U N I V E R S I T Y

PREFACE I HOPB that this book, as a contribution to the history o f the New Order, will widen the debate on the nature o f fascism. It is written from the stand* point that fascism was no cancer in the body politic but a normal stage in the historical and econom ic development o f Europe, and that it cannot be ulti­ mately comprehended on a merely political level. Its form o f econom ic expression and its form o f political expression cannot be meaningfully separ­ ated, the final end o f both was the New Order. The N ational Socialist revolution was the product o f the long history o f social tensions in Germ any in her transition from a rural society to an indus­ trial econom y, and as such it was unique to one country. But as the history o f German econom ic and social development was not without its parallels in other countries so was the National Socialist revolution not without echoes and reverberations elsewhere, and it was itself conscious o f being but the second fascist revolution. The impact o f fascism on other European states was certainly as im portant as that o f jacobinism in 1792 or bolshevism in 1917. Ultimate safety fo r the N ational Socialist revolution lay in a reorganization o f Europe, the New Order. O f the form ulation o f the New Order we still know little. Economists have heaped contem pt on it, most historians have been more cautious. This book is an attem pt to examine, as far as it m ay at present be possible, the place o f France in that New Order, and by doing so to throw some light on what the fascist European economy would have been like. T o set Europe in a new econom ic and social m ould imposed so dire a m ilitary necessity on the economy o f Germ any, and later on the economies o f the occupied states, that the book must also be a study in the economics o f conquest, a subject about which the world has recently been rem arkably reticent considering the history o f our own times. The strategic instrument by which the New Order was to be created was the Blitzkrieg. W hen that failed the ‘ New Economic Order’ began its m odulation into the ’European war econom y’. This transmutation called into question the basic tenets o f the N ational Socialist revolution itself. Neither in its birth nor in its death was N ational Socialism a merely national event. When so much is still left to be known about the revolution in Germ any, almost all indeed, it might be thought extravagant to protest that that revolu­ tion must ultim ately be comprehended on a European scale. I f this book raises its critics to that extravagant level I shall be pleased. For, in the present circumstances, it can be no more than an ignorant, patchwork history o f one part o f the New Order. I can only begin what I hope others, particularly in

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PREFACE

France, will take up, as more evidence becomes available. I f my book is utterly superseded I shall be justified, and the sooner it is so the more justified I shall be. Nevertheless, the reader may well object that to comprehend the New Order requires far more than a study o f the economic relationships between France and Germany. I can but sustain that objection and say that it is my intention to write a further volume following from this one examining the New Order elsewhere in Europe. For that reason I have begun this book with a general essay on the liberal and fascist ideas o f conquest, for fascism was a rejection o f a whole system o f economic and political thought. The reader who wishes to avoid these generalities and begin with that part o f the book which is based on historical research might start at the second chapter. Those French documents relating to the occupation and preserved in the Archives Nationales are covered by the fifty-year rule. When they become available for consultation a volume far more interesting than this one can be written. But the Archives Nationales does not have control over many papers relating to the 'comités d’organisation* which are in some cases being safe­ guarded by less scrupulous institutions. Because o f this there must be some doubt as to what will be made public when those fifty years have run their course. I f for no other reason than this, it would have been worth while to study Franco-German economic relations during the war from the unpublished German materials. Outside France, perhaps in Brussels or in M oscow, there may yet be other documentary collections dealing with these events but not yet open to historians. In the Deutsches Zentralarchiv in Potsdam there are documents which I would very much have liked to consult, and which might well have modified or amplified many o f the conclusions drawn here, but the German Dem ocratic Republic refused me permission to use that archive. I am well aware that from one political standpoint at least the book must be the worse for this omission. N o doubt the archives administration o f the D D R . had more serious reasons for its decisions than the Goldsm iths Library o f London University, which refused me access to the books therein on the grounds that I was not a responsible person. I do not think that the inter­ pretation o f National Socialism which has emerged from East German historical writing is any more biased than that which has emerged in the west, and therefore I continue in the hope that I may one day see the inside o f the Deutsches Zentralarchiv. This book had perforce to be written from the documents that were avail­ able. These were mainly in the Foreign Documents Centre o f the Imperial W ar Museum in London, the Bundesarchiv in Koblenz, and the National Archives o f the United States in Washington. The catalogues o f the Genera] Services Administration o f the National Archives o f the United States and the FindbQcher o f the Bundesarchiv are now well known to historians; the resources o f the Foreign Documents Centre for no very good reason remain

PREFACE

vii

neglected. They are described more fully in the ‘N ote on Sources'. In addition, I was able to use documents in the H oover Institution on W ar, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University, some private papers o f Hans Hemmen, head o f the Special Comm ission for Econom ic Affairs o f the German Armis­ tice D elegation, and some papers o f I. G . Farben in the care o f the N ational Technological Lending Library, Boston Spa, Yorkshire. O f the published collections I should single out two officially published by the French govern­ ment, La Délégation Française auprès de la Commission Allemande d*Arm istice and the nine volumes o f the Commission Consultative des Dommages et des Réparations. The greater part o f this book was written in an atmosphere o f considera We intellectual discouragement. In such circumstances I was the more dependent on the help o f many people in several countries and often at great distance. Their friendly response showed me that generosity is not always lacking amongst scholars. The prodigality both with his time and with his knowledge, o f M . Étienne Dejonghe o f the University o f Lille exceeded all bounds. His thesis on the northern French coal-field during the occupation has begun that process by which my own w ork will become out o f date. Professor François Crouzet and M onsieur F. Boudot helped me in the early stages o f my work. The unflagging energies o f D r. Ing. W . Rohland opened many avenues which might otherwise have remained closed to me. W ould we were all so interested in the history o f our own times! D ipl. Ing. Albert Speer allowed me access to much inform ation which a less scrupulous man would have kept for him self; he was most kind to a person o f no importance when he was engaged on matters o f much greater importance to himself. D r. J.-J. Jäger w illingly provided help in a field where he is more expert than I. Professor E. Jäckel and D r. H.-J. Nordkäm per helped me to gain access to Hemmen’s papers. F o r permission to use those papers and for her kindness while I did so I would like to thank Frau Ingeborg Ganse-Hemmen. M rs Agnes Peterson o f the H oover Institution and D r. A . W agner, form erly o f the Bundesarchiv, pro­ vided a ready welcome and that same practical help they have given to many others in the same field. Professor E. M alinvaud and Professor I. Berend both provided me with inform ation which I could not otherwise have obtained. In addition I would like to thank D r. M . de Cecco and Professor G ordon W right, as well as those m any anonymous employees o f the N ational Archives o f the United States who dispatch their blue boxes to such remote com ers o f the world. They might well take the m otto o f the United States Post Office as their own. Professor W . N . M edlicott and Professor S. B. Saul both read parts o f the manuscript for me and their criticism saved me from many o f my indis­ cretions. T o Professor M edlicott’s warm and consistent encouragement from the beginning I owe more than can be said here. Over a long period o f research I came to rely im plicitly on the help o f D r. Leo Kahn and Miss Angela Raspin

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PREFACE

o f the Imperial W ar Museum. They have made the Foreign Documents Centre there into a true centre o f research; and in what other centre o f research can there be such humane com pany? M rs. N onna Alderson, although always busy with other tasks, typed her way remorselessly and perfectly through the manuscript and greatly helped with the design o f the statistical tables. And why should I not mention my w ife? She has read every word o f this book, several times, and even written some o f them. One person above all I would like to thank, Professor M . W . Flinn, whose huge enthusiasm for life and scholarship and whose very practical aid sus­ tained me when I wavered. There is no way to repay such debts, but I would like this book to go some way towards it.

CONTENTS Preface

V

List o f Illustrations

X

List o f Abbreviations I.

II. h i.

The Idea o f Conquest in Liberal and Fascist Thought

xi 1

France and The New Order

23

The M achinery o f Exploitation

45

iv . The French Economy during the Blitzkrieg (1940-1941) v. The Level o f Exploitation Increased v i. W hat Kind o f Europe? v u . The Exploitation o f the French Coal Industry v in . Iron Ore ix . Bauxite and Aluminium x. W olfram

7« no 147 181 210

235 244

x i. Agriculture

254

x ii. Conclusion

269

Note on Sources

298

Bibliography

3O I

Index

3II

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS F io . I. The importance o f French labour in the German war economy

125

2. The share o f output for German purposes in the total output o f French industry

137

3. Output per man day worked in French coal-mines, 1938-46 (annual averages)

201

4. The labour productivity in coal-mines in Europe, 1926-38

204

3. Labour productivity o f iron-ore mines in different regions of France

231

6. Output per man in iron-ore mines in France (including North Africa) from January 1941 to December 1943 and increases in employment after November 1942 over the average employment o f the preceding twelve months

232

M a p I. Adm inistrative areas o f France during the occupation

2. Areas o f strength o f the resistance movement in August 1943

53

134

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AA. BA. CCDR.

DFCAA.

Auswärtiges Amt. Bundesarchiv, Koblenz. Commission Consultative des Dommages et des Réparations, Dommages subis par la France et l'U nion Française du fa it de la guerre et de l'occupation ennemie ( 1939- 1945), Part imput­ able à VAllem agne. L a D élégation Française a ig ris de la Com m ission Allem ande d*Arm istice', Recueil de documents publié par le gouverne­

ment français. DGFP. FD. GbA. IMT.

Docum ents on German Foreign P olicy 1918-1945.

Foreign Document. Generalbevollmächtigter für den Arbeitseinsatz. Triai o f the M ajor War Crim inals before the International M ilitary Tribunal.

Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques. INSEE. Mbh. in B. und Nf. Militärbefehlshaber in Belgien und Nordfrankreich. Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich. Mbh. in F. National Archives o f the United States. NA. Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression. NCA. National Technological Lending Library. NTLL. Oberkommando des Heeres. OKH. OKW. Oberkommando der Wehrmacht Rm.f.B.u.M. Reichsministenum für Bewaffnung und Munition. Reichsministerium für RQstungs- und Kriegsproduktion. Rm.f.R.u.Kp. Rwm. Reichswirtschaftsministerium. USSBS. United States Strategie Bombing Survey. W iJkbt Wirtschafts Abteilung. Wi.RO.Amt. Wirtschafts- und ROstungsamt Wehrwirtschafts- und Rüstungsstab Frankreichs. Wi.R0.Stab.

The word ton is used throughout to mean metric tons.

I

THE IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT Is the conquest o f territory worth w hile? D uring the eighteenth century political econom ists cam e increasingly to agree that it was not. The growing conviction that econom ic progress depended on the unity o f interests o f man­ kind implied that war, the ultim ate dem onstration o f the opposition o f human interests, and econom ic progress were incom patible. Even after a successful conquest the resistance o f the conquered elim inated any possibility o f real econom ic benefit for either party. The N ational Socialist Party, however, saw conquest as a possible, even a necessary instrument for im proving the future o f certain sections o f m ankind. The opposition o f interests, 'the general struggle for life’ as H itler called it in M ein Kam pf, was such that without conquest neither Germ any nor Europe could be saved. Liberal econom ists did not reject conquest fo r mere reasons o f accountancy, but on philosophical grounds also. It follow ed from their assumptions about the needs and nature o f the individual that conquest was a positive impediment to the improvement o f hum anity. The struggle o f the oppressed against the oppressor was a struggle to reassert hum anity’s hopes and the laws o f econom ic progress. Hence the tone o f m oral outrage which has greeted acts o f conquest in the last century and a half. Conquest was always cruel and nasty, but in our modern history it has com e to be seen as a denial o f the fine future o f mankind. T hat we still think in the shadow o f the eighteenth century m ay be understood from public comment on the more recent o f conquests. T he attack on the liberal concept o f econom ic progress by the N ational Socialist Party drew its strength from an old-established opposition to liberal econom ic thought in Germ any. But it was given invincible m ight by the econom ic events o f the inter-war period. W hen theoreticians declared the Sm ithian epoch o f expanding overseas trade to be finished and demanded a new explanation o f the fram ework o f econom ic development they found a ready response from those who provided an explanation with a relevance peculiar to Germ any’s own history. The link between the geopolitical school o f Haushofer and the völkisch school o f D aitz was all too readily provided from traditional views o f G erm any’s historical role in Europe. Thus the econom ic theory o f Germ an fascism was able to incorporate a foreign policy predicated on an assumption o f Germ an econom ic and racial dominance in Europe, and even to make such a foreign policy an essential part o f that econom ic theory. •SIMM

B

2 IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT Once that link between economic policy and foreign policy had been forged the National Socialist Party was able to present a programme o f action representing the absolute rejection o f all liberal thought Liberalism was held to represent an alien code o f philosophical and economic thought derived from the economic development o f other societies, inappropriate to Germany. T o that extent the anti-capitalist strain in the National Socialist Party was the same as that in other fascist parties, the expression o f a resentment present since the early nineteenth century. But it was the integral nature o f domestic and foreign economic policies which distinguished German fascism from others. The expression o f this integral nature was the New Order, involving nothing less than a total economic and political reconstruction o f Europe. That New Order could be created only by military force. The different paths o f economic development in European states were such that fascism was unlikely in most to achieve the successful internal revolution that it had in Germany. The plans to create the New Order challenged directly the funda­ mental liberal assumption about the value o f conquest. For it was no more than an assumption, based on philosophical grounds rather than on the empirical exploration o f historical fa c t In their rejection o f liberal economics the National Socialists therefore struck at its very foundations, the most vulnerable part o f the whole edifice. A s the view that conquest was not valuable came increasingly to be accepted in the eighteenth century the more firmly did economic writers believe that in previous centuries the opposite view had been held. False though this interpretation o f earlier writers was, to the early liberal economists it was very useful, for it made it easier for them to believe their own views to be one step further along a progress that led nearer to truth. The concept o f economic progress was equally useful in that it enabled them to defend their theories against arguments culled from the fields o f observed historical reality. In fact, before the eighteenth century, writers on economic affairs had held very divided opinions about the economic value o f conquest to the state, where they had discussed this issue at all. Their neglect o f what seemed to liberals to be a central problem was the result o f their fairly general belief that war was inherent in man’s nature. For this reason war seemed an un­ avoidable part o f economic policy. Its usefulness partly depended on the way in which it was deployed by the ruler. But the idea that capital accumulation by means o f conquest is a primary advantage o f war is uncommon among pre-liberal economists. Bodin, it is true, replies to the question ’whether it is good to arm and to train subjects for war, to fortify towns, and to conduct war?’, that ’conquests made over enemies and which increase the finances, also disburden and relieve subjects’.1 But the tenor both o f his work and that o f Montchrétien is • J. Bodin, Les Six Livres de la république, 3rd odo. (Paris, 1378), book 5, chapter 5.

IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT

3

that the prim ary advantage o f a w ar o f conquest is one o f'sta tecraft'.1 Foreign wars are the m ost effective preventive o f civil wars. It is precisely fo r this reason that Boterò placed such emphasis on conquest as an objective o f policy.12*Since w ar is a psychological necessity for man it is better from the point o f view o f statecraft to fight external wars. Boterò does not even con­ sider the econom ic advantages o f the ensuing conquests. Serious considera­ tions o f what those econom ic advantages might be had to w ait for a different view o f m an's nature. The evolution o f the liberal idea o f conquest can be traced back into the seventeenth century. Sir W illiam Petty, for instance, in his Treatise o f Taxes and Contributions, published in 1662, emphasized so strongly the cheapness o f policies o f internal development com pared to those o f territorial aggrand­ izement, as to im ply that a genuine choice existed for the policy maker.* But it was the year 1734 which gave a really strong impulse to the development o f econom ic thought along these lines. In that year both M elon and Vanderlint published the pamphlets by which they are now best known. M elon assumed a profound opposition between 'the spirit o f conquest* and 'the spirit o f commerce*. The origin o f all econom ic strength is capital accum ulation. The true source o f capital accum ulation is commerce. W ar is a direct threat to econom ic development, even war which leads to the state's territorial aggrandizement. H ad the Carthaginians retired behind a defensive w all and actively sought foreign trade they would easily have repulsed the Rom ans.4 States founded on conquest have no stability; once the process o f conquest stops the state begins to disintegrate. Even while conquest lasts there is no real accretion o f capital to the conqueror, only a greatly increased burden o f debt. The size o f the national territory has no relationship to the strength o f the state; Russia only became a significant power when Peter the G reat began to pursue policies o f internal developm ent T o encourage m arriages, to grant assistance to fathers burdened w ith large fam ilies, to take charge o f the education o f orphans and foundlings is to strengthen the State m uch m ore than conquests w ould. In so far as w hat the capture o f a tow n ordinarily costs in m en and m oney, com pared to its value, there is alw ays a loss fo r the con­ queror, w ho is certain to m eet w ith subsequent resistance.*

Such internal development is very much a m atter o f internal colonization. In most circumstances conquests abroad merely prevent conquests at home. 1 A . de Montchrétien, Traicté de l'aconom ie politique (Paris, 1615), ed. T . Funck-Brentano (Paris, 1889). 1 G . Bolero, D ella Ragion di Stato (Venice, ed. 1601); (trans. P. J. and D . P. W aley, The Reason o f the State (London, 1956». * Sir W. Petty, A Treatise o f Taxes and Contributions (London, 1662), ed. H. Hull (Cambridge, 1899). 4 J.-F. Melon, Essaipolitique sur le commerce (Paris, 1734) ; in E. Daire (ed.) Economistesfinanciers du X V lll* s lic k (Paris, 1843), p. 733. * Ibid., p. 718.

4 IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT The refusal to allow the M oors expelled from Spain to settle in and cultivate the Landes should be compared to the attempts to get German settlers to people Louisiana. T o take new lands into cultivation is to conquer new countries without m aking any­ one unhappy. The heaths o f Bordeaux and Bayonne have a diameter o f twenty leagues; the legislator who peopled them w ould do the State a greater service than he w ho m ight capture the same amount o f land in a murderous w ar, but, in the eyes o f the common m an he would not have so brilliant a glory, for it would have been won w ithout m ilitary danger, w ithout losing a single citizen, and without incurring the jealousy o f his neighbours.1

Vanderlint considered the net result o f almost all wars to be an over-all capital loss. There was, he argued, no way o f accurately costing any intended w ar; there was therefore no way o f establishing whether or not war was worth while as a reply to an encroachment by a foreign power on British trade. The likelihood was that it would not be found so. I f the ‘Point o f Trade’ be conceded the other nation will merely accumulate bullion, the main result o f a trading gain. In such a case its internal price level would be increased to the point where its trade would be disadvantaged. In almost all circumstances therefore it is ‘absurd and wicked* to go to war.2 B ut the F olly o f m aking W ar, to extend D om inion, appears, in that W ar lays waste and depopulates countries, and thereby puts such N ations to great and extraordinary Charges and D ifficulties, to preserve and defend such unpeopled Territories from the easy Inroads and Invasions o f their Neighbours, w ho have as many m ore Oppor­ tunities o f Entrance, as the extended unpeopled Territory o f any Potentate doth necessarily afford.1

But could there exist a war which is actually favourable to commerce and internal development? The population o f the earth’s surface is very unevenly distributed, and the eighteenth century had the clearest evidence that redistri­ buting it seemed to increase the volume o f trade. Domestic economic develop­ ment would produce over-population. I f such a state o f affairs coincided with such under-population in another state as severely to reduce its commercial potentialities the colonization o f the latter by the former would benefit the world. Population growth was essentially a function o f economic develop­ ment. If, therefore, neighbouring states attained unequal levels o f develop­ ment the more prosperous country would benefit mankind by transplanting that part o f its population which could be considered to be surplus. ‘Y et I think there is one Case, in which making W ar on other Nations may be justi­ fiable, viz. Fighting for Territory when we are over-peopled, and want Land 1 J.-F. Melon, op. d t„ p. 723. 1 J. Vanderlint, Money answers a ll Things (London, 1734), ed. J. H. Hollander (Balti­ more, 1910). 1 Ibid., p. 121.

IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT

5

fo r them, which our Neighbours have, but w ill not part with on am icable and reasonable Term s/1 Thus M elon considered that the eighty thousand men which H olland required to man her East Indian garrisons were better em ployed there than at home. Providing only a sm all number o f the ‘superfluous’ go, territory is a valuable acquisition. F or this reason M elon believed the Portuguese acquisi­ tion o f Brazil to have benefited the conquering econom y whereas the Spanish conquests had had the opposite effect* There were certain logical problems involved in this appraisal o f the use­ fulness o f conquest. B y what yardstick could the superfluousness o f the popu­ lation be measured? W as it a m atter o f where a unit o f labour could be most effectively em ployed, or were there other considerations which argued in favour o f retaining labour in the domestic econom y ? Verri drew the distinction between conquests not contiguous to the state, and which should therefore be con­ sidered econom ically as colonies, and conquests which were a direct physical extension o f the frontiers. In the second case these troublesome questions were partly avoided. But this, in itself, was no argument for territorial conquest. The value o f territory acquired in this w ay depended entirely on the balance between labour and land in that territory. Conquest usually entailed some measure o f depopulation and the population o f the extended state thus diminished in relation to the supply o f land. The consequence m ight be an ultim ate dim inution o f annual production. In addition there was the further danger that if the newly acquired territory was used to accomm odate super­ fluous population the population o f the conquering econom y would be sparser, trade would decrease, and so would the rate o f human reproduction.* Few conquests approached sufficiently near to these considerations for their profitability to be long discussed. Both M elon and Vanderlint emphasized that the m ost likely eventuality was always a much lower return to capital than could be obtained by any policy o f domestic capital investment. The worst aspect o f conquest was the financial loss it entailed. ’One hundred thousand men killed', M elon wrote, ’is really a very sm all part o f twenty m illion.’1*4 His w ork, indeed, reveals that lack o f concern for human existence except as an intellectual problem which m arks him a genuine forerunner o f the liberal economists.* Given the right circumstances, conquest in Verri’s works, is (at least theoretically) advantageous. V on Justi argued that it was in reality quite likely that conquest would represent a substantial capital gain; and yet, in 1 Ibid. 1 J.-F. Melon, op. d t., p. 722. * P. Verri, M editazioni sulla economia politica (Genoa, 1771); (trans.) M éditations sur l'économie politique (h o b , 1823), p. 137. 4 J.-F. Melon, op. d t., p. 751. * It was on these grounds that he was so splendidly attacked by Voltaire, Politique et législation. Lettre à M. T . sur l’ouvrage de M. Melon et sur celui de M. Dutot (Paris, 1738).

6

IDEA OP CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT

spite o f this, victorious war was always an economic disaster.1 I f all the social and moral repercussions could be costed the conquering state suffered an enormous loss. The moral loss was self-evident The perfection o f the state did indeed depend on its domestic policies and not the size o f its territories. Therefore, although conquest brought substantial material advantages, much more substantial than M elon would have admitted, these were heavily out­ weighed by the disadvantages which inevitably ensued.1 Von Justi’s sweeping rejection o f conquest was the result o f not confining him self to the more narrowly economic arguments. Those who did so confine themselves tended to maintain the theoretical possibility that conquest could be advantageous. Although Herrenschwand drew a particular distinction between territorial acquisition and the acquisition o f economic strength, and although the first seldom took place except at the expense o f the second, a coincidence o f interest was not logically impossible.1*3 The physiocrats regarded these hesitations as unjustified. Peace, in their view, was a logical deduction from the material law o f the universe rather than a deliberate political construction. It was therefore not merely true that con­ quest was o f no value, but also that there never had been a time when it had been o f value. In his article on Grains in The Encyclopaedia Quesnay argued that any domestic colonization must be more valuable than conquest.4 But it was left to Baudeau to state the liberal view in its purest form . 'N ever to usurp any property, never to violate any liberty, that is the universal commandment which binds all men in every instance, sovereigns and nations as much and in the same way as each individual.’3 The foundation o f such a principle had necessarily to be that conquest could in no circumstances be profitable. B ut, is one ever enriched by usurpations? R eckon w hat you have spent in goods, in tim e, in skill to lay waste and invade a few o f the earth’s cantons: had you em ployed but a third in sovereign advances in your own territory you w ould there have m ulti­ plied production, men, and arts, and you w ould have made fo r yourself a revenue ten times as substantial as any resulting from usurpations, a revenue which, being the ju st and legitim ate fruit o f beneficence and not having caused any human blood to be shed, could not have caused, nor, indeed, even be held reponsible for, tears other than those o f jo y .4 1 See E. Silberner, La Guerre dans la pensée économique du XVI* au XVIII* siècle (Paris, «939), P- 154. 1 G . Von Justi, Der Grundriss einer guten Regierung (Frankfurt, 1759), p. 257. * J. Herrenschwand, De l ’économie politique et morale de l ’espèce humaine (London, 1796). 4 F. Quesnay, 'Grains, article publié dans l'Encyclopédie, 1756*. in Œuvres économiques et philosophiques de Quesnay, ed. Oncken (Frankfurt am Main, 1888). * N. Baudeau, Première Introduction à la philosophie économique ou analyse des états policés (Paris, 1767) in A . Dubois (ed.). Collection des économistes et des réformateurs sociaux de la France (Paris, 1910), ii. 174. 4 Ibid., p. 180.

IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT

7

In essence the rulers o f the earth are nothing more than great landed pro­ prietors. Their task is to develop their estates. In such development there is no place for destructive aggression. Because, fin ally, suppose the p olicy o f destruction to have the greatest success fo r w hich it could hope. A conquest, that is an im posing w ord indicating a fine thing; but w hat does one find o f use in a natural province? C ultivated and built-on lands, m en, and w ealth. W ell then . . . how m any conquests are there to be m ade very peacefully a t hom e at m uch less expense, w ithout danger and w ithout devastation, and above a ll, w ithout any hum an pow er being able to prevent them .1

The insistence on agriculture as the source o f econom ic development, com ­ bined with a very atom istic view o f the state, made the physiocrats regard territorial conquest with abhorrence. W hat m en, w hat operations, w hose effects on the earth, on its produce, on the im­ provem ents and the labour w hich m ake it fru itfu l, on the men w ho cover its surface, on their m ultiplication, are precisely the sam e, w ithout any kind o f difference, as if thousands o f untam able carnivorous anim als, a violent epidem ic disease, a deluge o f w ater or o f fire had been sent b y H eaven to the sam e countries. I f those m onsters in hum an form w ho are called conquerors m ust have statues and altars, as the base adulation o f scholars has frequently suggested, it is in the sam e w ay th at fever, fam ine and plague had tem ples in pagan antiquity.*

The shift in emphasis from considerations o f agriculture to considerations o f foreign trade as the mainspring o f econom ic progress led to no m odification o f the liberal position as established by the physiocrats. Inasmuch as the classical economists accepted Say’s Law o f M arkets they were bound to come to conclusions very similar to those o f their immediate precursors. G oods, Say argued, were obtained only by other goods. Capital accum ulation not only increases the ability to produce but also the ability to consume, to such a degree that the demand for commodities w ill be alm ost entirely in proportion to their supply. Once this proposition was accepted capital accum ulation appeared as a self-regulating process, and equilibrium as a feature even o f a stationary econom y. Conquest seemed therefore to have the same general utility as colonization.3 In addition conquest had serious institutional dis­ advantages besides the disruption o f exchange which it caused. W ars o f con­ quest were declared to be ’crimes against the people’ by Say.4 A t the same time the concept o f a profound opposition between war and commerce sur­ vived with even greater force. ’This (war) is the pestilential wind which blasts the prosperity o f nations. This is the devouring fiend which eats the precious treasure o f national econom y.’* ' N. Brodceu, Principes économiques de Louis X II, de Henri IV et du due de Sully (Paris, 1785), p. 115. 1 N. Baudeau, Première Introduction, op. d t., p. 181. * See the discussions by M. Blaug, Economie Theory in Retrospect (New Y ork, 1962), and I>. Winch, Classical Political Economy and Colonies (London, 1965). 4 J.-B. Say, Cours d'économie politique pratique (Paris, 1829), p. 176. * J. M ill, Commerce Defended (London, 1808), p. 119.

8 IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT Annexation may have been the result merely o f the foolish ignorance o f diplomats and statesmen. But Say had no faith that this could be prevented by any international peace-keeping agency. Such an agency would be a more complicated expression o f self-interest than the rivalry o f independent states. The disappearance o f conquest must therefore wait on public enlightenm ent In this respect Say’s intellectual arrogance was tempered by his unwarranted optimism. He regarded the increasing tendency o f warring nations to justify their conquests by public proclamations as a stage in the ultimate victory o f enlightenment over prejudice. Sim ilarly, Napoleon Bonaparte, a man by nature callous and cruel, had been obliged by the force o f public opinion to behave in a more lenient way than the tyrant M ithridates.1 It was not only the optimism o f the classical economists about war which had an unreal air but also the extreme logical position they had taken up. T o argue that conquest had never been econom ically valuable was to confront serious historical problems in explaining the economic growth o f nation states in the immediate past. The weight o f historical evidence accum ulating in the nineteenth century suggested that whatever the current economics o f conquest it may well have provided in the past in certain favourable circumstances a higher return on capital than other investment choices.* Napoleon’s campaigns themselves indicated that there were advantages, even if only temporary, in a policy o f conquest, and even that such advantages may not be wholly limited to the conquering economy.* Consideration o f historical examples led to a more cautious attitude amongst German economists in the nineteenth century. List never accepted the proposition that war was necessarily an impediment to economic develop­ ment. Britain could be shown to have benefited from the French W ars even in a narrowly commercial sense. M ore strikingly the United States could be shown to have benefited from a war actually fought on its own soil.4 In spite 1 J.-B. Say, op. d t., p. 180. * For evidence that this was very likely so see F. Redlich, De pruda m ilitari (Beiheft zur Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, voi. xxxix, Wiesbaden, 1956), and id., The German M ilitary Enterpriser and his Work Force (Beiheft zur Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, vols, xlvii, xlviii, Wiesbaden, 1964-3). 1 See, for example, G . Thuillier, 'Pour une histoire de l’économie rhénane de 1800 à 1830: les houillères de la Ruhr*, in Annales, xv (i960); G . Thuillier, ‘La métallurgie rhénane de 1800 à 1830’, in Annales, xvi (1961); H. Kisch, ‘ Growth deterrents o f a medieval heritage; the Aachen area woollen trades before 1790’, in Journal o f Economic History, xxiv (1964); P. Lebrun, L'Industrie de la laine à Verviers pendant le dix-hultiim e siècle et le début du dix-neuvième (Liège, 1948). For a more comprehensive view see E. Hecksher, The Continental System (Oxford, 1922) ; and F. Crouzet, ‘Wars, Blockade and Economie Change in Europe, 1792-1813’, Journal o f Economie History, xxiv (1964); id., L'Économie britannique et le blocus continental 18061813, 2 vols. (Paris, 1938). « F. List, Das nationale System der politischen Ökonomie (Stuttgart, 1841), trans. National System o f Political Economy (Philadelphia, 1836), p. 167: * . . . reduced, consequently, to their own resources for the supply o f their wants, the States o f North America, found, during the war o f independence, that manufactures o f every kind had received a remarkable

IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT 9 o f these examples, and others even more persuasive drawn from antiquity, m ost nineteenth-century German economists accepted that conquest was very seldom profitable and many believed its profitability to have been only a feature o f the past. Knies claim ed that the gains from conquest were in m ost cases illusory. It was certainly possible to exact indemnities, as Napoleon had done, or otherwise to increase the stock o f capital. But such gains covered only the expenses o f the victorious government; they were not usually equal to the total loss to the national econom y caused by w ar.1 Roscher in later editions o f his w ork estimated that Germ any did gain econom ically in 1871, but only to the extent o f one-sixth o f the French loss. In fact, if the harmful consequences o f the Germ an stock-m arket boom induced by the French indemnity are taken into account, Germ any m ay not have gained at all.2 Although the ‘historical school’ o f economists would have agreed that in m odem circumstances conquest represented a poor investment decision they would not accept the view o f the British and French liberals that it always had been so. The existence o f another school o f economists at grips with the historical paradox im plicit in the liberal standpoint had little influence in m odifying this standpoint. Rather the m odifications came from inside the body o f liberal econom ic thought itself. The early advocates in Britain o f a planned policy o f colonization argued their case in the language o f classical econom ic theory. In so doing they mounted a rather clum sy attack on Say’s law . W akefield argued that the demand fo r capital was not in effect in proportion to the supply. C apital accum ulation could take place without good domestic investment opportunities occurring and could therefore lead to econom ic disequilibrium .2 Such an argument was directed to dem onstrating that colonies were not as useless as Ricardian theory supposed, but in as much as it involved the rejection o f Say’s Law it also modified the position on the econom ics o f conquest which the classical economists had inherited from the physiocrats. It is, therefore, not surprising that not only was Bentham converted into an advocate o f colonization by W akefield but that it was also he who began the liberal retreat to a more tenable position. Bentham had displayed a radier am bivalent attitude towards colonies even before his complete change o f heart. A s for his views on conquest they m ay well have been influenced by Hobbes. Both Bentham and Hobbes took the view that the conquests made by impulse, and that agriculture was deriving from them such benefits, that the value o f the soil, as well as the wages o f labor, were largely increased, in spite o f public taxes and the ravages o f war*. 1 K . Knies, D ie politische Ökonomie, vom Standpunkte der geschichtlichen M ethode (Braunschweig, 1833), pp. 34 ff. * W . Roscher, Betrachtungen über die Währungsfrage der deutschen Münzreform (Berlin, 187s). 2 D . Winch, op. d t., p. 79.

IO

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the Greek and Roman empires had been profitable. Hobbes, however, con­ sidered that the return to capital had ceased to be worth while by his own day.1 Bentham, stern critic o f war though he was, was not so certain. Conquests made b y N ew Zealanders have some sense in them ; w hile the conquered fry, the conquerors fatten. Conquests made by the polished nations o f antiquity— conquests made by G reeks and Rom ans, had some sense in them. Lands, m oveables, inhabitants, everything went into the pocket. The invasions o f France in the days o f the Edwards and the Henrys, had a rational object. Prisoners were taken and the country was stripped to pay their ransom. The ransom o f a single prisoner, a D uke o f O rleans, exceeded one-third o f the national revenue o f England.*

W ar, in fact, argued Bentham, had on several occasions been justifiable on these grounds. The causes o f war were not entirely the same as the causes o f human crim inality and anti-social behaviour; there were differences o f scale. The hope o f gain and the hope o f plunder were both rational motives for war. Because o f this, wars o f conquest could benefit individual despots where they did not benefit the whole o f the conquering nation. The annexation o f Silesia by Frederick II in 1740 or the later partitions o f Poland all benefited certain individuals or groups in positions o f power within the State. Whereas it was unthinkable that an aggressive war could economically benefit Britain, one o f the reasons for the historical survival o f conquest was that it advantaged the ruling groups in less happy countries. For Britain or France annexation o f territory was the very depth o f folly. There was a connection between the degree o f economic advancement and the sophistication o f the political system. The more economically advanced the country the less it stood to gain by conquest. The more people shared the government the less likely was gain from conquest to be worth distributing. Similarly, the more economically advanced the country the more it would lose from any aggressive war.) 'The greatest acquisitions that could be con­ ceived would not be to be wished for,— could they be attained with the great­ est certainty, and without the least expense.’4 But in the case o f a less advanced country conquest might still occur from quite rational motives. Bentham offered the beginnings o f an explanation o f the continued existence o f con­ quest even in the nineteenth century, an explanation which was a considerable improvement on merely attributing it to human ignorance. It was along these lines that Gustave de M olinari was able finally to re­ establish the liberal idea o f conquest in a defensive position not far from where it had been before the physiocrats. In so doing he perpetrated a curious blend o f Ricardian economics and evolutionary thought. * T . Hobbes, Leviathan (London, 1651), p. 250. * J. Bentham, Principles o f International Law, in J. Bowring (ed.). The Works o f J. Bentham (Edinburgh, 1843), p. 557. 1 A view very strongly proposed later by Fawcett. H. Fawcett, Manual o f Political Economy, 7th edn. (London, 1888), pp. 30 ff. 4 J. Bentham, op. d t., p. 551.

IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT u In the earliest period o f history aggressive war, he argued, had been not m erely profitable but a necessary condition o f man’s survival. The origins o f w ar are man’s extension o f the territorial area which provides his sustenance. Conquest for econom ic gain is therefore the econom ic origin o f m ost human com m unities. Had the conquerors, however, merely pillaged the territories they captured, civilization would have collapsed at the o u tset Some form o f rational exploitation o f the captured area had to be organized. C ivilization w ould certainly have perished in its early days i f a further progress had n o t intervened to save it: instead o f slaughtering the vanquished and plundering the w ealth w hich they had accum ulated the m ore intelligent societies o f hunters and plunderers understood that it w ould be m ore profitable to occupy perm anently the territories on w hich they were conducting forays and to force the vanquished to share w ith them the products o f their industry.1

T he foundation o f a ‘state’ in this w ay w as an enterprise subject to the same law s o f com petition as any other econom ic enterprise. It was riskier than other enterprises, but potentially more profitable, bringing a greater return than participation in industrial activity. W ar became a capital investment on which the return was ‘booty, tributes, the acquisition and exploitation o f a sup­ plem ent o f “ subjects” ’.* But fo r it to survive it must retain a higher rate o f return on capital than peace-time activities. ‘The conquest o f a territorial dom ain and the foundation o f a political state do not differ in any w ay from any other enterprise. They are effected, like industrial and com m ercial enter­ prises, by co-operation o f labour and capital, and their objective is profit.’3 Every w ar which sees an increase in the cost o f means o f conquest sees a potential inprovem ent in the future security o f civilization. This is mitigated by the fact that security starts to diminish com petition. Com petition is essen­ tial to the conservation o f the human race. The danger therefore arises that a dim inution o f war w ill impede human progress. But the consolidation o f security leads to a new form o f com petition, com petion for markets. Conquest becomes no longer the m ost profitable, and thus the m ost rational capital investment. And yet w ar continues. The explanation for this is the same as the explanation provided by Bentham. The direction o f the enterprises called states becomes an object o f com peti­ tion am ongst all those who m ay hope to attain it. The consequence is a rise o f sectional group interests some o f whom wish to pursue a policy o f conquest which w ill benefit their section o f the state, although the state as a whole would be more advantaged by investing its capital in peaceful activities. These sectional interests are called ‘parties’ . W hen the Bonapartist ‘party* captured the French state it was able to revive in its own narrow econom ic interests all the glories o f previous wars o f econom ic conquest. The Franco-Prussian war 1 G . de Molinari, Grandeur et décadence de la guerre (Paris, 1898), p. 13. * G . de Molinari, Esquisse de l'organisation politique et économique de la société future (Pari*. 1899), p. 26. » Ibid., p. 29.

12 IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT was an unsuccessful attempt to repeat the same experiment. In fact such policies have less chance o f success because the outlay o f war increases all the time. Nevertheless, in all these states, w hatever the form o f their governm ent, absolute m onarchy, constitutional, or a republic, the conduct o f public affairs remains in the hands o f a class interested in the persistence o f the state o f w ar and o f the enorm ous and costly apparatus o f destruction which it necessitates; the reason is that the m any w ho are interested in the advent o f a system ensuring permanent peace do not yet possess the necessary influence to com pel governm ents to institute it.1

That the loss to those out o f power is greater than the gain to those in power can be seen by inspecting the defence budgets o f all European states. But with the growth o f enlightened public opinion the situation will finally change. This explanation for the delay in the arrival o f permanent peace was a highly convenient one. It offered one reason why countries should be more bellicose the less open their governments were to public opinion. Schum« peter, following de M olinari, argued that the urge to war in modern society was merely atavism, a reversion to the days when conquest had been an evo­ lutionary necessity. Conquest could still benefit narrow groups within the state and such groups were much more likely to seize control o f a totalitarian state than a democratic one.a This is the view taken up by Robbins. In the historical past conquest had been a matter o f profit. ‘There can be no doubt that W illiam o f Normandy had much to gain in this way by the conquest o f England. There is no need to m ultiply examples; the history o f such times is one continuous demonstration o f the importance o f this kind o f thing.’* By the twentieth century, however, conquest survived only because it might still be in the interests o f a narrow group in control o f a totalitarian state.1*4 Like all liberal thought de M olinari’s interpretations aim at an ideal in the future. The ideal is none the less Utopian for the way in which he attempts to deduce it from historical reality, for his view o f historical reality is not very convincing. But, by refusing to consider the historical past as an aberration, de M olinari was able to grasp a nettle which other liberal economists regarded only very distantly. He was able to construct a system which explained the past and present existence o f war and also the certainty o f its disappearance in the future. Unfortunately, like many liberals he revealed his essential 1 G . de Molinari, Grandeur et décadence, p. 171. * J. A . Schumpeter, ‘Zur Soziologie des Imperialismen’, in Archiv fü r Sozialwissenschaft und Politik, xlvii (1918/19). * L. Robbins, The Economic Causes o f War (London, 1939), p. 68. 4 The attentive reader o f this particular school o f liberal writing will note that the existence o f a state o f war often produces a kind o f atavism in the writer himself. Even Mr. Robbins can justify the British neglect o f German neo-mercantilist theory by ‘our natural aversion from the pretentious and our ingrained unwillingness to read the less elegant o f the foreign tongues* (op. d t., p. 73, n. 1).

IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT 13 distaste fo r his fellow men by blam ing them for the delay in the arrival o f his particular U topia. D e M olinari’s views were not fully form ulated until the last decade o f the nineteenth century. B y that time the basic liberal refusal to look the awkward fact o f war in the face had had profound repercussions on the international law relating to conquest W hile superficially international law appeared to be m odifying the harshness o f m ilitary occupation it was m oving towards a position o f greater and greater unreality, the consequences o f which were the Hague Convention o f 1899, and the Fourth Hague Convention o f 1907. D uring the second h a lf o f the eighteenth century the legal distinction was first made between acquisition and mere occupation. It did not, however, becom e a universally accepted distinction until the nineteenth century. The judgem ent o f Sir W illiam Scott in 1814 in the case o f The Foltina did not adm it it, for instance.1 It was the events o f the N apoleonic W ars which ac­ celerated the evolution o f legal doctrine on what was com ing to be called ‘tem porary m ilitray occupation*. In 1828 C h ief Justice M arshall called such a distinction ‘the usage o f The World*.2 The whole force o f liberal ideas was to restrict the traditional powers o f conquerors by subjecting them to rules pre­ venting the assum ption o f fu ll sovereignty on their part. Conventional inter­ national law cam e to recognize only one form o f m ilitary occupation which it called ‘belligerent occupation*. Such an occupation, although giving the right to exercise control, involved no actual exchange o f sovereignty. In respect o f ‘belligerent’ purposes the occupied territory was part o f the dom ain o f the conqueror.2 But in spite o f this there existed a legitim ate sovereign power, which m ight legislate for the territory provided its laws did not clash with the powers accorded by international law to the conqueror. These powers, in their turn, were also eroded by liberal influence. The bel­ ligerent occupier, although the conquered territory was his fo r belligerent purposes, found his powers theoretically restricted in respect o f interference with property interests. W ar cam e to be thought o f as directed against other sovereign powers and their armed forces and not against civilian sub­ jects. This view was incorporated in the Instructions fo r the Government o f the Arm ies o f the United States in the F ield issued in 1863. This m anual, in turn, served as the forerunner to a whole series o f similar manuals issued by the great powers before the First W orld W ar. It was embodied in the Projet de Déclaration drawn up alter the Brussels conference o f 1874. Both the Hague Convention with Respect to the Law s and Custom s o f W ar on Land (1899), and the Fourth Convention on the same subject (1907), rely heavily on that Brussels conference. * G . von G laba, The Occupation o f Enemy Territory (Minneapolis, 1937), p. 3. • T h e American Insurance Co. r. 336 Bales o f Cotton*, United States Supreme Court Reports, voL xxvi (1828) (Rochester, 1926). » A s in the case o f “Thirty Hogsheads o f Sugar v. Boyle and others’, ibid., voi. ix (1813).

14 IDEA OP CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT The Hague Conventions consequently were concerned with protecting the civilian and his private property from exploitation by the conqueror. In this respect they reflected the individualist view o f econom ic existence o f the liberal econom ists.1 Because o f this they provided no real protection fo r the national economy o f an occupied territory. It is not unfair to say that their result was to bequeath one body o f conventional international law fo r civilian rights, in which the civilian was protected against the depredations o f occupiers, and another body o f law for public interests, in which the ancient right o f booty was retained.2 The Hague Conventions therefore provided scarcely any econom ic pro­ tection fo r an occupied country with a developed economy. Indeed, had the great powers ever tried to behave within the terms o f those Conventions from 1914 to 1918 they would have found it very difficult to do so. The determined liberal assumption that war and conquest were disappearing left international law quite unprepared to cope with a war which would be decided by the total exploitation o f the economies o f the combatants to the point where the dis­ tinction between civilians and non-civilians was merely arbitrary. In addition, total involvement o f society in w ar was furthered by the deployment o f armaments, such as the aeroplane, with which it was alm ost impossible to discriminate between civilian and public property. Should civilians working in munitions factories be exempt from air attack? The w ork, and even the private wealth, o f every citizen became o f much greater m ilitary relevance. H ow much o f the fixed capital o f an occupied territory was private and, from a belligerent point o f view, innocent property? Such slight protection as did exist under the Conventions was couched, like much liberal thought, in terms o f ‘rights o f individuals’. The basic rawm aterial resources, so vital to the occupier, and, it could be argued, so vital also to m ankind, were not protected. N or indeed were basic human resources. Women and children were protected only in so far as they were civilians. In 1914-18 when the Germ an occupiers clearly broke the spirit, although per­ haps not the letter, o f the Hague Regulations in Belgium they did not justify themselves by claim ing the rules to be inadequate. Like the A llies when they practised the seizure o f contraband goods which were clearly civilian property in terms o f international law, they blamed breaches o f the law by the other side. In the Versailles Treaties the Allies held Germ any responsible for every breach o f the law. That such a state o f affairs should have been reached testifies to the illusions o f liberal thought on conquest during the preceding one and a h a lf centuries. D uring the Napoleonic W ars the French government had succeeded in sus1 Y . Guyot, a disciple o f de Molinari, believed that one o f the reasons why conquest had become improfitable was that conquerors were now obliged to respect private property. Y . Guyot, La Jalousie commerciale et les relations Internationales (Paris, 1911). * See E. H. Feilchenfeld, The International Economic Law o f Belligerent Occupation (Washington, 1942).

IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT 15 taining the w ar and m itigating the dom estic tax burden by the exploitation o f occupied territory.1 In some belligerent occupations, as in the Prussian occupation o f France in 1870/1, large sums o f m oney had been demanded from the conquered. N o t only had France to pay a w ar indem nity on the conclusion o f peace but in the course o f the w ar itself separate tributes were levied on the cities o f Paris and Rouen and the department o f Low er Seine. T he occupation o f French Lorraine which lasted from M arch 1871 to Sept­ ember 1873 and was the guarantee for the paym ent o f the war indem nity was in fa ct carried out in an extrem ely lenient w ay.1 This was not uncommon in the case o f legally recognized belligerent occupations. R obin, however, lists twenty-three instances o f m ilitary occupations by foreign powers which were not considered as belligerent occupations.1 In the Boer W ar, which, since it was a civil w ar, does not appear in R obin’s list, large numbers o f indisputable civilians were interned. In the light o f developm ents during the nineteenth century the revulsion o f liberal feeling over Germ an conduct in Belgium in the First W orld W ar was really the result o f too much utopianism taken with a rather parochial view o f the W orld. Between 10 Decem ber 1914 and M ay 1918 Germ any levied a series o f m ounting contributions on occupied Belgium which by 21 M ay 1917 had reached a level o f 60,000,000 Belgian francs a m onth.1*4 Such sums were clearly far greater than the sums necessary to sustain Germ an armies in Belgium , to which international law conceded to G erm any a ‘right’. In the last desper­ ate few m onths o f the w ar Germ any also collected 10,000,000 francs from occupied towns in northern France. Stocks o f cash in branch banks in Belgium and France were seized a t the outset. Stocks o f raw m aterials discovered in France were likewise transferred to Germ any. But it took until 1916 fo r the Germ an arm ies to institute any organic connection between themselves and the French econom y as a supplement to tributes and booty. In February o f that year they organized a census o f all fixed capital in French factories.1 O n 14 O ctober 1916 a general law system atized the rather haphazard practice o f com pulsory labour.4 Because o f the extent to which adult males had been m obilized in the French arm y such forced labour had often to be fem ale labour. It was undo: this law also that Russian and Rom anian prisoners o f w ar were brought to w ork in the French econom y. Com pulsory labour was o f course much m ore rigorously applied in Belgium. There the policies o f Germ any had created a large pool o f unemployed labour 1 F . Baudhiitn, L e Financement des guerres (Louvain, 1944). * E Chantriot, La Lorraine sous l'occupation allemande (Nancy, 1922). 1 R . Robin, D es occupations m ilitaires en dehors des occupations de guerre (Paris, 1913). 4 La Banque nationale de Belgique sous l ’occupation allemande 1914/18, Rapport au Roi (Brussels, Imprimerie Nationale, 1918). * G . Gromaire, L'Occupation allemande en France, 1914/18 (Paris, 1925), p. 47. 4 Ibid., p. aio .

l6 IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT and from 191s onwards industrialists and generals brought pressure to bear on the German government to use this labour in the German economy. O n 23 October 1916 forced deportations o f labour from Belgium to Germ any began.1 B y 20 January 1917,58,432 men had been deported to supplement the German labour force. These deportations, besides revealing the inadequacy o f the Hague Conventions, since many Germans were convinced they were not actually an infringement o f those conventions, were the really decisive blow to all those whose opinion was that occupation was becoming more lenient and thus, perhaps, less profitable. In an interesting volum e published in 1916, Prato compared the Germ an actions in Belgium to the French occupations o f Piedmont and Catalonia during the W ar o f the Spanish Succession.12*The depth o f his horror at the regression in human behaviour which he believed to see there can only be gauged by reading his book; a scholarly investigation o f the eighteenth century turns into a diatribe against the twentieth. The Germ an attempts to exploit Belgian labour in the interests o f the Germ an war econom y were the precursor o f attempts to implement a much more drastic management o f the German economy itself. Their origin was not in any peculiar wickedness o f the Germans but in the unforeseen cost, in all factors o f production, o f the First W orld W ar. Ludendorff saw econom ic exploitation o f occupied territory as a necessity if Germ any was to survive. The mounting cost o f war made such policies a necessity. From the mid nineteenth century the increasing cost o f armaments had also been a theme o f m ost writing on war. The conclusion which liberals generally drew from their observations, however, was that war would eventually price itself out o f the market. Say had attempted to make a relative costing o f offensive and defensive armaments and had demonstrated to his own satis­ faction that defensive warfare was much the cheaper.2 But it was the mounting armies and navies o f the great powers between 1880 and 1914 that led to a widespread conviction that no kind o f war could be profitable. Certainly the increasing strain o f armaments programmes on budgets played its part in form ulating de M olinari’s opinions. The mechanism by which conquest ceased to be an evolutionary imperative for the human race was its increasing cost. C an the profits o f w ar still cover its cost ? T h e history o f all w ars which have occurred between civilized peoples fo r a num ber o f centuries attests that these costs have progressively grow n, and, finally that any w ar between members o f the civilized com m unity today costs the victorious nation m ore than it can possibly yield it.4 1 R . B. Armeson, Total Warfare and Compulsory Labour (The Hague, 1964), pp. 28-42. See also L. von Köhler, Dte Staatsverwaltung der besetzten Gebiete, /. Belgien (Stuttgart, 1927); H. Pinone, La Belgique et la guerre mondiale (Paris, 1928). 2 G . Prato, V Occupation m ilitaire dans le passé et dans le prisent (Paris, 1916). * J. B. Say, op. d t., pp. 182-5. 4 G . de Molinari, Comment se résoudra la question sodale? (Paris, 1898), p. 126.

IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT 17 Schifile and Boccardo, sim ilarly, held that victory in w ar had become less and less profitable in the course o f history because the cost o f war had continued to rise.1 The m ost massive exposition o f this view is in the books and pamphlets o f Jean de Bloch where it is supported by an exhaustive and shrewd analysis o f developments in armaments.3 This analysis led him to an all-too-accurate com prehension o f the static and murderous tactics that would ensue in a future war. He was also able to demonstrate that a total w ar o f the kind he forecast would be socially im possible fo r a government such as that o f Im perial Russia. But in the last resort his w ork still purveys the illusion that war had become too costly to continue and that this would be soon realized. W hether w ar had in fact become progressively more costly when measured against the increasing gross national products o f western nations is a question which de Bloch and de M olinari avoided. T he costing o f w ar in their w ork, as in that o f their predecessors, was largely a m atter o f adding up annual expen­ diture above the norm al peace-tim e level. But i f w ar leads to an increase in the national product, as M althus had argued, in the nineteenth century these sums would have represented little encroachm ent on that national product, providing correct financial policies had been pursued. Y e t even if war had actually become relatively less costly during the nine­ teenth century the First W orld W ar reversed this trend. The decisions taken by the Germ an adm inistration in Belgium were an acknowledgem ent that G erm any’s territorial am bitions could not be fulfilled w ithout striking o ff the legal shackles im posed by the developm ent o f liberal thought. But the persistence o f those shackles was dem onstrated when the labour transports from Belgium to Germ any were stopped on 10 February 1917 in response to pressure o f opinion. Nevertheless the events in Belgium cast a long shadow forw ard. A fter 1933 Germ any was to attem pt a total reconstruction o f the European econom y. T hat reconstruction was based on a view o f econom ic existence w holly opposed to that which the liberal econom ists had pro­ pounded. A lthough the idea o f a M itteleuropa created and controlled by Germ an pow er was an idea derived peculiarly from the historical experience o f G erm any, the M itteleuropa which H itler wanted to create was a fascist M itteleuropa. A s such it would have been based on an ideological rejection o f western liberal capitalism which was not peculiar to Germ any but had, indeed, already found expression in the government o f Italy fo r ten years. Under the aegis o f Germ an occupation it was also to find expression in Hungary a fter O ctober 1944. Elsewhere the fascist rejection o f liberal capitalism 1 A . Schifile, Abriss der Soziologie (Berlin, 1906), pp. 169 f. G . Boccardo, Dizionario della economia politica, 3rd edition (M ilan, 1881), p. 197. * J. de. Bloch, Der Krieg, 6 vols. (Berlin, 1899), The German and the French translations o f Bloch’s work are much more complete than W . T . Stead’s feeble version, Is War now im possible? (London, 1899). 82148»» C

l8 IDEA OF CONQUBST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT was embodied in political parties and movements o f varying strength. Since one aspect o f fascism was an intense concentration on the potentialities o f national development, as opposed to that international co-operation which was to liberals the guarantee both o f peace and econom ic growth, these move­ ments frequently came into conflict with German political aspirations, or, indeed, in the case o f the Croatian UstaSa movement, with Italian ones. That their territorial conceptions o f Europe differed diminishes in no way the identity o f their ideological conceptions o f that continent There was a sim ilarity o f fascist ideas in all European countries in so far as they affected the nature o f fascist economic though t Fascist econom ic thought was derived from a different conception o f the individual, his needs and his motives, from that which informed liberal econom ists; and to fascist thinkers liberal economists included, by definition, M arxists, fo r M arxist economics was adjudged the ultimate liberal heresy. The philosophical pedestal o f liberal economics having been overturned the shattering o f the liberal idea o f con­ quest was but a small part o f the total debris o f other and more im portant parts o f liberal economic theory. But whereas the idea o f conquest had re­ mained peripheral to liberal economics it became central to fascist economics. The question must be permitted whether a system such as fascism, m aking such different assumptions about m an's role in the economic world, could have survived without conquest in a Europe where m ost governments were alm ost unanimously opposed to its economic principles. F or the opposition between fascist economics and liberal economics was nothing less than total. The Italian fascist theorists laid their axe not merely to the branches o f eighteenth-century enlightenment from which the science o f economics was created but to the very root o f the tree, to what they called the 'G reek idea*. This idea they identified as the belief that the struggle to maturity o f the human individual, his triumph over his fears and weaknesses until he stood a t last emancipated, free and alone, was the noblest aspect o f human existence. In place o f such an ideal they proposed an ideal o f the submission o f the w ill to the interests o f the community. This ideal they believed to be Rom an. The emancipated individual is disruptive to the community. The individual w ill is selfish, never more so than when engaged in abstract thought O f the tyranny o f abstract thought dem ocracy was the p rod uct In place o f the democratic state, liberal and particularist, the plaything o f avaricious groups o f vested interests, fascism proposed an ethical state in which the harmony o f interest o f the whole community should prevail. Although their theorizing was some­ times less historical than this, the conception o f the ethical state was common to all fascist parties. It may be found in the writings o f Oswald M osley as in M ein Kampf. It gave the National Socialist party a link with nineteenthcentury German political thinkers which was much explored by anti-German tracts in Britain in the years immediately follow ing the Second W orld W ar.

IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT 19 However much the fascist concept o f the ethical state was derived from historical examples, it was revolutionary in so far as it was based on a revolu­ tion in the thought o f the individual. His selfishness suppressed, his desire fo r emancipation seen fo r what it was, a tem ptation in the wilderness, he emerged with new desires and new needs. But they were no longer the desires and needs o f the capitalist entrepreneur and consumer. Renunciation by the individual brought the birth o f a new man and thus o f a new élite and ultim ately o f a new state. Transform ation by renunciation was the spiritual core o f a ll the fascist movements.1 F or D rieu la Rochelle the failure o f France to accept the Parti Populaire Français o f D oriot was the refusal o f the nation to accept that necessary death from which alone rebirth and spiritual regeneration could come. T was am ongst the “ happy few’V he wrote in his *R écit secret’, ’amongst the few people who were in the collaboration movement, not to collaborate but so as not to be elsewhere, in the herd sweating with fear and hatred.’* The im plications o f this renunciation are seen m ost aw fully in Codreanu’s writings and in the last years o f the Rom anian ’A ll for the Fatherland’ party. It was not simply the propaganda o f terror that caused Bucharest radio to broadcast the slogan ’ Long Live Death* fo r four days in January 1941. In Germ any renunciation took the form o f ’m oral armament* which H itler held as necessary as physical arm am ent A nyone w ho believes that the People’s N ational Socialist State should distinguish itself from the other States on ly m echanically, as it were, through the better construc­ tion o f its econom ic life— thanks to a better equilibrium between poverty and riches, o r to the extension to broader m asses o f the pow er to determ ine the econom ic pro­ cess, o r to a fairer w age, or to the elim ination o f vast differences in the scale o f salaries— anyone w ho thinks this understands only the superficial features o f our m ovem ent and has n ot the least idea o f w hat w e m ean when w e speak o f our W eltanschauung. A ll these features ju st m entioned could not in the least guarantee us a lasting existence and certainly w ould be no w arranty o f greatness. A nation that could content itself w ith external reform s w ould not have the slightest chance o f suc­ cess in the general struggle fo r life am ong the nations o f the w orld. A m ovem ent that would confine its m ission to such adjustm ents, w hich are certainly right and equit­ able, w ould effect no far-reaching o r profound reform in the existing order. T h e whole effect o f such measures w ould be lim ited to externals. T h ey w ould n ot furnish the nation w ith that m oral arm am ent w hich alone w ill enable it effectively to over­ com e the weaknesses from w hich w e are suffering today.* 1 T h is Movement has been created by simple people in face o f money power, party power, and press power, without any aid from the great names o f the present system, and in face o f every weapon o f boycott, and misrepresentation, that the money power could mobilize. Thus ever have been born the great determinist forces o f history, in face o f all material things, by the force o f the spirit alone. *So has been accomplished the first stage in the mission o f regeneration, which is the creation from the people themselves, and from the people alone, o f a Movement capable o f leading the mass o f the people to freedom.* O. Mosley, Tomorrow We Lire (London, *939)» PP* J. Ptumyène and R . Lasiena, Les fascism es français 1923-1963 (Paris, 1963), p. 167. * A . Hitler, M ein Kampf, book 2, chapter iv.

20 IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT The needs and qualities o f the new individual were those conducive to a social system without disruptive striving for profit. A t first that system could only be brought into existence by an élite. Life is an art and so is politics. Neither can be entirely reduced to the ratiocination o f Smith nor the dialectic o f M arx. A s artist the politician rediscovers the older principles o f human existence. These principles turn out to be more or less incompatible with the pursuit o f maximum aggregate national wealth, for such a pursuit makes the social system ‘unhealthy’. Fascist writers did not blink the fact that the exercise o f their principles o f government would curb the development o f capitalism . And why should they have done, since that is exactly what their supporters wished? But very few fascist theorists could honestly face up to the question whether any form o f economic growth would have been possible in a fascist Europe, because, much as they disliked the process o f economic growth they had also to meet the objection that to some extent it may be necessary for national survival. M ost evaded the issue. Szalasi’s comments in 1936 might stand for all: W e must not fear that the H ungarian national socialist econom y w ill harm the talent, the diligence, and the know-how o f the nation, because it w ill only lim it that ex­ trem ely unjust process o f getting rid i which in its present form lends to an orgy o f the degeneration o f m illions. The Hungarian national socialist econom y is inseparable from the Hungarian national socialist m oral and spiritual life; its aim being the m aterial w elfare o f the com m unity o f the people. Thus our national econom y and its every part is a means and not an e n d . . . .*

When the materialistic and individualistic outlook o f the Greeks redis­ covered in Renaissance Europe, and enshrined in economic science by the liberal economists, had been entirely replaced by fascism what virtues would then have been seen? In place o f greed, the fascist answered, self-sacrifice; in place o f international exploitation, patriotism ; in place o f cowardly peace, heroism. But when it was asked in which part o f the community these virtues still existed nearest to their pristine state fascist parties all replied, in the peasantry. Hence those agricultural policies which preserved and strengthened the small, and in the liberal eye inefficient, food producer. When other social groups menaced by economic change cast their votes with the small farmers how could fascist parties both retain their supporters and pursue the paths o f economic development?2 Such problems were acute in Germany and Italy between the wars and would no doubt have been common elsewhere had fascist parties come to power. In the thirties the majority o f European governments outside Russia were feeling their way back to a system o f sufficient international co-operation to • F. S alasi, Ut es Cel (Budapest, 1936), quoted in E. Weber, Varieties o f Fascism (Princeton, 1964). P - 159* The ease with which the peasant could be persuaded in Germany to cast his vote for fitsdsm is well illustrated in H. G ics, 'NSDAP, und Agrarverbände vor 1933’, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, xv (1967).

IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT

21

attem pt to guarantee, to a greater or lesser extent, according to their political persuasions, the econom ic growth o f their countries. In Germ any and Italy these arrangements were regarded as anachronisms, fo r econom ic develop­ ment was no longer thought to be dependent on the mechanisms o f inter­ national exchange. But the fascist rejection o f the econom ic policy o f other European states went much deeper than this, for the assumptions on which it was founded called into question the very meaning o f econom ic development. For in every country where it existed the fascist movement drew its strength from those groups who were protesting against the deterioration o f the quality o f their own existence as a result o f the process o f econom ic development. In the M arxist sense it is true that fascism was but a form o f capitalism , for the ownership o f capital was scarcely affected by the advent o f fascist goverments to power. But it is not true that fascism was the last stage or even a more advanced stage o f capitalism . T o the fascist econom ist all modern economies were capitalist because they needed capital; the im portant question to him was not its ownership but the effects on the total community o f its deploy­ ment. A ll capitalism as it had previously existed was considered to have had a divisive, disruptive, and vicious effect on the community because o f the way capital had been deployed. Econom ic growth, in the sense in which the liberal economist now understands the term, implies rapid social and econom ic change, 'grow th stresses’ as they are inelegantly called. Fascism rejected all developm ent which involved such stresses. In the eyes o f the Liberal econo­ m ist it therefore rejected all possibility o f growth since there cannot be growth without stresses. And since the political arrangements o f fascism for securing econom ic development without social stress proved so unacceptable to so large a part o f the populations o f fascist states it cannot be argued that, econom ically speaking, fascism had a convincing alternative to the pains o f capitalist, or communist, development. Indeed, there is a good case for argu­ ing that at the heart o f the fascist movement lay no desire for development but a search for a state o f econom ic stability. In place o f growth the fascist dreamed o f a state o f social and econom ic equilibrium . In that state the grow­ ing material disadvantages would find com pensation in spiritual consolation. A t the best this equilibrium would be achieved by an increasingly national­ istic and autarchic econom y withdrawing by stages from the international economy. A t worst, as in the case o f Germ any, it implied the extension by conquest o f that autarchic system to large areas o f Europe. But the fascist M itteleuropa which H itler wished to create could only be created by conquest. That conquest was advantageous could not be doubted. F or the econom ic disadvantages on which liberals laid so much stress were irrelevant to an econom y not interested in international co-operation and seeking in the long run only an elusive and perhaps undiscoverable point o f equilibrium. In the pursuit o f autarchy more territory could easily be construed as an advantage. And as fo r the immorality o f conquest, because o f its effects on the individual,

22

IDEA OF CONQUEST IN LIBERAL AND FASCIST THOUGHT

that could not hold in a fascist society. F or in the conquest o f other ter­ ritories what opportunities must exist for the exercise, even for the creation, o f those fascist virtues o f heroism and self-sacrifice, and how many oppor­ tunities to exalt the prim acy o f action as a release from suffering. H itler must be numbered among the less intellectual theorists o f fascism. There is more than a hint o f robust demagoguery in his prose style. But he was no more o f an opportunist than political circumstances forced him to be. In the last resort he remained deeply faithful to the fascist ideology. When he became effective champion o f that ideology in Europe M ussolini was already sullied with years o f political compromise, often o f a kind which Hitler would scorn.1 Over time it becomes increasingly apparent that neither Cham berlain nor Daladier nor those whom they represented had any realization o f the depth o f the revolutionary with whom they were dealing. Y e t it is also true, as historians writing only with the diplom atic events o f the thirties in mind have emphasized, that in foreign policy Hitler was a traditionalist The rejection o f liberal ideas o f conquest by the fascist philo­ sophy and the substitution for them o f a philosophy in which conquest was advantageous can not by itself explain the growth o f the New Order. That New Order was designed to solve specifically German problems. It was to create a new Europe but one which would be in Germ any’s interests. T o those particular problems it is now necessary to turn. 1 There is a difference as between day and night between the genuine fascists and the others. Those society people with whom we are compelled to associate, that cosmopolitan world, they’re more or less the same there [Italy] and here.. . . The fascists and the others, they’re really two worlds in watertight compartments.. . . I was greeted at the station by the Duke o f Pistoia, a real degenerate. Beside him was another duke, no less degenerate. Then there was an admiral there who looked like a court toad, a bogus coin, a liar. Happily there was also a group o f fascists. A ll o f them, even Ciano, spoke with the deepest contempt o f this ridiculous masquerade.* H itler's Secret Conversations, 31 January 1942.

II

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER N a t i o n a l S o c i a l i s t economists based their thought on an initial rejec­ tion o f liberal econom ic ideas. They believed that a variety o f observable international econom ic phenomena demonstrated the end o f an epoch in the history o f national economies. One o f these was that a declining proportion o f the world’s goods was now being exchanged through the mechanism o f inter­ national trade. The profound international econom ic difficulties o f the period between the two world wars could therefore only be cured by the destruction o f the international econom ic system as it had evolved since the eighteenth century, and its replacement by a system more appropriate to the current epoch. Both at home and abroad the N ational Socialist New Order can only properly be understood as an attem pt to achieve an anti-liberal solution to the econom ic problems o f the inter-war period. The solution achieved in Germ any itself was a most uneasy compromise. The long resistance o f Germ an society to capitalism reached its last stage in the National Socialist period, and that government had to meet, if not always satisfy, the anti-capitalist aspirations o f many social groups. The attem pt to depict Germ an fascism as the last stage o f m onopoly capitalism has always broken down against the clear evidence that the government’s econom ic policy included im portant restrictions on the activities o f private capital and in many respects, as in its dealings with the agricultural community, was most conservative.1 O f late more attention has been paid to the anti-capitalist aspects o f N ational Socialism , although there is little agreement on their importance or their significance.* T o say that N ational Socialism was an un­ easy compromise between capitalism and anti-capitalism is to say that it was a distinctive response to Germ any’s own econom ic and political development. Neither capitalist nor socialist, Germ any found a different solution and one appropriate to her own history, fascism . The creation o f the New Order was 1 F. L. Neumann, Behemoth: The Structure and Practice o f National Socialism (2nd edn., New York, 1944). * A . Schweitzer, Big Businas in the Third Reich (Bloomington, 1964); W. S. Allen, The Nazi Seizure o f Power: The Experience o f a Single German Town, 1930-1935 (Chicago, 1965); R. Heberle, Landbevölkerung und Nationalsozialismus: Eine soziologische Unter­ suchung der politischen WiUensbildung in Schleswig-Holstein 1918 bis 1932 (Stuttgart,l963); D. Schoenbaum, H itler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany 1933-39 (New York, 1966); W. Sauer, ‘National Socialism: Totalitarianism or Fascism7*, American H istorical Review, borili, 2 (1967). The link between anti-capitalism and anti-Semitism in Germany has not reoeived enough attention.

24

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

the result o f the fascist revolution, and German econom ic policy in France was an integral part o f the development o f an anti-liberal European econom y. Although there were many things on which N ational Socialist economists disagreed, o f one thing they were certain; it was essential to construct an econom ic system based on new and more valid principles o f organisation. These principles were variously construed from the ideas o f Grosslebensraxon or Grossraumwirtschaft, the economics o f large areas, and were based on the assumption that the Europe o f the future would be dominated econo­ m ically, socially, and racially by Germ any. K arl Haushofer, the President o f the Society for Geopolitics, proclaim ed the close o f the Smithian epoch o f overseas expansion and free trade and its supersession by an epoch dominated by land-based power blocs. The economies o f these new powers would be geared to the domestic demand o f a large market. Autarchy, rather than sensi­ tivity to international opportunities, would be their distinguishing feature. I f Germ any were to survive, her econom ic base must become larger. F or sur­ vival Germ any must impose her leadership and industrial supremacy on all the economies o f central Europe. Haushofer regarded the M onroe D octrine as the first example o f these 'geopolitical* developments which he saw as the inner logic o f historical and econom ic evolution.1 Thus Haushofer and his follow ers adduced a vaguely scholarly set o f'la w s’ o f econom ic development from econom ic geography.* They carried out a veritable propaganda barrage in three different periodicals. Haushofer never aligned him self with those who based their arguments for the creation o f a large German-dominated econom ic area in central Europe on the concept o f 'Volk*. He left this aspect o f human geography to others who cam e, however, to what were ultim ately very similar conclusions. The most prominent o f the 'biological* exponents o f such an idea was Werner D aitz. D aitz held that the only true basis for the new econom ic order o f the future was blood ; thus the geopolitical groupings o f the future would have to be based on racial similarities.* Econom ic ideas o f this kind, although in D aitz’s case having a very dis­ tinctive N ational Socialist hue, harked back to the much older concepts o f a M itteleuropa and to the whole problem o f the politico-econom ic relations between Austria and the other Germ an states over the course o f modern Germ an history. They had therefore a direct link with H itler’s own ideas o f 1 For the use nude by National Socialist theorists of the Monroe Doctrine see L. Gruchmann, Nationalsozialistische Grossraumordnung (Stuttgart, 1962). * K. Haushofer, Grenzen in ihrer geographischen undpolitischen Bedeutung (Berlin, 1927); Geopolitik der Pan-Ideen (Berlin, 1931); W ehr-Geopolitik: geographische Grundlagen einer Wehrkunde (Berlin, 1932); W eltpolitik von heute (Berlin, 1934); 'Die geopolitische Betrach­ tung grenzdeutscher Probleme', in K. C. von Loesch and A . H. Ziegfeld (eds.), Volk und Völker (Breslau, 1923). * W. Daitz, Der Weg zur völkischen W irtschaft und zur europäischen Grossraumwirt­ schuft (Dresden, 1938), re-issued as Der Weg zur Volkswirtschaft, Grossraumwirtschaft und Grossraumpolitik (Dresden, 1943).

PRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

*5

an expansionist foreign policy. A t least in respect to Russia and to France, H itler pursued a consistent policy from his seizure o f power. Germ an plans for expansion lay in the East. T o realize them France must first be weakened to the point where she could no longer thw art Germ an wishes. H itler’s ideas on foreign policy naturally gave hope to the more theoretically inclined o f his supporters. The very existence o f H itler him self in power offered a real hope for the creation o f a new econom ic order.1 A t the time when the first cam paign against Russia was at its m ost suc­ cessful H itler seems to have felt freer to identify his aims with the Grossraunh W irtschaft o f the future. V on E tzdorf, the Representative o f the Germ an Foreign M inistry w ith the H igh Com m and o f the A rm y, records him as having told O tto A betz, the Am bassador to France: O nce the Asiatics had been driven out, Europe would no longer be dependent on any outside power; Am erica, too, could ’get lost’ as far as we were concerned. Europe would itself provide all the raw materials it needed and have its own markets in the Russian area, so that we would no longer have any need o f other world trade. T he new Russia, as far as the U rals, would become ‘our India’, but one more favourably situated than that o f the British. The new Greater Germ an Reich would com prise 135 m illion people and rule over an additional 13 million.*

T en days later H itler expatiated on the same theme to Seyss-Inquart, Reichs Com m issar fo r the Netherlands: In the past it had really been an absurdity that a great empire should have existed in the east o f the European continent with almost inexhaustible mineral resources and raw materials, which furthermore was only sparsely settled, whereas in the thicklysettled central and western European countries there existed a scarcity o f raw m aterials and their need had to be filled in far-distant overseas areas. For this reason the areas in the European east, rich in raw materials, to be entirely opened up for the thickly-populated areas o f die west. I f this was done successfully one could also in the main do without the overseas transports which were time-consuming, com pli­ cated, and dangerous at times o f warlike com plications.1

Evidence o f this kind can not be said to be definite p ro o f o f H itler’s inten­ tions. F or him this was the high point o f the war. It is clear that the fairly precise ideas o f a New Econom ic Order which appear in the econom ic litera­ ture o f the epoch filtered through to H itler’s mind in rather less precise fashion. Nevertheless, his foreign policy was based on a m ilitary strategy which showed how clearly he was aware o f Germ any’s econom ic lim itations. ' It may have been Konrad Heiden’s book Der Führer (London, 1943) that first gave the impression that Hitler was an unscrupulous opportunist who had turned the National Socialist movement into a platform for supporting his own views. Before that the view that Hitler was the tool o f other groups was more common. But M ein Kam pf was no merely personal expression o f opinion, it was a work on National Socialism. It is curious that those who use it to help unravel the threads o f Hitler’s foreign policy do not draw the further conclusions about the origins o f that foreign policy. 1 Ibid., no. 377. * D G FP ., xiii, no. 327.

PRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

26

T ablb I

The Production and Consumption o f Foodstuffs and Raw M aterials in Continental Europe and European Russia Area

Commodity

Measure

Continental Europe* European Russiat N. Africa Continental Europe* European Russiat N. Africa Continental Europe* European Russiat N. Africa Continental Europe* European Russiat N. Africa Continental Europe* European Russiat N. Africa Continental Europe* European Russiat N. Africa Continental Europe* European Russiat N. Africa

Wheat

1,000 tons average o f 1935-7 •• V»

Continental Europe* European Russiat Continental Europe* European Russiat Continental Europe* European Russiat N. Africa Continental Europe* European Russiat N. Africa Continental Europe* European Russiat N. Africa Continental Europe* European Russiat Continental Europe* European Russiat N. Africa Continental Europe* European Russiat N. Africa

Rye

Produotion 40461 2M 71 3.515 20,840 I «.593

2

Barley Oats Maize Potatoes Sugar

Meat

,.

99

••

,»

tt

7.336

tl

1,000 tons average o f 1936-8 1,000 tons raw value average o f 1936-7 1,000 tons

1937 Butter Eggs Cotton Wool Natural rubber Mineral oil Iron ore

Continental Europe* Mangan­ ese ore European Russiat N. Africa

1,000 tons 1937 millions 1937 1,000 tons 1937 1,000 tons 1937 99

I4.313

99

1,000,000 tons 193« 1,000,000 tons fe content 1937 1,000 tons

manganese content 1938

2,610 21,386 II.76O

257 18,432 3.5OO I.782 I44.5OO 5I.722 191

5.938 1,822 I38

11.973 2.644 1.703 341 38,260 9.250

Coosumptlon

43.625 20,891

3.184 21,154

18,380 1 15.022 7.023 2,421 21,801 11,680 229

22^93

3.476

1.747 144.148 51.692 199

6,550 1.753 510 11.840 2,602 1.536 282

36,923

Surplus

Shortage

.. 580

3.164 .. •• 314 ..

*79 .a 2I3 1 .. 3II I78 .. 8O 28 ..

24 30 352 30 •• ..

69 **

42 167 59 1.337 126

244

594

327 243

346

88

320

38 17

73 5

35

## 7*5 27

0*2

30-9

14-3

2*6

336 1,210

«7

.. .. .. .. 8

268 26

25 23 1-5 30-7 12-7 926 1,000 ..

372

I35

9.124 •• I.424

287

507 .. .. 415 .. •• 3.861 .. .. .. .. 8 612 ..

1.389 40 ••

232 35 •• 268 26

17*5 4

..

•• 0*2 1-6 2*6

.. ..

210 87

1-3 •• 590

.. ..

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

T able Area

Com­ modity

Continental Europef Copper European Russia* ore N. Africa Continental Europef Nickel ore European Russia* N. Africa Continental Europef Zinc European Russia* ore N. Africa

Measure 1,000 tons Cu con­ tent 1938 1,000 tons Nz con­ tent 1938 1,000 tons Z content 193S

i

*7

(con/.)

Produc­ tion 153

33 35 2*5

0*2

SU

23

10

Consump­ tion

Surplus

Short­ age

..

637

790 145 2 27*6 15*2 0*1 615 62 2

,. .. ,, 0*1 ,. •. 8

62 2

241 12*7 •• IOI

37

• Not including Turkey, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, t Including Lithuania» Latvia» Estonia» and Transcaucasia.

H e was also aware that they could be removed by the creation o f a Germ an M itteleuropa. Thus, for example, it had turned out that even at this time large quantities o f rubber o f good quality were being produced in the K harkov area. The Führer had said in this connection that the samples presented to him made an excellent impression, and that by intensifying the cultivation o f rubber there one could hope to make Greater Germ any and if possible all o f Europe independent o f rubber deliveries from over­ seas in the future. W ith regard to the production o f petroleum the case was sim ilar.1

H itler’s views on the possibilities o f a reconstructed European econom y were no vaguer than those o f m any Germ an industrialists who subscribed to the same idea. In fact those who attended the m onthly meetings o f the ’Europe Circle* a t the H otel Esplanade to consider European planning questions showed a rather less realistic grasp o f these affairs than H itler. Even in June 1944 H ugo Stinnes was advocating a customs union to embrace all the states between Sweden and the Balkans except Russia and Italy. Germ any would be the central m anufacturing core o f this com m on m arket within which freedom o f study or employment in Germ any would be offered to all inhabitants o f the associated states.2 In 1941 the Institut /tir Konjunkturforschung brought out a study on the extent to which ’continental Europe’ and ’European Russia* could be regarded as com parable powers from the standpoint o f raw m aterial and foodstuff surpluses.1 The general conclusion, after some statistical m anipulation o f doubtful validity, was that Russia’s surpluses would only balance those o f the rest o f Europe provided Europe could also draw on N orth A frican surpluses. T he other possibility o f course was drastically to reduce consum ption in

' DGFP., xiii, no. 377* 1 F D 3045/49, Section IV, Sc. 146, Folder I, Planungsamt, 'Handakten Kehrl*. * Ibid., Sc. 146, Folder 2, Institut für Koqjunkturforschung, ‘Rohstoffbilanz Kontinen­ taleuropas*.

28

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

Russia by reducing the flow o f food and raw materials from ‘European Russia* to Siberia. The largeness o f this conception testifies to the cosmic juggling that was involved in National Socialist th in k in g , particularly at the height o f the Blitzkrieg’s success (see Table i). The concept o f a reconstruct«! European economy within which Germany would play a central and dominating role was widespread in the National Socialist administration. Although D aitz was ordered to confine him self to research and to refrain from public propaganda in 1940 this had only tactical importance.1 His ideas and those o f K arl Haushofer and his son Albrecht, professor o f geopolitics at the University o f Berlin, were not direct influences on the German administration but symptons o f widely held views in German society. Albert Speer, who in 1942 became M inister o f Armaments and Munitions, had plans for a peaceful solution to the war which envisaged a Europe reconstructed on lines not unlike the present Common M arket It would have been the supposition that the tariff was lifted from this large economic area and through this a mutual production was really achieved. For any deeply« thinking individual it is dear that the tariffs which we have in W eston Europe are unbearable. So the possibility for producing on a large scale only exists through this scheme.*

It would, however, have been a customs union founded on m ilitary victory and heavily in the German interest. The plans o f the Grossraumwirtschaft theorists seemed to be nearing ful­ filment in the years between 1933 and 1939 with the development o f a centralEuropean trading bloc. The development o f German economic policy towards her eastern neighbours over those years showed how genuine was the coin­ cidence o f interest between Hitler’s foreign policy and the economic aims o f the National Socialist Party. The growth o f bilateral trade within this trading bloc was on the one hand a rational and successful economic response to the conclusions which the Party’s economic theorists had drawn from the economic history o f the previous period, and on the other hand a mere device to facili­ tate Hitler’s m ilitary plans. It was clear whatever strategy Hitler chose to adopt one o f Germ any’s greatest weaknesses in the event o f a future war would be shortages o f raw materials, especially certain raw materials o f peculiar strategic value. Since the Treaty o f Versailles Germ any had been left heavily dependent on foreign supplies o f iron ore. The German steel industry itself has responded by con­ suming increasing quantities o f high-grade Swedish iron ores.1 In addition 1 DGFP., x, no. 320. * Speer Report no. 30, Intelligence Report EF/AM/6, Interrogation o f Albeit Speer. * It has even been argued that as late as 1940 the German war effort was wholly dependent on this supply. R. Karlbom, ‘Sweden’s Iron Ore Exports to Germany, 1933-44*, in Scandinavian Economic History Review, xiii, I (1963). But see also J. J. JSger, ’Sweden’s Iron Ore Exports to Germany, 1933-1944', ibid, xv, 1 and 2 (1967), and A . S. Milward, ’Could Sweden have stopped the Second World War 7*, ibid.

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

29

many o f the rarer m etal ores necessary in the manufacture o f armaments and o f arm our-plating were also lacking. Germ any produced no chrom e, nickel, or wolfram ore, all o f which were indispensable to a w ar econom y. Im ports o f molybdenum , manganese, zinc, and lead could easily be cut o ff by enemy action. The output o f bauxite was quite inadequate to maintain the level o f aluminium production. Even m ore serious was the potential oil shortage. Germ any produced only small quantities o f crude mineral o il; nor o f course did she produce natural rubber. The British M inistry o f Econom ic W arfare even based their hopes o f winning the war on these weaknesses in the Germ an econom y. B y a carefully managed trading policy with her neighbours Germ any could to some extent remedy these critical deficiencies. Rom ania was one o f the w orld’s greatest o il producers. H ungary was an im portant bauxite producer. M an­ ganese was produced in Russia, chrom e in Turkey, and copper in Yugoslavia. T o all these economies Germ any could offer a dynam ic and expanding m arket in return fo r a guaranteed continuity o f supply. In this respect much o f the criticism o f the ’selfishness* o f Germ any’s econom ic policy in south­ eastern Europe has been wide o f the m ark. The Balkan countries were indeed being forced to buy in dearer m arkets, but they were also selling dearer and at a guaranteed scale. In the state o f the international conjuncture o f the 1930s these were im portant advantages. The ‘selfishness’ o f Germ an policy lay rather in the w ay in which the Balkan powers were forced into producing exactly to meet the demands o f the Germ an m arket. It is clear that in m any cases it was not the best bargain that interested the Germ an negotiators but the possibility o f continuity o f supply. This insistence on continuity was dictated by strategic consideration, the securing o f a strategic raw m aterial base from which to launch Germ an plans for expansion. The new M itteleuropa would also depend on the creation o f a central manu­ facturing area in the European econom y, an area whose boundaries would be nearly coincidental w ith those o f the Reich. H itler’s plans to remedy the raw m aterial shortages in the Germ an econom y meant a deliberate policy o f aut­ archic developm ent o f certain industries o f great strategic im portance in Germ any. F or this reason Germ any created an enormous synthetic oil industry and a synthetic rubber industry. A t the same time political pressure was brought on the Germ an steel industry to use a greater proportion o f dom estic iron ores. The rapid growth in the Germ an aluminium industry was a function o f the expansion o f Germ an aircraft production. These dom estic policies, which began in a tentative w ay in 1933, were given absolute priority over other econom ic objectives in the Second Four Y ear Plan o f September I936.1 A considerable part o f the growth in industrial production 1 For lull details o f the operation o f the Four Year Plan, D . Petzina, Autarkiepolitik im Dritten Reich. Der nationalsozialistische Vierjahrespian (Stuttgart, 1968). On the production o f synthetic oil, W. Birkenfeld, Der synthetische Treibstoff 1933-1945 (Göttingen, 1964).

30

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

from 1936 onwards was accounted for by industries which were important to the fulfilment o f Hitler’s foreign policy. The striking production increases in so many industrial sectors o f the economy were not intended as a permanent solution o f Germany’s balance o f payments problem. They had a specific military purpose. A t least from Sept­ ember 1936 onwards economic policy was subordinated to achieving a state o f rearmament which would enable Germany to solve her long-run economic T

ablb

2

German Production increases in the Area o f the Four Year Plan * (Thousand tons) Commodity

1936 output

Mineral oil Aluminium Buna rubber Nitrogen Explosive Powder Steel Iron ore Brown coal Hard coal

1.790 98 0*7 770 18

20

19,216 V 5J 161,382 158400

1938 output 2,340 166

5 914

49

26 22,656 3.360 194.985 186,186

1942 output 6,260 260 96 930 300 150 20480 4.137 245.918 166,059

• D . Pétrins, op. d t , p. 182.

problems by conquest. In this respect it should be noted that the great in­ creases in synthetic production and in the output o f certain metals were still based on a raw material base which was far from satisfactory by the canons o f Germany’s own economic policy. One example will suffice. Aluminium pro­ duction had been merely 19,000 tons in 1932. B y 1939 it had been raised to 194.000 tons.1 The raw material from which it was produced, bauxite, existed in only very limited quantities in Germany. The output o f bauxite in 1929 was 7.000 tons, in 1939 it was 104,000 tons.* Germany therefore remained heavily dependent on Hungary and Yugoslavia for supply. Although the nature o f Germany's domestic economic policies changed the pattern o f European trade, the progress towards autarchy within the frontiers o f the Reich was essentially temporary. Once the German frontiers had been advanced the situation would change. Indeed, complete strategic security from the economic standpoint could never come purely within the existing frontiers. From this viewpoint the Führer’s opinion, which General Thomas, Head o f the W ar Economy and Armaments Office received from Todt, the Minister o f Munitions, on 20 June 1941, is particularly interesting. 1 Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, D ie deutsche industrie bn Kriege 1939-45 (Berlin, 1954), p. 18. * B. H . K iein, Germany’s Economic Preparationsfor WorCCunbridge, Mass., 1959), p. 46.

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

31

The em ine o f the war shows [it ran] that we have gone too far in our striving for autarchy. It is impossible to produce everything that is lacking by synthetic processes o r other methods. For example, it is impossible for us to develop our benzine posi­ tion to a point where we can rely on it alone. A ll these efforts to attain autarchy demand a great supply o f labour which cannot easily be provided. We must take another way and must seize all the necessary things that we do not have. The labour force necessary to do that w ill not be so great as that currently necessary for the construction o f the alternative synthetic works. The aim must be to secure through conquest all the territories that are o f special economic interest for us.1

But this unity o f interest between the long-run policies o f the N ational Socialist econom ic theorists and the econom ic policies pursued by H itler to im prove his strategic position was in reality very frail. O n the surface the developments o f the 1930s seemed to be m oving towards a realization o f Haushofer’s theories. But underneath there was a fundamental contradiction between the ends o f the Grossraumwirtschaft he envisaged in central Europe and the means by which H itler intended to enlarge the boundaries o f Germ any. The tool by means o f which H itler hoped to implement his foreign policy was the Blitzkrieg. And this concept o f the Blitzkrieg in itself m ilitated against any long-term econom ic reorganization until it had achieved its end. The B litz­ krieg was merely the strategic device by which H itler chose to achieve his N ew Order in Europe, a device which he imposed on a distrustful Arm y. But its econom ic and social im plications were so powerful that the means, once adopted, came to dom inate the ends to which the policy was ultim ately directed. The Blitzkrieg was a method o f waging war without the total commitment o f the econom y and society to war. In a long war between mass-productive economies, a w ar such as the First W orld W ar had become, the econom ic, social, and political weaknesses o f Germ any would have become apparent I f H itler were to achieve success he must avoid being drawn into a long struggle with more powerful opponents. The Blitzkrieg both on the merely m ilitary and also on the econom ic and social level was a w ay o f avoiding such a struggle.* T he Blitzkrieg was adm inistratively, politically, diplom atically, and econom ically suited to Germ any’s position. It required a higher quantity o f ready armaments than any single possible opponent, but it did not require much basic investment in armaments m anufacturing capacity. A tem porary superiority in armaments allied to a speedy m obilization and a plan o f cam paign aimed a t delivering a quick knock-out blow to the enemy meant a series o f short wars involving little econom ic effort beyond what had come to be considered as peace-time norm ality. O nly a limited part o f the econom y was organized for war-production. W ithin that lim ited sector great flexibility * G . Thomas, Grundlagen fü r eine Geschichte der deutschen Wehr- und Rüstungswirtschaft

{191S-1943I45) e i W. Birkenfeld, Schriften des Bundesarchivs 14 (Boppard am Rhein, 1966). * For a fuller discussion of the Blitzkrieg see A . S. Milward, The German Economy at War (London, 1963).

32

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

o f response was needed. But outside that sector the civilian economy could function as though there were no war. A w ar economy o f this type made very few administrative demands beyond those o f the normal management o f the economy. Since the N ational Socialist adm inistration was to a certain extent built on competing administrative bodies, since the very com petition between these bodies led to constant dis­ putes over spheres o f control, and since the w ay in which the N ational Socialist administration had been superimposed on the preceding administration exaggerated these disputes, the Blitzkrieg was adm inistratively a very conveni­ ent method o f waging war. Indeed in such a war the German adm inistration had a considerable advantage. The power and position o f Hitler enabled all questions o f priorities to be decided with dram atic sim plicity. A ll ‘Führer Commands’ became top priority without further possibility o f blurring the issue. Since the success o f the Blitzkrieg depended so greatly on flexibility this was o f great use. The maintenance o f levels o f consumption at or around the pre-war levels meant that the regime did not have to depend on the common w ill and support o f its citizens in the same w ay that, for example, the British government had to after the retreat from Dunkirk. A t the same time the relatively low level o f basic investment in armaments manufacturing capacity meant that G er­ many was not committed to any particular plan o f m ilitary or diplom atic action. A war to be waged against Russia would, for example, require a very different plan o f investment in armaments than one against Britain. Since there were lim itations to the volum e o f basic investment necessary to the Germ an plans Hitler’s policy could be more flexible. Since Germ any was ringed by a collection o f economies all m ilitarily weaker than her own, flexibility o f decision was all the more important. The Blitzkrieg was thus an ideal instru­ ment for H itler’s foreign policy. Econom ically, the Blitzkrieg seemed to mask the fundamental weaknesses o f Germ any’s economy until such time as by acquisition o f territory she could again emerge as a great power. In a series o f short wars delivered against relatively weaker enemies from positions o f strength Germ any could achieve success without the basic weaknesses o f her raw m aterial supply becoming too apparent. In spite o f the direction o f investment since 1933 and the econom ic penetration into the Balkans Germ any was obliged to accumulate very large stockpiles o f strategic materials. O f those raw materials essential in a w ar econom y Germ any was self-sufficient only in one, coal. On short-run calcu­ lations the Germ an econom y was very favourably endowed for war, on long-run calculations the picture was very different. In the econom ic sphere too, therefore, Hitler’s choice o f the Blitzkrieg was a rational calculation rather than an act o f ignorant daring. The consciousness o f such a plan was never very deep or widespread am ong those who managed the Germ an economy. Indeed little more management o f

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

33

the econom y than in peace-time was required. Y e t it was H itler's m ost im portant contribution to m odem strategy; it offered the best possibility o f his achieving his war aims, and it led to one o f the most astonishing periods o f conquest in the history o f the world. U ntil it failed in Russia in the winter o f 1941/2 H itler pursued the Blitzkrieg with the same logical tenacity that he showed in pursuing his diplom atic aims. F or each separate campaign arma­ ments production was violently readjusted from one set o f needs to another, so violently that had there been a greater level o f armaments production such a readjustment would have been impossible within the required time. A fter the defeat o f France armaments production for the needs o f the arm y was reduced in favour o f more bombers, mines, and torpedoes.1 W ithin ten weeks these priorities had been reversed in favour o f more m ilitary equipment for the pro­ jected attack on Russia. On the eve o f the invasion o f Russia the ultim ate logical decision, in the context o f the Blitzkrieg econom y, was taken to cut down the level o f munitions production. Three weeks after the invasion this decision was further confirmed and a decision made to increase submarine production.3 The Blitzkrieg was designed to eliminate western opposition to H itler's plans in the East. In the case o f France it did so with startling success. But the consequence o f this was that econom ic policy in conquered France was conceived solely in terms o f the Blitzkrieg econom y. N o peace-treaty was possible until the war in the W est was over. A ll long-run econom ic considera­ tions o f the French econom y were subordinated to the Blitzkrieg against Britain and then to the Blitzkrieg against Russia. Germ an econom ic policy towards France from the signing o f the armistice was determined w holly within this framework. It was not merely that the New European Order, with whatever role France was destined to play in it, had to wait until the decision in the East before it could be revealed, but that the econom ic and strategic mechanism by which H itler had chosen to reach that decision was fundam entally opposed to any long-term planning concerning a New Order. I f econom ic exploitation o f occupied territory be possible up to certain lim its, the acquisition o f France should have greatly changed Germ any's fundamental strategic position. In terms o f the Blitzkrieg war econom y such an acquisition was indeed thought o f as an accretion o f strength. Because the margin between success and failure in such a policy was so small, because the risks were so fearful, to opt for the Blitzkrieg had been to opt also for the eco­ nomic exploitation o f the defeated. But at the same time as the Blitzkrieg economy drove Germ any towards a policy o f exploitation in France, so did it ■ FD 5447/45, OKW ./W i.Rü.Amt., ‘An alle Wirtschaftsorganisationen’, 14 July 1940. * FD 5452/45, OKW ./W i.Rü.Amt., ‘Richtlinien des Führers vom 14.7.41. für die künftige Kriegführung usw.\ H. R . Trevor-Roper (ed.), H itler's War Directives 1939-1945 (London, 1964), p. 78. 8*1483» D

34

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

impose strict lim its on that policy. The French econom y was not thought o f as a whole but as a m iscellaneous collection o f industries and factors o f production only certain o f which were actually useful to the Germ an econom y. G erm any's econom ic needs were all immediate, even the cam paign against Russia was to last only five months. In this context certain weaknesses o f supply in the Germ an econom y could be remedied by the exploitation o f France, but the organization o f France's total econom ic strength fo r Germ an purposes seemed irrelevant Blitzkrieg econom ics therefore had a dual effect on the econom ics o f occupied European territories. In the first place the very existence o f the B litzkrieg was an acknowledgem ent that Germ any was not econom ically a strong enough power to launch a long w ar against Russia entirely from her own resources; exploitation o f the conquered was a part o f the Blitzkrieg strategy. In the second place the methods o f econom ic thinking appropriate to the B litzkrieg meant that the conflict between the liberal and fascist ideas o f conquest did not fully develop before 1942. The piecemeal view o f the French econom y im plicit in Blitzkrieg econom ics comes out clearly in a study prepared by the Reichs Office fo r W ar-Econom ic Planning in M ay 1940.1 The only attem pts made at assessing the value o f French production were in cases where Germ any’s own supply seemed pre­ carious. The econom ic strength o f France w as measured by the same yardstick as that o f Germ any. T o look a t the French econom y in this narrow w ay was quite arbitrarily to limit its potential value to Germ any, fo r many o f the supply weaknesses o f the Germ an econom y were also present in France. O f the three m ajor raw m aterials covered by the Second Four Y ear Plan, oil, rubber, and iron ore, France was endowed with only one, iron ore. She was as deficient in crude oil and natural rubber as Germ any. The rich reserves o f iron ore to be found in France were counter-balanced by the fact that France was m ore dependent on coal imports than any other m ajor econom y in Europe. A s fo r the rarer metal ores France was as dependent on overseas supply as Germ any. In 1939 France had only one very small natural crude-oil field, at Pechelbronn in A lsace. Its output was a mere 70,000 tons a year and it was nearing exhaustion. D iligent exploration carried out by the government since 1923 had discovered no further source o f supply. A sm all additional quantity o f o il was extracted from the shale beds o f A utun and Saint-H ilaire, but the French shale o il industry resembled its European fellow s in the poor quality o f its equipment and the costliness o f its processes. There were three very sm all experimental synthetic o il works on the northern coalfield. M ost o f the annual internal consum ption, which averaged around 6,900,000 tons, was 1 FD 1808/44, Reichsamt für wehrwirtschaftliche Planung, ‘Beiträge zur Wehrwirt­ schaftsstruktur Frankreichs*, May 1940.

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

35

therefore provided fo r by imports o f crude o il refined in France. O n average 45 per cent o f the im ports came from Iraq. N or could the acquisition o f France cure Germ an deficiencies in nonferrous metals. Since 1936 France had im ported about 20,000 tons o f raw and refined copper a year, m ainly from Chile. She was alm ost totally dependent on external sources o f supply. N o nickel ore was mined in France, and pure nickel was im ported from New Caledonia. Zinc ore was im ported from M exico Spain, Yugoslavia, and Turkey. There was one very sm all wolfram mine still in operation a t Leucam p in Cantal. If, therefore, there were any interruption T

ablb

3

Percentage o f Raw M aterial Consumption in France covered by

Domestic Production I938-I939* Coal Mineral oils Pig Iron Copper Lead Zinc Tin Aluminium Phosphates

67 I

100 (108)

,,

5 I

100(200) 6

Leather Rubber Cocoa Vegetable oils Cotton Wool Silk Jute Linsml

100

.# .# 4 ,,

8 12 •

•

3 •M . Mitzakis, Principaux Aspects de l'évolution financière de la France 1936-44 (Paris 1944). P- » 3.

o f supply to France the output o f those industries which particularly interested the Germ an w ar effort would be endangered. N or, in any o f these instances, could Germ any compensate for these shortages from her own supply. O n 31 July 1940 Britain declared France to be enemy territory and from that moment, at the latest, acute problems o f supply were inevitable. Nevertheless, in spite o f these difficulties, and within the narrow fram ework o f the Blitzkrieg, there were three sectors o f the French econom y which seemed capable o f providing a useful immediate supplement to the Germ an war effort. These were the mining o f iron ore and bauxite and the manufacture o f aeroplanes. Here France seemed capable o f immediately increasing the output o f munitions and armaments available to Germ any without any further burden falling on the Germ an civilian population. France was the world’s second greatest producer o f iron ore. In 1938 French output was 33,176,000 tons com pared to an output within the frontiers o f Greater Germ any o f 15,021,000 tons.1 The output within the frontiers o f the O ld Reich was 12,351,000 tons.2 There can be no doubt that the control o f French iron-ore resources was regarded as an im portant benefit by H itler. W hile discussion was beginning on the form o f Germ an policy in France, Hermann Roechling, the Saar steel m anufacturer, between 26 June and 1 July, ■ CCD R., v., M F. I.

* J.-J. Jflger, op. dt., p. 140.

36

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

took under his control the iron works in the department o f Meurthe-etM oselle, the only area o f Lorraine not actually annexed by Germ any.1 France was equally favourably placed with regard to bauxite, the basic raw material o f aluminium and, therefore, o f aeroplane manufacture. A total output o f 683,400 tons o f bauxite in 1938 made France one o f the world’s m ost important sources o f supply. The annual exports surplus was usually about 300,000 tons. Since 1934 French bauxite exports had been increasingly diverted away from Germany towards Britain, but even in 1938 84,100 tons o f bauxite were exported from France to Germany.2 Domestic bauxite ores provided only 10 per cent o f total German consumption in 1939, in spite o f a fifteenfold increase in production between 1929 and 1939.J German capital T

ablb

4

Production o f Aluminium in Selected Countries* (thousand tons) 1913 Germany U.S.A. Canada France Russia United Kingdom

1*0 20*9

1929

1937

1938

333

127*5 132*8 42*6

165*0 150*0 65*0

34*5 45-0 19*4

40*0 23*2

13*5

102*3 38*6 29*1

10*0

8*1

5'9

•.

,,

45*3

*Statistisches Jahrbuch 194111942, p. 79.

penetration into Hungary and Yugoslavia gave some control over bauxite production in those countries, and, given the fairly restricted level o f aeroplane output in Germany, the economy was in no sense dependent on French bauxite supply. But bauxite was one o f the few raw materials consumed in large quantities by the armaments industry, where not only was Germany’s endowment utterly inadequate, but France’s endowment very rich. Partly in consequence o f her rich raw material resources France had early developed a large aluminium-making industry. In 1929 the French and G er­ man industries had been o f comparable size. The output o f aluminium in the inter-war period had been closely related to the expansion o f the only really large market, the aeroplane industry. Because o f this in the National Socialist period the aluminium industry grew powerfully to the point where it exceeded in output that o f the United States. Although being outdistanced by her neigh­ bour, France remained an important aluminium producer. Although French aircraft production was fairly small in the inter-war period the standard o f design remained high and the industry, the largest in 1 E. Jäckel, Frankreich In H itlers Europa (Stuttgart, 1967), p. 77. R. Aron, Histoire de Vichy 1940-1944 (Paris, 1954). P- *56. * F D 1808/44, op. d t. * Statistisches Jahrbuch 1941! 1942, p. 79.

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

37

the world at the close o f the First W orld W ar, had considerable unutilized capacity. The rearmament programme begun on i A pril 1938 succeeded in expanding very rapidly. T otal employment in the industry expanded from 35,000 in 1938 to 230,000 in M ay 1940.' The expansion was partly based on im ports o f m achine-tools from the United States, certain o f which Germ any was precluded from purchasing by foreign exchange shortages and others by political pressures. The French aircraft industry therefore in spite o f the vicissitudes o f its recent history had a particular value as an adjunct to Germ any’s own w ar econom y. T

ablb

5

D eliveries o f War Planes in France* 1937 1938

1939

418 425 2,304

• M . J. Roos, Quinze Ans d’aéronautique française, 1932-1947 (Paris, 1949). There was m udi political argument about the timing and success o f rearmament in France and there are several figures for war-plane output. The delivery figures given here are less for 1937 and 1938 and greater for 1939 than the output figures given in A . Sauvy, H istoire écono­ mique de la Prance entre tes deux guerres (Paris, 1965), ii. 438. The miscellaneous output figures given in C C D R ., iv, A . 1.44 are: 1938— 423; 1 January to September 1939— 1,253.

Even G öring, in general an advocate o f restricting m anufacturing activity in all occupied territories, was interested in using the French aircraft industry for Germ an purposes. Before the invasion o f France the Czech aircraft industry had been promised fu ll order books by G öring in his capacity as Com m ander-in-Chief o f the A ir Force in return for its loyal co-operation. Between 130,000 and 150,000 workers were already employed in aircraft production in Bohem ia and M oravia in M arch 1939, and the Germ an Arm ed Forces were trying to bring pressure to bear to moderate the harsh treatment o f civilians.2 O n 22 July 1940 Germ any demanded permission for a party o f industrialists to inspect French aluminium and aircraft factories even in the unoccupied zone.2 This was the beginning o f an attem pt to impose a pro­ gramme o f aircraft m anufacture which would be common to both occupied and unoccupied France.4 Had Germ an exploitation been confined to these few areas o f the French econom y it might be thought at least to have been possible without any general econom ic controls or over-all plans. But even in these areas the total disruption o f established lines o f trade meant that bottlenecks in supply would soon appear. The French m achine-tool industry, for example, had already proved insufficient to sustain the rearmament programme. The value o f 1 C C D R ., iv., A . 1 . 44. 2 F D 5390/43, Der Generalluftzeugmeister, ‘Auswirkung der politischen Verhältnisse im Protektorat auf die Rüstungsindustrie’, December 1939. 2 D F C A A ., L 75. 4 Ibid. ii. 462.

38

FRANCB AND THE NEW ORDER

French holdings o f machine tools was estimated at only one-ninth o f German or American holdings.1 But the tightest o f all bottlenecks would be that o f industrial power. Certain to be cut o ff from most o f her oil supply France would be dependent on hydroelectric power and coal. Since 1935 more electric current had been produced in France by hydroelectric power-stations than by coal-fired ones. But the distribution o f hydroelectric power remained very local, largely confined to the hilly areas o f south and central France. O f the consumption o f 2,650,000,000 kilowatt hours in Paris in 1936 about 40 per cent was hydroelectric power. In the other main industrial centres the current consumed was mainly obtained from coal. Looked at simply from the point o f view o f the economic exploitation o f the conquered territory, nothing better illustrates the limitations placed on Ger­ man policy by the concept o f the Blitzkrieg than the question o f French coal supply. On the eve o f the war France was the greatest coal importer in the world. French coal imports accounted for about 20 per cent o f the total world imports o f coal, and 30 per cent o f French annual domestic coal consumption. A ll the four countries which consumed greater quantities o f coal than France supplied their own needs in entirety.* Two o f them, Britain and Germany, were the greatest competitors on the French m arket W hat could be supplied neither from Britain nor Germany came in much smaller quantities from Belgium, Poland, and Luxembourg. I f France were to be denied British coal 40 per cent o f her coal imports would be cut off unless a reconstructed European economy could make up the deficiency. I f industrial production for German purposes were really to be effective in France, even in the extremely narrow sense implied by the Blitzkrieg economy, Germany had either to supply coal to France herself, or forcibly reconstruct the whole pattern o f the European coal trade, or commit herself to a sufficient degree o f over-all planning o f the French economy to permit a basic re-allocation o f coal supply within that economy. The Blitzkrieg meant that such comprehensive solutions could not be attempted. So long as it remained Hitler’s instrument for achieving the New Order, no picture o f the new Europe could emerge, and occupation policy was economic exploitation o f a very limited kind. But what would happen once the Blitzkrieg had achieved its ultimate aim s? W hat place was reserved for France in the New Order when that order was finally created? There are few clues in this search. Immediately after the armistice Hitler seems to have considered a peace treaty with France as a nottoo-distant event. A fter the British attack on the French fleet at Mers-elKébir, however, he came to the conclusion that a peace treaty which did not include Britain was worthless.1 In this interval o f time it is possible to find * FD 1808/44, OP* cit. * International Labour Office, Studies and Reports, Series B, no. 31, The World CoalMining Industry (Geneva, 1938), i. 69. * See the discussion by E. JBckel, op. d t., pp. 46 ff.

PRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

39

certain indications as to the France o f the future. The indications are nebu­ lous and puzzling, but there is some circum stantial evidence as to what the peace treaty would have been like. That Alsace-Lorraine would have reverted to Germ any is very obvious. Although there are no suggestions before the w ar that this was one o f Hitler’s w ar aims, as early as the first h alf o f July 1940 Josef BUrckel, G auleiter o f Saarland-Palatinate, and Robert W agner, G auleiter o f Baden, had already been chosen for their task o f integrating the three French departments o f Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, and M oselle, into the Reich. O n 15 July the customs barrier between France and Germ any was readjusted to the frontier o f 1871. N ot until 2 August did Hitler issue a decree on the adm inistration o f this area, and even then the decree was not published.1 N or was the decree o f 18 O ctober published, although by that time Germ any had weathered the storm o f French protest at the Arm istice Com m ission. This public hesitancy was in sharp contrast to the measures actually used in Alsace. The intention was to Germ anize the population within ten years.2 The Reichsbank, whose custom it was to publish a regular series o f reports on other European economies, published as early as 16 August 1940 a special report on the econom y o f Alsace-Lorraine.2 Since the acquisition o f AlsaceLorraine from France was no small part o f the total gain which Germ any had from the French econom y during the war, and since from August 1940 onwards all econom ic inform ation about that area becomes inextricably tangled with Germ an national statistics, it is interesting to consider exactly what Germ any did annex. The total population o f the area was 1,900,000, o f whom 22 per cent were employed in agriculture. Although the general level o f yields was lower than in Germ any the 1937 harvest was 167,000 tons o f wheat, 154,000 tons o f oats, 66,000 tons o f barley, 41,000 tons o f rye and 1,100,000 tons o f potatoes. In addition, o f course, the wine harvest was also very important. But o f much greater value to Germ any were the supplies o f iron ore, coal, and phosphates, and the steel and textile industries. The development o f the minette iron ore field from the 1880s onwards had seen a steady increase in iron-ore production until the First W orld W ar. A fter that the output had remained stagnant and then fallen. The sluggishness o f dom estic demand in the inter-war years in France meant that France had never utilized to its full capacity the modem steel industry which she had acquired from Germ any in the Versailles Treaty. Nevertheless, the iron ore output in 1928 in the three departments annexed by Germ any was 13,100,000 tons. In the Lorraine coalfield the story was different. The coalfield was the most m odem , the most efficient, and the most productive in France, responsible for 14*5 per cent o f total French output. In 1938 6,700,000 tons o f coal were mined there and the trend o f production was upwards. The Alsace phosphates were the only large source o f French 1 Ibid., p. 79. 1 L. Giuchman, op. d t.t p. 76. 1 F D 233/43, Deutsche Retchsbank, Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung, 16 August 1940.

40

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

supply in Europe. Their return to France in 1919 broke what had been a Germ an natural m onopoly. A fter a bitter com m ercial struggle the A lsatian producers had entered into a cartel with their Germ an com petitors in 1926. Their re-entry into the Germ an Reich was to disrupt this long-standing agreement. H itler intended to leave no scope for doubt as to the ethnic qualifications o f the inhabitants o f Alsace-Lorraine. The expulsions from that territory into France began on 12 Novem ber. ’ M istakes are not always avoidable*, said H itler in 1941, 'b u t what difference does it make if it can be reported to me in ten years, “ D anzig, Alsace and Lorraine are Germ an . . .** V There were even projects m ooted fo r the re-peopling o f Alsace-Lorraine with a more satisfactory population. . . . but we still have to get rid o f a further quarter o f a million o f 'frenchified* Alsatians. Should we send them to France, or should we send them to colonize the Eastern territories? From the point o f view o f principle, this is o f no great impor­ tance. It is just a question o f opportunity. And to fill the void left by their departure presents no problem at alL Baden alone can provide innumerable peasant sons willing to settle in Alsace and Lorraine, particularly as there is little room for them to remain in their own homeland.*

A s for the remainder o f France, H itler’s intentions are much more doubt­ ful. A t the end o f June 1940 Stuckart, State-Secretary in the M inistry o f the Interior, was instructed to prepare a memorandum on the historical frontiers between France and Germ any. The frontier which H itler was considering was akin to the late medieval frontier including Flanders, the Ardennes, and the Argonne in Germ any.1*3 Ribbentrop, the Foreign M inister, appears to have received no copy o f this memorandum. There is further evidence that H itler thought in terms o f a frontier 'from about the mouth o f the S om m e eastwards to the northern edge o f the Paris region and along Cham pagne to the Argonne swinging thence southwards and going through Burgundy and westwards through Franche Com té to the Lake o f Geneva*.4* H itler spoke later o f Burgundy as historically Germ an soil,3 a fact not to be forgotten when the peace treaty was drawn up. G oebbels reported in his D iary after the same conversation: ‘However the war m ay end, France w ill have to pay dearly, fo r she caused and started it. She is now being thrown back to her borders o f A.D. 1500. This means that Burgundy w ill again become part o f the Reich.’6 Against these dram atic claim s must be set H itler’s statements when in more euphoric m ood. ‘The French were a decent people’, he told A betz in September 1 H. Picker (ed.), H itlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1942 (Stuttgart, 1963), I August 1941. 1 Ibid., 12 May 1942; H itter's Secret Conversations, p. 444. See also, IM T., xxvii. 31, 115-PS. * E. Jftckel, op. d t., p. 47. 4 IM T., vi. 472, RF-602, L. Gruchmann, op. d t., p. 77. * H itlers Tischgespräche, 25 April 1942. 4 L. Lochner (ed.), The Goebbels Diaries (London, 1948), 26 April 1942.

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

41

1941, ‘and consequently they were also to have a part in the “ new Europe” and would undoubtedly experience great prosperity.’ 1 A t that time, filled w ith expectations o f an empire in the East, H itler spoke as though he envis­ aged taking only Alsace-Lorraine and retaining a m ilitary force in Pas-deC alais. W hatever Hitler’s intentions he was N ational Socialist enough to hope for little from the French ‘collaborators*. In so far as the fascist revolution affected France it produced the rival parties o f D éat and D oriot, the Ras­ semblement National Populaire and the Parti Populaire Français. Hitler knew them for the unimportant groups they were and realized well enough that if France were incorporated in the New Order it would be by force and not by any internal change in that country. The existence o f politicians o f a more conservative frame o f mind wishing to pursue a policy o f Franco-Germ an align­ ment to form a European bloc saved him from having to force D éat or D oriot on the French as he had had to do with Quisling in N orw ay. But about Laval, also, H itler had no illusions. ‘It is unfortunate’, he said, ‘that among Pétain’s colleagues there is no one capable o f taking the necessary clear decisions. Laval, for example, has nothing but a parliam entary past behind him.’2 His historical sense told him that spiritually France could contribute nothing to the New Order, the fascist revolution was not indigenous there. W e must not place too great hopes on developments in France [Goebbels wrote]; I consider the French people sick and worm-eaten. N o notable contributions towards the reconstruction o f Europe can be expected from them .. . . Once again it has been proved that the FOhrer’s policy towards France has been absolutely right*

T hat policy was to force the best bargain out o f French attempts to improve their position. For this reason it was wiser not to let them know what was in store for them. Accordingly, once the war with Britain was seen to be continuing Hitler did not seek a long-term political settlement with France. A fter the failure o f the Blitzkrieg on Russia, questions relating to any political settlement with France became even more remote. However, questions relating to an econom ic settle­ ment became more pressing. The existence o f the Blitzkrieg precluded any European solution until it was successful. The failure o f the Blitzkrieg meant that the only solution possible was a European one. It is therefore the changes in German econom ic policy in France which are most revealing. In January 1942 Hitler was forced to abandon the m ilitary strategy by which he had hoped to win the war. From then onwards the German economy began to be directed towards full-scale war production. Between February 1942 and July 1944 Germ an armaments production increased more than threefold. A fter January 1942 there could no longer be a sacrosanct civilian sector; German society was faced with the strain o f total war. In this massive conversion o f the * DGFP., Series D, voi. xlii, no. 327. * The Goebbels Diaries, 2 April 1942.

* H itlers Tischgespräche, 13 May 1942.

42

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

economy it was inevitable that Germany should review her whole policy towards the economic exploitation o f the conquered territories. The end o f the Blitzkrieg meant the end o f the self-imposed limitations on German economic policy abroad. In fact the changes which subsequently took place in German economic policy have been almost entirely ignored. German economic policy in oc­ cupied Europe has been usually presented as a monolithic whole, generally to be criticized, occasionally to be defended, but, whether good or bad, essentially unchanging. During the Second W orld W ar itself there was a spate o f glib and nastily patriotic writing by Allied scholars attacking the German concept o f the ’New Order’. It was easy to demonstrate, even from the limited information avail­ able at the time, that the ‘New Order* was merely the old device o f economic exploitation in more pretentious dress. The thought behind this exploitation was not understood, and there was a widespread acceptance o f the unspoken assumption in German propaganda that the economic exploitation o f the occupied territories was based on carefully worked out plans. Writers gave their time to showing that these were wicked plans. Thus their discussion o f the New Order was no better as an explanation o f what that Order was than the theoretical bombast put out by National Socialist hacks.1 War-time writers at least had one point in their favour. They persisted in seeing Hitler’s occupation policies on a European rather than a national scale. Since 1945, where historians have considered the economic aspects o f occu­ pation at all they have considered them only in relation to single countries. The consequence o f this has been a much more exact approach to historical truth. But at the same time the over-all concept o f a ‘New Order* has been left unexamined. Each single occupation must be seen in the light o f Germany’s ultimate political and economic plans for Europe. From the small amount o f research that has appeared it has become clear that whatever the principles o f German occupation policy, and whatever the ultimate political intentions o f the conquerors, they were not the same for all occupied countries. These differences o f policy between one occupied area and another seem to have reflected three things. Firstly they reflected Hitler’s ultimate intentions for Europe, secondly they reflected differences in the economic strength o f the conquered economies, and thirdly they reflected the racial illogicalities o f the conquerors. A t the outset o f the occupations a much harsher regime was devised for the eastern occupied territories. In the case o f Poland this had a grim internal consistency.* In the case o f Russia there was 1 P. Einzig, H itler's New Order in Europe(London, 1941); P. Einzig, ‘Hitler's “ New Order” in Theory and Practice’, Economic Journal, U (1941); C . W. Guillebaud, ‘Hitler’s New Economic Order for Europe’, ibid. 1(1940); J. Kuczynski and M. Witt, The Economics o f Barbarism, H itler's New Economic Order in Europe (London, 1942); R. de Roussy de Sales (ed.). My New Order (New York, 1941). * M. Broszat, Nationalsozialistische Polenpolitik 1939-1943 (Stuttgart, 1961).

FRANCE AND THE NEW ORDER

43

n o consistency. The historical problems, the racial prejudices involved, and the extremely im portant econom ic issues in question were too com plicated to be solved by the N ational Socialist Party and for that Party still to remain one. It was the econom ic plans fo r Russia that were surely the crux o f the N ew Order and the key to econom ic policy elsewhere. Since D allin’s pioneer study, prim arily concerned with political issues, these plans have remained unexplored.1 Looked at in this light Germ an econom ic policy in western occupied Europe m ay appear o f less im portance. But it has appeared so only because the changes which took place there after spring 1942 have been ignored. The sm all number o f studies appearing immediately at the end o f the war could n o t, fo r obvious reasons, be based on extensive research and tended to give an over-all view o f certain basic principles seeming to emerge from Germ an policy.3 The publications o f the form er Institut fà r Besatzungsfragen at Tübingen considered certain legal or econom ic aspects o f the occupation o f various states with the intention o f exam ining the basic principles o f policy involved. U nfortunately these principles were often considered in a very legalistic w ay and some o f the volumes were designed partly for the purpose o f attacking the international legal principles underlying the post-war A llied occupation o f Germany.* Germ an econom ic policy in occupied France can only be understood as a part o f the feverish search for a solution to the problem o f future European organization. The N ational Socialist Party was a revolutionary Party, and its revolution was to extend to a reconstruction o f the whole European econom y. T he European econom y would have to be created anew on anti-liberal prin­ ciples. One part o f this reconstruction was the total rejection o f the liberal idea o f conquest. Since that idea, in the event, proved to have some elements o f truth in it, the dem onstration that it was false proved more difficult than the N ational Socialists had at first imagined. On one level, therefore, since the liberal idea o f conquest had to be wrong for the new anti-liberal Europe to be created, Germ an policy in France was a search fo r a solution to this very old econom ic problem . O n another level Germ an policy was an attem pt to carry the N ational Socialist econom ic revolution beyond the mere refutation o f earlier ideas. T o ignore the changes in Germ an econom ic policies in France is to ignore the nature o f the N ational Socialist government itself, and thus to avoid the whole problem . F or it is only in comprehending the failure o f the N ational Socialists to create a satisfactory alternative econom ic programme to liberal capitalism 1 A . DaDtn, German Rule In Russia, 1941-45 (London and New York, 1957). * See, for example, F. Baudhuin, L ’Économie beige sous l ’occupation, 1940-44 (Brussels, 1943); L Baudin, Esquisse de l ’économie française sous l ’occupation allemande (Paris, 1943). * G . Moritz, D ie deutsche Besatzungsgerichtsbarkeit während des zweiten W eltkrieges (Tübingen, 1954); id., D ie Gerichtsbarkeit in den besetzten Gebieten. Historische Entwick­ lung und völkerrechtliche Würdigung (Tübingen, 1939).

44

FRANCE AND THE NBW ORDER

that it is possible to understand why their policies o f economic exploitation met with so much less success than they had hoped for. Germany derived sufficient economic advantage from the occupation o f France to demonstrate the superficiality o f the liberal view o f exploitation, but not sufficient to justify the National Socialist alternative. Even in Germany National Socialist economic policy was a compromise between barely recon­ cilable economic principles. The impact o f the fascist revolution on other countries apart from Italy was less than in Germany. The New Economic Order could therefore only be imposed by force, and its principles scarcely formed a coherent enough body o f doctrine to solve so intractable a problem as the exploitation o f an industrialized economy. Consequently the failure o f German economic policy in France reveals much about the failure o f the fascist revolution in Germany and in Europe. But this becomes clear only when it is accepted that German policies o f economic exploitation did change, and when those changes are examined.

Ill THE M ACHINERY OF EXPLOITATION A l l Germ any's econom ic plans for France depended on the evolution o f Germ an strategy during the war. Since that strategy moved through a time o f uncertainty after it had become clear that the invasion o f France was a com ­ plete success, there was a long delay before Germ an intentions were revealed to the French government. The invasion o f France began on io M ay. O n 7 June H itler ordered war production to proceed on the assumption that France w as com pletely defeated.1 N ot until 8 August did Germ any present the French government with a definite proposal about the future econom ic relations o f the two countries. This proposal was accepted by the French government on 14 Novem ber when the Franco-Germ an clearing agreements were signed. The interval o f time before the Germ an proposals is too great to be explained only in terms o f strategic considerations, im portant though these considera­ tions were. Stuckart had been instructed to prepare his memorandum on a new Franco-Germ an frontier at the end o f June. The frontier would resemble the late medieval frontier, both Flanders and eastern Burgundy being included in Germ any. O n 20 June the General Staff o f the A rm y began to prepare on H itler’s orders a barrier along the general lines o f this frontier beyond which refugees would not be allowed to return, the Nordostlinie.* They had no doubts as to the ultimate im plications o f this barrier. Pas-de-Calais and N ord were to remain under Germ an m ilitary control to further the prosecution o f the w ar against Britain and consequently were controlled by the H igh Command in Brussels and not from Paris.3 Those landholdings on the Germ an side o f the Nordostlinie which had been deserted began to pass into the hands o f a Germ an holding com pany, Ostland G .m .b.H ., which had undertaken sim ilar activities in Poland. But these apparent preparations for a peace treaty were soon abandoned, although a map o f a frontier designed on these lines found its way into the records o f the Germ an Arm istice Com m ission.4 The reasons for their abandonment were H itler's conviction that no peace treaty with France made sense so long as the war with Britain continued. The British attack on the French fleet at M ers-el-Kébir on 3 July, however limited its success as a naval operation, had a direct strategic im pact on the war. It * FD 5447/45, WiJULAmt., ‘Fflhierbefehte*. * H. Böhme, Der deutsch-französische W affenstillstand im Zweiten W eltkrieg, Entsteh­ ung und Grundlagen des Waffenstillstandes von 1940 (Stuttgart, 1966), pp. 260-1. » E. Jacket, op. d t , p. 46; E. Kordt, Nicht aus den Akten (Stuttgart, 1950), p. 393. 4 E. Jacket, op. d t., p. 47.

46

THE MACHINERY OF EXPLOITATION

induced Hitler to content him self with the m ilitary armistice in France. The possibility o f a Franco-German alliance against Britain was extremely remote and did not long occupy Hitler. Convinced by the mildness o f the French re­ action to the British attack he had decided as early as 5 July that any softening o f the terms to France would be an error. This possibility eliminated, however, there remained other strategic doubts. During June and July Hitler had still not rejected the possibility o f an invasion o f Russia in the autumn. N ot until the middle o f August did he decide that a large-scale amphibious operation against Britain was out o f the question. Only on 17 September was the idea o f any invasion o f Britain postponed indefinitely.1 In spite o f these uncertainties the delay in formalizing the economic rela­ tions between France and Germany beyond the stipulations o f the Arm istice Agreement was mainly attributable to disputes within the German govern­ ment itself as to the best economic policy to adopt in France. The published Foreign Office documents have revealed a dispute between the Foreign Office and the Four Year Plan Office, leading to an acrimonious exchange between Göring, the Head o f the Four Year Plan Office, and Ribbentrop as to the precise responsibility for economic affairs in the peace treaty. The dispute was, however, a much wider one than a quarrel about spheres o f authority. It was a dispute as to France’s role in the New Order and the very nature o f that New Order. The attitude o f Göring himself was that France was a conquered country, the main advantages to be derived from it booty and loot. The Reichs Ministry o f Economics thought in terms o f the creation o f an agricultural state with some luxury industries.2 Both ministries agreed that France should be stripped o f her industrial capacity. The Foreign Office, however, took the line that such actions would permanently alienate France from Germany. I f France were to be incorporated in the New Order and that New Order to be a lasting affair some less crude policy had to be adopted. The most supple was to incorporate France into the German economic system by a clearing treaty in the same way that the Balkan countries had been incorporated in the previous decade. The military victory gave Germany the opportunity to force through a much more favourable treaty than any previously concluded. This view was supported in the Ministry o f Economics. The policy o f guaranteeing supply from France to Germany offered a new range o f possibilities in the reconstruction o f Europe; it might be possible to incorporate a ’European Clause’ in a future peace treaty and drive American influence out o f French industry.2 It was this policy which was established by the agreement o f 14 November. The initial period o f occupation, during which Germany freely seized booty, was not an interval until better control had been established by the administra­ tion. Until the beginning o f August the brutal and anachronistic policies > R. Wheatley, Operation Sea-Lion (Oxford, 1958), pp. 33 ff. * H. Böhme, op. d t., p. 276. * Ibid., p. 277.

THE MACHINERY OF EXPLOITATION

47

favoured by G öring had not been ousted in favour o f the Foreign Office’s ow n policy. A nd it is to these policy disputes in the Germ an government that the delay in presenting the clearing proposals to the French government must prim arily be attributed. T he adoption o f the Franco-Germ an clearing treaty, although extremely unw illing on the part o f the French government, set the seal on Germ any’s success in the west and on the ’N ational Revolution’ in France, and deter* m ined France’s role in the New Order. Since 1933 the French and Germ an econom ies had m oved further a p a rt The Germ an victory and the N ational R evolution in France reversed this trend. The defeat o f France and the sur­ vival o f Britain meant that econom ically France had to become a European pow er, within the Germ an orbit. The Vichy governments were not w holly out o f sym pathy with the econom ic outlook o f their conquerors, and they saw France’s incorporation into the New Order as an acceptance o f ’reality*. The w ay in which Germ any chose to undertake the econom ic exploitation o f France com pleted this reversal o f the trend o f the 1930s; France was drawn w holly into the Grossraumwirtschttft. The doubts which delayed the institution o f Germ an policy in France were about the ultim ate shape and scope o f the Grossraumwirtschaft. The memorandum o f 30 M ay by C arl Clodius, deputy-director o f the Econom ic Policy Departm ent, shows how the Foreign Office intended to m aintain the continuity o f pre-war policy.1 The Netherlands, Belgium , and Luxem bourg would fall into the greater Germ an econom ic sphere irrespec­ tive o f whether they remained as independent states, and a customs and currency union m ight be forced on them. The treatment o f France depended on how far H itler intended to annex territories in northern France. I f these annexations were very extensive Franco-Germ an trade might become quite unim portant. In any case outside the frontiers o f France it was essential that G erm any brook no com m ercial rival. The defeat o f France also provided G erm any with an opportunity to continue the reconstruction o f Europe by taking over French capital holdings in south-eastern Europe. French capital was especially im portant in Yugoslavian copper mines, in the Rom anian oil industry, and among the raw materials o f peculiar strategic interest to Germ any. The policy o f replacement o f French by Germ an capital in these spheres laid down in Clodius’s memorandum was rigorously follow ed. In only one other case did the Foreign Office show any desire for capital penetration. Before the invasion, Germ an news agencies had been very dependent on Britain and France and the opportunity now presented itself o f breaking this dependence. This line o f policy also was to be diligently pursued in the future. One reason for the particular line o f policy chosen by the Four Y ear Plan Office was that its chief, G öring, had a double interest, since he was also Com m ander-in-Chief o f the A ir Force. O n 20 June he told the Foreign Office 1 D G FP., ix, no. 334.

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that he alone would be responsible for the econom ic aspects o f the peace.1 Tw o days later he conferred upon Funk, the M inister o f Econom ics, powers to organize the Greater European econom ic area.2 The Foreign Office riposted on 26 June, claim ing they already had the preparation o f the peace treaty well in hand.9 But G öring was not intending to abandon the struggle. On 2 July he expressly reserved to him self the preparation o f the econom ic aspects o f any peace treaty.4 O n 27 June General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, the head o f the Germ an Arm istice D elegation, found out from the Foreign Office that there would also be an Arm istice Delegation for econom ic affairs, which would be not only separate but independent.9 The head o f this separate body, Hans Hemmen, was chosen in early July. Hemmen was one o f the most experienced o f the Foreign Office’s commercial negotiators. He had been moved to the com ­ mercial policy department o f the Foreign Office because o f his unpopularity with the Party while serving in Buenos Aires and had, indeed, between 1933 and 1934, been in such disfavour as to have no responsibility o f any kind. Since then he had played a prominent part in several important commercial negotiations.6 A man o f infinite patience, he was to become extremely un­ popular with the French delegates because o f the narrowness with which he approached every question. The strength o f the position from which he was negotiating tempted him too often into threats, but for the most part his demeanour was that o f the faithful civil servant. He negotiated strictly within the terms o f his brief. A s to the man’s wider aspirations and personal views they remain unclear. He had always been a fervent opponent o f ‘bolshevism* and his fears fo r the danger o f revolution in France in 1943 were probably quite genuine. On 27 August in his interview with Bouthillier, the French Finance M inister, the negotiator’s mask may have slipped. ‘He said that Europe can only be organ­ ized around im portant countries. These countries are three in number. He set aside Russia, o f which, he said, neither France nor Germ any knew anything. These three countries are: Germ any, Italy, and France, who will pursue a continental policy.’7 The form o f the Econom ic D elegation was decided on 4 July in a con­ ference between the Foreign Office and the Four Y ear Plan Office. The conference discussed the general problem o f the econom ic exploitation o f France. N o record o f its discussions has yet come to light and their result can only be deduced from the terms o f reference o f the Econom ic Delegation. * D G FP., x, no. 82. * Ibid., no. 142, no. 103. 9 D G FP., Series D , x, no. 23. * Ibid., no. 82. * H. Böhme, op. d t., p. 192. 4 In October 1913 he had been a K ing Edward scholar at University College, London, and the London School o f Economics, and subsequently had been interned in Britain for three and a half years. 7 D F C A A ., i. 185.

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49

T he Foreign Office view seems to have been substantially accepted, although Hemmen’s appointment had to be by joint decree o f the two ministries. It is clear from subsequent events that G öring did not regard this decision as being a final decision on economic policy towards France. Hemmen himse lf wrote in 1944 that ‘the starting point o f the activity o f the Economic D elegation to the Arm istice Comm ission w a s . . . the fact that the conduct o f the war against Britain, and later against the United States and the Soviet Union, imposed on the Reich the imperious necessity o f utilizing as far as possible the econom ic potential o f France for the final victory o f Germ any’.1 Asked by the Foreign Office in February 1942 if his Delegation were still useful, Hemmen concluded a long list o f its activities by stating ‘all these tasks far exceed the bounds o f regulation o f the armistice and are a part, beyond all possibility o f argument, o f the responsibility for commercial policy o f the Foreign M inistry. Their objective is the total economic and financial integration o f France into the European area.’2 W hen Hemmen was summoned from Switzerland by Ribbentrop to be briefed he was cautioned against all future attempts by G öring to influence the policy o f the Delegation. The Delegation was only to receive orders from the Foreign Office and Hemmen was to be held personally responsible for ensuring that none o f its members would report directly to their own minis* tries.2 The circumstances in which the Delegation had been composed had led to the virtual certainty that G öring would try to influence or even control its members. Indeed, on the very day on which he was briefed Hemmen was summoned to the Four Y ear Plan Office to receive personally his signed appointment from G öring.2 He was advised to reply that he had already received his commission from the Foreign Office. W here the weak situation o f the Vichy government could be used to apply greater pressure on France Hemmen would do so. The concessions to be obtained should go well beyond those envisaged in the Arm istice Agreem ent. Besides discussing the implementation o f the economic agreements o f the Armistice Agreement, the Economic Delegation will also conduct free negotiations with the French government on economic matters. Its aim in so doing must be so far as possible to place the economic potential o f the unoccupied territory in the service o f the German war economy.4

Since the conference o f 4 July had been the first step in rejecting a policy o f looting, these aims could only be achieved over time and by free negotia­ tion. It had been decided that industry should be only indirectly mobilized for the conduct o f the war; there­ fore not directly for the production o f war material, but solely for the production o f 1 P. Am oult, Les Finances de la France et l ’occupation allemande 1940/44 (Paris, 1951), p. 6. * Hemmen Papers, Waffenstillstandsdelegation, Telegram, 7 February 1942. * Hemmen Papers, ‘Meine Ernennung zum Vorsitzenden der Waffenstillstands-Delega­ tion für Wirtschaft*. 4 D G FP., Series D , x, no. 116. SS148SS

E

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articles that are urgently needed in G erm any.. . . Raw materials and economic goods in unoccupied territory which are important for the German war economy can, therefore, be utilized only through the channels o f free exchange.1

N ot only did the armistice impose constraints on the degree to which Germany could exploit France but it implied also that the form o f exploitation would be production for limited German purposes in France. The terms under which such production would take place would obviously always be brought back to the terms o f the armistice itself, unless every last scrap o f sovereignty was to be torn from the French government. G öring was thinking in terms o f production for German purposes only where it was pre-eminently im portant; the greater value he supposed would be in pillage and capital penetration o f French industry by German interests. His letter o f 2 August to the Com m ander-in-chief in Belgium and the Reich Commissars for Norway and the Netherlands proclaimed that, ‘one goal o f German economic policy is the increase o f German influence in foreign enterprise’.* It was necessary while the war was still in progress to achieve this by every means. On 17 August Göring indicated to Funk that German policy should be one o f capital control over all key firms in the occupied areas.* Even when he had been brought to sanction the policy o f production for Germ an purposes in France he still insisted that it must not impede the taking o f booty except where absolutely necessary. W here machine tools would not be needed for German purposes in France they should be transported to Germany.1*4 This dispute about the form o f the German economic exploitation o f France was played out against a highly conventional back-drop. The armistice itself was based closely on that o f 1918. Its terms, although vague, were like those o f previous agreements o f this kind. The earliest measures o f the German adm inistra tio n in France could fairly be described in the same way. It took some time for the Foreign Office to assert its own policy in practice. Into the conventional framework o f a m ilitary occupation, a ’belligerent occupation’ in the language o f nineteenth-century international lawyers, was gradually inserted a different kind o f policy, one which was aimed quite openly at using the Arm istice settlement as a deliberate threat to obtain satisfaction fo r German economic needs. This policy had to jostle for possession o f the stage with the more sweeping and more primitive measures put forward by the Head o f the Four Y ear Plan. O n the eve o f the invasion o f Belgium General von Brauchitsch had been ordered to construct a m ilitary administration for the invaded territories.* 1 D G FP., Series D , x, no. 106. * D G FP., x, no. 278. * O. Ulsböfer, Einflussnahme auf Wirtschaftsuntemehmungen In den besetzten north, westund südosteuropäischen Ländern während des zweiten Weltkrieges insbesonderederErwerb von Beteiligungen ( Verflechtung) (Tübingen, 1958), p. 41. 4 B A., R. 7 V ffl 207, ‘Auszugsweise Abschrift aus einem Wirtscbaftsbericht Ober die Lage im Bereich des Chefs der Militärverwaltung in Frankreich*, September 1940. * D G FP., Series D , ix, no. 213.

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SI

H itler struck out o f the decree o f 9 M ay a clause restraining the invading forces from plundering the country.1 The adm inistration was to depend entirely on the Arm y. N othing in these orders foreshadowed the ultim ate arrange­ m ents fo r the occupation o f France, except, perhaps, the heavy emphasis o n econom ic affairs in the construction o f the adm inistration. Hans Posse, a State-Secretary in the M inistry o f Econom ics, filled the post o f Com m issarG eneral to the Quarterm aster-General.12*Underneath Posse was a plethora o f specialists fo r alm ost every aspect o f econom ic existence.2 On 9 June Posse becam e head o f the Adm inistrative Branch when General Blaskow itz became fo r a brief period head o f the m ilitary adm inistration in France.4*The purpose o f the econom ic adm inistration, however, remained more or less confined to sustaining the vital apparatus o f the conquered territory and to supplying the Germ an armies there. G eneral Haider, C h ief o f the Arm y General Staff, was not satisfied that arrangem ents o f this kind would be entirely satisfactory once the fighting was over. Furtherm ore, he wanted the civil adm inistration o f the country, for strategic reasons concerning the war with Britain, to be subordinated entirely to the Com m ander-in-Chief in France.2 N or was he satisfied w ith the person­ a lity o f Posse. O n 26 June Jonathan Schm id, a M inister o f State, an elderly man no longer in the best o f health, arrived in France to take over the post o f H ead o f the C ivil Adm inistration.6 He was to occupy that position until June 1942. The Arm istice itself was a m ilitary act and embodied strategic considera­ tions above all else. The m ilitary adm inistration was based on this m ilitary act and the text o f the Arm istice took on the nature o f a written constitution w ithin the terms o f which the Arm y governed the area which they had m ili­ tarily occupied at the moment when the Arm istice was signed on 21 June.7 T h e speed with which events took place after Pétain sought armistice terms left the Germ ans quite unprepared. The Arm istice was sought and signed in fo u r days. In the circumstances there was little to do but dig out previous arm istice treaties and see how well they could be adapted to the present situation. The night before the meeting in the specially prepared clearing o f Rethondes, Germ an interpreters, visited by H itler and K eitel, worked by candlelight in a church to prepare the French translation o f the terms.* 1 Böhme, op. d t , p. 136. 2 Wirtschaftsbevollmächtigter beim Generalquartiermeister. 1 E. Jftckel, op. d t., p. 59. See also W . Herdeg, Grundzüge der (kutschen Besatzungsrerwaltung in den west- und nordeuropäischen Ländern während des zweiten W ettkrieges (Tübingen. 1953), pp. 3 ff. 4 E. Jäckel, op. d t., p. 61. * F . Haider, Kriegstagebuch. Tägliche Aufzeichnungen des Chefs des Generalstabes des H eeres 1939I42 (Stuttgart, 1962-4J, i. 369. 4 E . Jäckel, op. d t., p. 63. * The text of the Armistice is in D F C A A ., i. 1-8. * P . Schmidt, Statist au fdiplomatischer Bühne 1923-45 (Bonn, 1949), pp. 484-91.

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There were twenty-four clauses in the agreement covering the usual matter o f armistice treaties, terms o f the cease-fire, o f the surrender o f French troops and armaments, o f the level o f armament to be subsequently permitted in France and so on. The wider econom ic aspects were not covered other than in the m ost general terms. The Foreign M inistry chose to use the Arm istice Comm ission meetings as a w ay o f bringing pressure to bear on the Vichy government. Hemmen’s arrival at Wiesbaden was therefore the start o f a long battle by the Germ an negotiators to break down the defences which the French had been allowed to retain. Every advantage was on the side o f the Germans. N ot merely was their initial position so much the stronger but the meetings were on their ground. Relentless espionage meant that French moves in the nego­ tiations were often known in advance. O n some occasions the Germ an dele­ gates had actually to feign surprise.1 Although therefore the existence o f the Arm istice Agreem ent prevented any total exploitation o f the French econom y from the outset, its imprecise wording, and, above all, what it left unsaid, meant that in so far as it was a defensive position behind which the French could shelter it was in the long run an untenable one. The imprecise nature o f the clause on occupation costs m ight stand as an example. In the event it proved not too difficult for Germ any to secure swingeing costs, far above the real costs o f the occupation. The dem arcation line between the occupied and unoccupied zones o f France took little or no account o f the econom ic divisions o f the country. Its only deference to such matters was that it was adjusted to include Le Creusot in the occupied zone, to com ply with H itler's orders that L e Creusot must be taken before the Arm istice. Otherwise its original purpose was to m ark clearly that area o f France within which the German arm y operated. It was an alm ost impenetrable frontier at the outset o f the occupation. A ll official correspon­ dence had to be presented unsealed at M oulins on the frontier. The censors were unable to deal with more than three hundred letters in one day. French M inisters were allowed barely any telephone communication with the occupied zone.2 Beyond this impassable frontier there were other divisions. The tw o m ost northerly departments, after Paris itself, the most industrialized areas o f the country and the main source o f French coal production, N ord and Pasde-Calais, were administered by the Com m ander-in-Chief in Brussels. This division had a clear m ilitary basis in view o f H itler's concern with an imme­ diate invasion o f Britain. It had also very threatening political undertones. Three departments, Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, and M oselle were discreetly in­ corporated into the Reich itself. Italy took for herself a small zone em bracing Mentone. Finally, Germ any imposed the Nordostlinie separating the depart­ ments o f D oubs, Haute-Saône, M eurthe-et-M oselle, Vosges, Ardennes, M euse, and substantial parts o f Jura, Haute-M arne, Aisne, and Somme from 1 H . Böhme, op. dt., pp. 233- 5* 2 R. Aron, op. dt., p. 238.

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S3

the rest o f the occupied zone. Initially the movement o f persons across that line was alm ost totally prohibited, but econom ically these restrictions were to prove unworkable. From spring 1941 certain categories o f refugees necessary to revive the econom ic life o f the area were allowed back. The burden o f guard­ in g so long a barrier line meant that it was less and less effectively policed, and

! |^

Artus under Italian military occupation after M) Ntnvmber 1942 Boundary o f occupied and umKcupied zones

Map I. Administrative areas o f France during the occupation. m any more refugees returned to their homes illegally. In Decem ber 1941, when the need for m ore troops in Russia was acute, policing o f the barrier stopped alm ost entirely.1 The strategic element in these frontiers emphasized the degree to which France was controlled by the Germ an armed forces. A s soon as hostilities in the Netherlands were over, the control o f that country was transferred to a civil adm inistration controlled by a Reichs Com m issar. Belgium and France 1 H. Böhme, op. dt., p. 261.

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THE MACHINERY OF EXPLOITATION

remained as a fief o f the German arm y, although in July 1944 Belgium was finally subordinated to a Gauleiter. For the duration o f the war, however, the German civil administration in France was constitutionally dependent on the Comm ander-in-Chief o f the German army o f occupation. D irectly under the Commander-in-Chief stood General Alfred Streccius, Head o f the M ilitary Administration. He him self was a taoist, the result o f a long residence in China. Below Streccius the administration was sharply divided into its military and civil sections, the Kommandostab and the Verwaltm gsstab, Jonathan Schmid being the head o f the latter. The civil branch o f the administration had three divisions, the central branch, the administrative branch, and the economic branch. The administrative branch was responsible for roads, transport, and postal services, but otherwise all economic affairs were the province o f the third o f these branches. That in its turn had ten sections for the various aspects o f economic administration.1 The head o f the administrative branch was Werner Best, later to become Reichs Commissar in Denmark. When young he had been imprisoned by the French during the occupation o f the Rhineland.12 The head o f the economic branch was Elmar M ichel, an official o f the Reichs M inistry o f Economics. When Schmid eventually retired pleading ill-health M ichel succeeded him in office. The administration based on the Hotel M ajestic in Paris had about 1,100 officials, o f whom the m ajority had previously been in administrative positions in Germany, although a significant minority, especially in the economic branch o f the Verwaltungsstab, came from business firms in Germany and maintained their links with those firms. Between the invasion and the armistice the task o f introducing a German administration proceeded spasmodically. The invading forces were supplied with occupation currency, the Reichskreditkassenschein, the same currency that had been used in the earlier invasions o f Belgium and Holland. The care­ ful anti-inflationary policies pursued in Germany meant that extreme pre­ cautions were necessary to prevent German economic policy from being ruined by the use o f Reichsmarks in occupied countries. The initial circum­ stances o f any military occupation will tend to be inflationary. Small business­ men have the opportunity to operate in monopoly markets o f great scarcity; supply and demand are both inelastic. Therefore the flow o f currencies between the Reich and occupied France had to be carefully checked; there had to be no competition between the occupation currency and Reichsmarks fo r goods in Germany. I f the issuing o f the Reichskreditkassenschein was to be inflationary the burden o f that inflation had to fall on the occupied territory alone. Therefore the occupation currency could neither be spent in Germ any, nor exchanged against the Reichsmark. The Bank o f France had to accept 1 W. Herdeg, op. d t., passim, gives an acoount o f the various small changes that took place. 2 E. Jlckd , op. d t , p. 64.

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55

the occupation notes, redeem them in francs, and charge them as costs o f occupation to the French governm ent The central Reichskreditkassen was founded on 3 M ay to manage the occupation currencies.1 In principle the occupation notes were to enable the Germ an armed forces to sustain themselves o ff the land until some form al agreem ent had been reached on the costs o f the occupation. Once this agree* ment had been obtained the notes were used for special purposes.1 Neverthe­ less the occupation notes continued to circulate after this in too great a volume fo r Germ an peace o f mind. They were extensively used in Germ an blackm arket purchases, and, although they were gradually withdrawn from circula­ tion after 1 December 1943, they still continued to circulate. T he responsibility for this must be placed firmly on the extremely arbitrary exchange rates established between the occupation currencies and the national currencies o f the occupied territories. N o genuine equilibrium exchange rates existed before the w ar between Germ any and other countries. The rates used in trade were those specified in the relevant clearing agreements. In general such rates were about 2$ per cent below the official exchange quotations. T he Foreign Office intention was to pursue both its long-run econom ic aim s and to satisfy Germ any’s immediate demands for strategic materials by continuing to impose special clearing-treaty exchange rates on the conquered territories. The opportunity to overvalue the Reichsm ark in terms o f the cur­ rency o f the occupied territory was overwhelmingly present. In the case o f France the exchange rate o f the occupation currency against the franc was proclaim ed at 20 francs to the Reichskreditkassenschein on 20 M ay. This was the exchange rate fixed later between the franc and the m ark when the agree­ m ent on occupation costs had been signed. This represented an overvaluation o f the Germ an currency by over 50 per cent assuming the previous official rate to have been the dollar exchange rate o f both currencies in June 1940. U sing the exchange rate o f both currencies against the pound sterling in 1939 as a basis, the overvaluation appears as high as 63 per cent. That is to say th at as near as can be established the previous equilibrium exchange rate o f the franc against the Reichsm ark had been between 12*30 and 12*95 to 1. But the extent o f the overvaluation o f Germ an currency was not at all constant in the various occupied territories. In C roatia the m ark was over­ valued by 24 per cent, in the G eneral Governm ent o f Poland by 33 per cent, in the Netherlands by 42 per cent, in Belgium by 50 per cent.1 O nly in G reece was the overvaluation greater than in France, and there, eventually, organized trade on the basis o f the official rate became more or less im­ possible. The over-supply o f occupation currency in the other Balkan countries 1 H. Kasten, D ie Neuordnung der Währung in den besetzten Gebieten und die Tätigkeit der R K K währenddes Krieges 1939I40 (Berlin, 1941), pp. 129-37. 2 A . Münz, Die Auswirkung der deutschen Besetzung auf Währung und Finanzen Frank­ reichs (Tübingen, 1957), p. 20. * ‘The Value of the Reichsmark’, Statist, 10 May 1941.

S6

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meant that there was a drain o f notes from there to France where their purchasing power was noticeably higher.1 A part from establishing an occupation currency the m ilitary adm inistration forced the French local adm inistration to submit to its decrees according to the widely established conventions. The behaviour o f the arm y suggested that nothing was involved other than a form al 'belligerent occupation’, the measures taken were quite correct by m ilitary standards.2 F or the local com ­ manders one o f the principal econom ic tasks was to get in the harvest.2 Even the price and wage freeze decreed on 20 June had its precedents. The French government had decreed a price stop to last for three months after 9 A pril.4 It was in any case, although bolstered later by a big administrative effort, an optim istic decree from the outset. In a m ilitary occupation m arket conditions can scarcely be sufficiently stable or sufficiently known to permit permanent stabilization o f prices. The price control introduced in France was based on that introduced in Germ any in 1936; prices were not to rise above those exist­ ing during a previous base period. Before the arrival o f the Germ an Econom ic D elegation at W iesbaden, a number o f measures in respect o f French econom ic life had thus already been taken. The creation o f the Econom ic D elegation meant that the control o f French econom ic affairs no longer rested solely with the Germ an administra­ tion in France. But the likelihood o f any serious disagreement was not very high. The High Comm and in France favoured the Foreign Office attitude to the French econom y and joined with them in their resistance to G öring’s more brutal attitude. W hatever kept the civil population quiet and made them easier to govern while giving the armed forces a certain limited access to French industry was best. G öring’s policy was certain to alienate the popu­ lation com pletely. This basic agreement on policy was sufficient, for the Econom ic D elegation’s w ork only touched on the occupied zone very indirectly, while the High Command in France had no power outside the occupied zone. On 7 July Ribbentrop told General O tto von StQlpnagel, the Com m ander-in-Chief in Paris, that Hemmen would be directly responsible to the Foreign Office.2 A t his first meeting with the French, Hemmen made it clear that the Eco­ nomic D elegation was independent o f the m ilitary delegates to the Arm istice Com m ission.6 The corresponding French delegation did not have the same independence. The French delegates drew the impression from the first meet­ ing that Germ any was as much concerned with supply from the unoccupied as from the occupied zone. They drew the lesson that ‘the Germ an government 1 A . Munz, op. cit., p. 21. 2 M. Baudot, L'opinion publique sous l'Occupation, l'exem ple d'un département français U 939~t945) (Pan*, i960). PP- U ff* Hoover Institute, Militärverwaltung B , Angers, ‘Entbringung der Ernte*, 17 July 1940. 4 Y . Bouthillier, L e Drame de Vichy (Paris, 1950), ii. 44$. * H. Böhme, op. d t., p. 193. 4 D F C A A ., i. 47.

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57

in drawing the dem arcation line had not the slightest intention to cut in tw o French econom ic life*.1 The aim o f the German government was to restore econom ic activity in both parts o f France. I f the French government would agree to the establishment o f certain controlling bodies in the non-occupied area the harshness with which the demarcation line was operated could soon be reduced.1 The initial purpose o f the Foreign Office was to extend the con­ trol over the French econom y beyond what had been conceded in the arm istice b y using the demarcation line as a lever in the negotiations a t W iesbaden. Such a policy was useful whatever the immediate strategic intention, but the pressure on the French negotiators was not urgent. O n 9 July Ribbentrop personally defended the Foreign Office attitude in a letter to G öring. The Foreign Office could not help but be concerned in econom ic planning affecting foreign countries, especially countries which ‘while retaining their own sovereignty, belong to the greater Germ an econom ic area’.2 I f the future European econom y were to serve the general aims o f Germ any’s foreign policy its construction must be left in the hands o f the Com m ercial Policy Department, wherein the Four Y ear Plan, as all other interested departments, was represented: T h is is the on ly w ay in which in the interest o f the econom ic negotiations them selves th e possibilities o f foreign policy to exert influence and pressure can be em ployed at the proper tim e and in the proper w ay— in the negotiations w ith Rum ania o f late, fo r exam ple, this alw ays played a decisive role. A n d , conversely, this is the only w ay to guarantee that the capacity o f the future greater G erm an econom ic sphere can b e m ade to serve our general foreign policy aims.*

O n i i July the Four Y ear Plan Office reaffirmed its position that Hemmen’s appointm ent was conditional on his receiving their instructions also. The Foreign Office reply admitted G öring’s right to give orders about economic policy in the occupied zone to the adm inistration there. But the Econom ic D elegation was no part o f the machinery for administering the occupied territory, it was a further step in Germ an policy towards a foreign country. T he D elegation had 'in matters o f substance nothing to do with the armistice negotiations proper, but has as its task the adjustment o f purely economic questions by means o f Germ an-French negotiations’.2 It does not appear that Hemmen was particularly in favour o f the policy o f using the existence o f the demarcation line to put pressure on the French during the negotiations. He could see that the existence o f the two parts o f France in a com pletely independent manner was econom ically impossible. In addition, if France were to be properly exploited raw materials would have to travel across this line in large quantities.4 Thus the response to the French protests o f 15 July was much more sensitive than it seemed to the French.2 * D F C A A .,1.53. * D GFP., Series D , x, no. 168. 2 D F C A A ., i. 56.

* DGFP., x, no. 142. 4 Ibid., no. 184.

5«

THE MACHINERY OF EXPLOITATION

Hemmen travelled to Fontainebleau to discuss the question o f the relaxation o f the demarcation line with von Brauchitsch. There he was told that Hitler him self had said that he wished to preserve the line for the present, and that in any case the decision to relax it had to be Hitler’s.1 It was in fact the last day o f July, alm ost six weeks after the signing o f the Arm istice, before the constant French demands for knowledge o f German intentions were met by detailed decisions on the German side. On that day Hemmen attended a meeting in the Economic Policy Department and a plan was marked out within which German economic interests in France, which had already begun to show themselves, could be satisfied.* The German government would demand payment o f occupation costs amounting to at least twenty m illion Reichsmarks a day. This sum was not intended in the least to represent the actual costs o f the occupation; these would be worked out later by the High Command o f the Arm ed Forces. The French government was to be given no indication o f the actual accounting involved. It was from this moment that a consistent German policy emerged. On 22 July Hemmen had told General Huntziger that German intentions were still as he had described them on 8 July.1 But he added a more specific statement o f interest: the aircraft and aluminium industries in the unoccupied zone must be made available for German orders. The French economy would not be neglected by Germany, indeed Germ any had several precise interests in it, but these were partly conditional on France permitting certain general controls over her economy which would enable Germ any safely to relax the demarca* tion line. ’France was going to be made to lower her standard o f living and to bring it to a level analogous to that o f Germany. Germ any wished to recon* struct Europe; she had no interest in France’s dying o f starvation or under­ going revolutionary dangers.’4 A t a meeting o f the finance sub-commission at Wiesbaden on 25 July the German negotiators had dropped their first hint that France would be required to sign a clearing treaty. On 3 August Hemmen informed the French that a major ’plan o f organization’ was intended. The Germans would extend their customs posts to the external frontiers o f the France o f 1914, would unify the country econom ically, and integrate it in the continental econom y by the side o f Germany. He said the plan ‘would have to be adopted in its entirety by the French government, that it could in no circumstances be a subject for discussion, and that it would be there to take or leave’.* The French government were also informed o f the official exchange rate o f twenty francs to the mark. This blow must have made the note o f 8 August con­ veying the German demands for occupation costs and for a clearing treaty seem even more menacing.6 1 D G FP., Series D , x, no. 192. * D G FP., x, no. 267. 1 D FC A A ., i. 75. 4 Ibid., p. 77. » Ibid., p. 97. 4 Ibid., p. 138; D G FP., Series D , x, no. 309; Am oult, op. d t., p. 148.

THE MACHINERY OF EXPLOITATION

59

T he huge occupation costs o f twenty m illion Reichsm arks a day measured in severely undervalued francs would be com bined with a bilateral trading agreem ent by which each country would pay its own exporters while clearing the trade debts on a national level. Germ any w ould therefore be provided with an immense purchasing power suspended, like the sword o f Dam ocles, over the French econom y. Franco-Germ an trade would inevitably be a largely one­ w ay affair, the clearing accounts grotesquely out o f balance. The arrangements made on 7 August fo r the purchase o f strategically im portant raw m aterials in occupied France do not reveal these plans, how­ ever. The trade was to be handled by firms that were already established in Franco-Germ an trade and paym ent was to be made on the W ifo accounts w hich had been used to finance part o f the pre-war rearmament program m e.1 O rders had already been both sought by French entrepreneurs and canvassed b y Germ an entrepreneurs on a private basis. W hen pressed as to how far these would be covered in the *plan o f organization* Hemmen dodged the issue. The French delegation threatened to set up a central office to control and supervise these orders themselves in order to protect themselves from the danger o f excess Germ an purchasing pow er.2 French protests about the size o f the occupation costs were swept aside. G eneral Huntziger, Head o f the French D elegation to the Arm istice Com ­ m ission suggested that on the basis o f the costs o f the French arm y the G er­ m an demands were sufficient to maintain an arm y o f eighteen m illion men in France.1 The Germ an response was merely to provide another ultim atum , but no more was said about the remainder o f the ‘plan o f organization*, which fo r the French in the circum stances was crucial to any occupation paym ents. In fact the plans had been delayed by Italian attem pts to get greater participa­ tion in the French econom y.4But the concessions made to them by H itler were purely nominal ones. Unless the Germ an government was prepared to occupy the whole o f France it was by no means absolutely certain to obtain all die concessions it desired, even though the sanctions which could be brought against the French for refusal to pay the occupation costs were very strong.1 O n 19 August G eneral Carl-H einrich von Stülpnagel was still apologizing fo r the delay in subm itting the total plan.6The next day, still in an im perfect form , it was resubmitted to the French.7 The value o f the franc to the Reichsm ark w as definitely to be established in a 20:1 ratio. T he worst fears o f the French government were for their currency. Social stability was their ideal above all else, but the Germ an plans seemed to impose an inescapably inflationary situation on the French econom y. It became the m ain aim o f the French government to forestall a socially disruptive inflation ' B A , R 7 VIII 207, ReichsWirtschaftsministerium, 'Anweisung über den Ankauf von kriegswichtigen Rohstoffen im besetzten französischen Gebiet’, 7 August 1940. a D F C A A ., i. 119. » Ibid. 159. 4 D G FP., Series D , x, no. 337. * Ibid., no. 378. 6 D F C A A ., L 149. * P. Arnoult, op. d t., p. 19.

6o

THE MACHINERY OF EXPLOITATION

at whatever c o st The refusal o f the German delegation to m odify its demands therefore clarified the plans o f the French government. F or the first time they had a precise idea o f what their own economic policy should be, and it was, naturally, to be an extremely conservative one. Pétain’s supporters were able to believe themselves to be accepting political reality only by subscribing to a wildly over-simplified view o f the previous history o f their country. The instability o f French policies in the years before the invasion was attributed to mistaken ideological commitments and to social disruption. The anachronistic view o f French economic society held by Pétain him self was not forcibly imposed on his ministers, many o f whom, although not o f course Laval, subscribed com pletely to it. O f no one was this more true than o f Bouthillier, the Secretary o f State for Finance. The reader o f Bouthillier’s memoirs w ill soon become aware o f the constant fear o f 'uprootedness*. Pétain, in contrast, he thought, had 'his feet planted in the thickness o f the earth'.1 The search for abstractions which would explain the disastrous recent course o f French history led Bouthillier, with many o f his colleagues, into espousing what they believed to be a 'Realpolitik*. But their 'Realpolitik* was founded on equally dangerous abstractions o f their own. Laval had been faithful to such abstractions throughout the 1930s. The Am erican ambassador to Paris in 1931 wrote in his memoirs that Laval 'envisioned a future where Europe would be more or less united, Russia would be thrust back into A sia, and the Anglo-Saxon world would lead an autonomous existence with the United States and France serving as the point o f contact between the European and Anglo-Saxon world*.2 The coincidence between his foreign policy and Hitler’s blinded him to the nature o f the Europe o f the New Order; he looked at the outward form and not at the inner reality. A s he him self became more autocratic he welcomed the autocratic aspects o f H itler’s rule as a wholesome aspect ofEuropean reconstruction. In M ay 1941 he told an American journalist that 'this is not a war like other wars ; it is a revolu­ tion from which a new Europe— rejuvenated, reorganized and prosperous— must come’.2But to the real nature o f that revolution he remained quite blind. Hitler spurned all offers o f collaboration. France was never prepared to offer him what he wanted and could indeed scarcely ever have been in a position to do so. H itler's policy towards France, deeply suspicious and unrelentingly hostile, did not change. The further French protests o f 21 August against the German plan were personally expressed by Huntziger in an interview with Hemmen. They were tw ofold. In the first place the French felt that no policy they might pursue could now guarantee monetary stability in France. The value o f the franc had to be preserved in the dangerous situation in which the government found * Y . Bouthillier, op. d t , iL 16. * W. E. Edge, A Jerseyman'3 Journal (Princeton, 1948), p. 207. * O . Warner, Plena Laval and the Eclipse o f France (London, 1967), p. 278.

THE MACHINERY OF EXPLOITATION

6l

itself, but Germ an policy made this impossible. Secondly, the threat o f mas­ sive Germ an purchasing power which could be deployed at any moment seemed to nullify any rational econom ic policy at all on the part o f the French governm ent. ‘ M . Hemmen indicated that the French money payments would be spent in France: but w ith that money the Germ ans w ill be able to buy the w hole o f France.’ 1 Hemmen justified the charges by reference to the repara­ tions imposed on Germ any by the Versailles treaty, reparations which had not been payable through any possible trading mechanism. T h e paym ent dem anded is very heavy, and G erm any know s b y experience how ruinous such charges are. T h at is w hy the G erm an governm ent has seen this question from an econom ic point o f view , since a t the sam e tim e that it has dem anded these paym ents from France, it has proposed to her an econom ic system w hich frees France from the anxiety o f ruin.*

This standpoint became the officially accepted one ; memories o f reparations and the French occupation o f the Rhineland were easily stirred, ‘in this way France was prevented from being threatened by the same inflationary tendencies that had developed in connection with the occupation o f the Rhineland by French troops’ .1 The counterpart o f this view was that Germ any herself was also protected against inflationary forces by the strict control o f the exchanges. In reality France and Germ any were both threatened by inflation. W ithout attributing to the inflationary pressure in France the dire con­ sequences feared by the Vichy government it is difficult to see how a general and constant inflationary tendency could have been avoided in the French economy. T he system could never be watertight, however close the watch on the exchanges. The occupation costs had to be provided for the most part out o f currency creation by the Bank o f France. It was not in fact difficult for the governm ent to borrow money. There were few outlets for investment and hoarding was dangerous. Interest rates were lower than at any period since the First W orld W ar. But the vast sums could only be provided regularly and com pletely by credits paid directly by the Bank o f France into occupation accounts. It could be argued that this was not in theory very different from the practice o f financing rearmament by credits from the Bank o f France, a practice going back to the secret agreements between the government and the Bank in 1911. I f the money circuits had functioned properly what was in fact deficit financing by the Bank o f France on behalf o f the occupying pow er would have been covered by short-term and long-term loans at the low rates o f interest which developed. But the circumstances o f m ilitary occupation were such that these circuits functioned very im perfectly. A s the occupation continued even treasury bills, rapidly taken up in the early stages, w ere taken up less and less quickly.4 > D F C A A ., i. 169. 1 Ibid., p. 166. * K . Ringel, Frankreichs W irtschaft im Umbruch (Leipzig, 1942). 4 P. Dieterten and C . Rist, The Monetary Problem o f France (New Y ork, 1948), p. 62.

62

THE MACHINERY OF EXPLOITATION

The war effort itself had been much less inflationary than in the First W orld W ar. T hat w ar had begun with the assumption that the gold reserve o f the Bank o f France would prove sufficient to back up any possible w ar e ffo rt Rationing began only in 1917, and then only in a very limited way. Taxes were never high enough. These mistakes had been realized fo r what they were by 1939. Taxes on capital and on personal incomes were all increased and in the case o f personal incom e-tax the method o f collection im proved while the w ar was on. W ar profits were taxed from the outset, whereas in the First W orld W ar they had not been taxed until 1917.1 Thus although 25*1 per cent o f France’s total w ar expenditure o f 263,000,000,000 francs between I September 1939 and 31 August 1940 was provided by advances from the Bank o f France, 28*9 per cent w as provided by incom e from taxation.2 A t the time when the clearing agreements were proposed and the fran cun d ervalued little in fla tio n had as yet taken place in France. The circumstances o f the clearing agreements themselves encouraged the French government to inflate if they so wished to do.2T hat was one method by which they could right the exchange which they regarded as so unfavourable. The political and social views o f the tw o Finance M inisters, Bouthillier and Cathala, made the adoption o f so wholesale a remedy unthinkable, although not all Pétain’s ministers shared their opinions.4 Bouthillier wished to hand over a ’healthy’ econom y at the end o f the European war come what m ay. A s part o f his health treatm ent he raised the lim it o f exem ption from death duties in Novem ber I940.s Part o f this revenue was recouped by reducing the financial provision for free secondary education.6 It must also be said that when Germ an orders in France were placed on a more form al footing it was possible fo r the French government to raise prices on those particular orders w ell above the level o f domestic prices and try to get the German negotiators to accept these prices. Bouthillier was not at all averse to limited solutions o f this kind. Cathala, his successor in office, seems to have considered the possi­ bility o f a deliberate inflation as one w ay out o f France’s difficulties, but to have rejected it on the grounds that the defence o f the franc was not only a guarantee o f the future but a ’national duty’.7 * H. Laufenburger, Crédit public et finances de guerre, 1914-44; Allemagne, France, Grande-Bretagne (Paris, 1944), p. 15. 2 Ibid., p. 23; A . Munz, op. d t., p. 10. 1 ‘Generally it can be said, that apart from a few small measures o f the German occupying powers influencing methods o f banking in France, not only were the powers accruing to Germany by the right o f occupation not overstepped but that they even remained enforced at their lowest level*, A . Emmendörfer, Geld- und Kreditaufsicht in den von Deutschland während des zweiten W eltkrieges besetzten Gebieten (Düsseldorf, 1937), p. 106. 4 Y . Bouthillier, ibid., ii. 64. * T would have wished to put an end to this erosion o f private property so necessary to society and so useful to the state*, ibid., p. 398. * * ... (secondary education] which by its nature and by its aims must only be followed in a healthy state by a feeble minority o f adolescents* (ibid., p. 330). 7 P. Cathala, Face aux réalités (Paris, 1948), p. 64.

THE MACHINERY OF EXPLOITATION

63

Notwithstanding the financial strictness o f the Vichy governments and their stern rejection o f die easy w ay out o f their difficulties, inflation could not be k ep t at bay.1 W ages paid by the Germ an armed forces and their auxiliary organizations in France were much higher than the wage levels permitted in th e French econom y. A s Germ any’s position in the w ar worsened, French entrepreneurs increasingly demanded payments in cash so that they could not later be inculpated. The black m arket, extensively used from the beginnings o f the occupation for the purchase o f strategically im portant goods by G erm any, was alm ost entirely a cash m arket.2 The purchases made on the b la ck m arket were not all official purchases by any means. In spite o f all attem pts to stop them soldiers also operated extensively on the same m arket.2 Price control became less and less effective. Except at huge adm inistrative co st this m ay well always be the case in occupied territory. W here consider­ able scarcities existed already Germ an requisitions, however acquired, were bound to place an increasing strain on their own price controls. T able 6

M oney in the French Economy* (000,000,000 francs) Period

Fiduciary Bank issue deposits

Other Total liquidities

Indices Official Total liquidities wholesale prices

T o end o f August 1939 99 99 1940 99 99 1941 99 99 1942

99

99

1943

142 221 270

383 500

65 122 152 182 222

4

II

7« 35 37

211

354 498 600

759

100 168 236 285 360

100 142 171

201 233

•ISE A ., Mouvement économique en France de 1938 à 1948 (Paris, 1950), p. 72.

H oldings o f liquid assets were also encouraged by the arbitrariness o f the system imposed on France. Before 1939 the use o f the cheque had been much less developed in France than in Germ any. The French government decreed on 22 O ctober 1940 that no payments o f over 3,000 francs could be in cash. B ut, since the original reason fo r the failure to use banks in France was mis­ trust, the circum stances o f the occupation only increased this mistrust. F or political reasons, and also no doubt because taxes went up, tax avoidance also increased during the occupation. In spite o f a drop in the volum e o f French ' Munz does not absolve the French government from blame in the inflation, but he produces little evidence for their blameworthiness. A . Munz, op. d t„ p. 116. * Ibid., pp. 85-7. * Hoover Institute, Papers o f Militärverwaltungsbezirk Bordeaux, Box 2, Letter from M ayor of Dax to Kriegskommandantur, 7 October 1940; Box 7. Letter from Prefect o f Basses-Pyrénées to mayors o f all occupied communes, 23 April 1941. See also M . Baudot, o p . cit., passim.

THE MACHINERY OF EXPLOITATION production the increase in the holding o f liquid assets was greater than the increase o f official prices, for what they were worth. The whole period o f the occupation was one o f tremendous m onetary abundance and pressure on prices. The value o f a gold 20 franc piece on the black m arket increased eight­ fold between August 1939 and January 1943.1 Y e t even with this growing liquidity France might still have avoided the severer aspects o f inflation had her econom y remained with the same volume o f unutilized resources as in August 1940. It was the eventual catastrophic decline in French productivity which gave the inflation an unstoppable momentum and created the financial havoc o f 1946. Low productivity became a defence against exploitation and as it developed so did inflation increase. N or should it be thought that it was possible for these phenomena to have no effect inside Germ any. Trade between Germ any and Greece ultim ately became impossible on the basis o f the exchange rate stipulated in the clearing agreements between those countries. A special com pany had to be created to equalize prices, its costs being provided for by additional im port levies in Greece.12 The huge number o f foreign workers in Germ any created constant problems in exchange control by their remittances home. Belgian workers in Germ any were able to get goods in short supply in Germ any from Belgium by various ways and sell them at high prices. B y using their maximum possible right o f currency transfer they could remit the proceeds to Belgium by way o f the Deutsche Bank.3 In 1943 serious efforts were made to com pel a decrease in the price o f goods com ing into Germ any from the occupied territories and from the General-Governm ent o f Poland.4* On 26 August the French government abandoned its refusal to pay occupa­ tion costs. The attem pt to m odify them had met with blank opposition from Hemmen; the French had no alternative but to pay, and to try as far as possible to m itigate the consequences. T h e French governm ent, as resolved to respect its engagem ents as to prevent the country suffering the trials o f an inflation engendering unhappiness and disorder, asks the G erm an governm ent that there should be a jo in t exam ination as to how the credits destined fo r the occupation troops should be em ployed. It believes its duty in a ll lo yalty to state th at it neither could nor w ould lend itself to a use o f this credit provokin g b y a disorderly price rise that m onetary deterioration against w hich no social order is proof.3

The follow ing day in a personal interview with Hemmen, Bouthillier received Hemmen’s view o f the future Europe.6 But speculation was not 1 ISEA., Mouvement économique en France de 1938 à 1948 (Paris, I9$0>, p. 72. 2 H. S. Bloch and B. F. Hoselitz, The Economies o f military occupation (Chicago, 1944). 3 F D 2581/44, Mbh. f. B. u. Nf. to Deutsche Bank, ‘Missbrauch des Lohnüberweisungs­ verfahrens’, 13 June 1944. 4 F D 2627/44 (h), Beauftragter für den Vierjahresplan to Reichskommissar für die Preis­ bildung, 15 September 1943. 4 See above, p. 48. 3 D F C A A ., i. 173.

THE MACHINERY OF EXPLOITATION

0S ties to the Germ an com pany.1 A fter 1937 Germ an exports o f artificial fibres to France showed a sharp downward trend in the face o f this domestic com­ petition. A fter the French defeat the Germ an manufacturers showed themselves once more eager to renew their foothold in France. O n 28 December 1940 the French government agreed to the form ation o f France Rayonne, to manu­ facture artificial textiles. The position o f the Germ an negotiators was very strong, for Germ any’s chem ical industry meant that in wartime circumstances she had an extensive degree o f control over the necessary raw materials. Germ any agreed to supply cellulose and sulphur products in return for onethird o f the capital o f the new com pany. Like the settlement arrived at in the dyestuffs industry, the terms seem to suggest that it was Germ any’s intention to leave France, although much reduced, still part o f the new Europe, able to play a sm all part in neighbouring economies but fundam entally a mere subsidiary o f the greater industrial power o f Germ any. A s in other spheres o f Germ an econom ic policy strategic and m ilitary factors came to dominate as the w ar continued, and it is to these that the Germ an plans to develop a larger artificial rubber industry in France must be attributed. The M ichelin tyre com pany turned down an offer o f Germ an financial participation in 1941, and it was partly this rebuff that induced /. G. Farben to undertake the building o f an artificial rubber works in France.12*The acute shortage that wartime developments brought about in the supply o f rubber to France meant that French industrialists were nothing loath to take part in this investment programme, especially when it became clear in 1942 that Germ any would not be able adequately to supply France with the artificial product.2 In M arch 19421. G . Farben and the French firm o f Rhône-Poulenc agreed to the construction o f an artificial rubber factory which, beginning in spring 194s, would produce at a level o f 12,000 tons a year.4*Even in O ctober 1943, however, the French authorities had not finally sanctioned these plans.2 W here Germ an contracts were not w holly dictated by immediate m ilitary needs they too indicate a future Europe within which France would be included as an industrial power subsidiary to Germ any, not sim ply a member o f a peripheral ring o f raw material suppliers. In his memoirs Bouthillier estimates the value o f Germ an contracts in France in December 1940 at 60,000,000,000 francs, including 5,500,000,000 in the textile and leather industries and 4,000,000,000 francs in the engineering industry.6 This looks like a gross overestim ate. Very few contracts had been 1 F D 2203/45, Bundle D (N TLL.), 'Entwicklung . . . der französischen Chemiewirt­ schaft. . * FD 2203/45, Supplement A G2 (N TLL.), I. G . Farben, 'Aktenvermerk Uber eine Besprechung im Reichswirtschaftsministerium am 14.10.1941'. * Ibid., Rwm. to I. G . Farben, 9 March 1942. 4 Ibid., ‘Aktenvermerk über eine Besprechung im Lyon am 11 M ärz 1942*. * Ibid., I. G . Farben to Rwm., 26 October 1943. 4 Y . Bouthillier, op. d t., ii. 177.

I06 FRENCH ECONOMY DURING THE BLITZKRIEG (1940-1941) finally agreed on by December 1940. In A pril 1941 the value o f German contracts in France was 1,500,000,000 Reichsmarks.1 About 40 per cent o f this total was represented by contracts placed with the French aircraft in­ dustry.12*One year later the value o f German contracts in France stood at 2.360.000. 000 Reichsmarks.* By autumn 1942 the level would have passed 4.000. 000.000 Reichsmarks.4*In December 1941 alone 207,000,000 Reichs­ marks worth o f contracts were placed in France.4 On 29 November 1940 the Reichs M inistry o f Economics encouraged Ger­ man firms to distribute orders in France through the new Central Contracts Agency (ZA ST.). 'Since for a certain space o f time no resumption o f the manufacture within the Reich o f those products which are susceptible o f being dispersed is foreseeable, it is in the interests o f the firms to utilize every possibility o f dispersal by contract as quickly as possible.*2 This exhortation was backed up on 9 December by threats to close down the production o f certain consumer goods in Germany altogether in order to achieve a more satisfactory flow o f contracts abroad.6 It was also on 20 November that a decree o f die High Command in France had constituted the French 'com ités d’organisation* as 'W arenstellen’ and appointed the heads o f these committees, the ‘répartiteurs*, as heads o f the 'W arenstellen’. The process o f dispersal o f manufacturing contracts had a momentum o f its own, especially as the ordnance departments o f the Arm ed Forces became more and more anxious about the slightness o f Germ any’s reserves o f military equipment. A t the start o f 1941 General Thomas asked K eitel to influence Hider’s attitude more favourably towards France. 'It is becoming increasingly apparent that in order to obtain the greater production which the war im­ poses on us we must exploit France with all its resources more exhaustively than hitherto.*7 M ore lorries could be manufactured in France and greater quantities o f raw materials purchased. The biggest obstacle to economic co-operation between France and Germany was the continued separation o f the two most northerly departments, which only created ill-will but was economically inefficient. K eitel’s reply, after he had consulted Hider, was an unfavourable one.* But the High Command in France did not abandon hope. On 27 M arch they returned to the charge. 1 Hoover Institute, Milit&rverwaltungsbezirk Bordeaux, Mbh. in F ., W i.Abt., ‘Das französische Preisproblem*, 17 April 1941. * FD 171/45, Reichsluftfahrtministcrium, ‘ Ausnutzung der Industrie in Frankreich für die Deutsche Luftaufrüstung’. 2 FD 671/46, Mbh. in F., Wehrwirtschafts- und- Rüstungsstab Frankreichs, ‘Lagebericht April 1942*. 15 May 1942. 4 IM T., no. 267-EC. * B A., R 7 VIII 207, Rwm., ‘Allgemeine Bekanntmachung der Mobbeauftragten der Wirtschaftsgruppen der Eisen und Metall verarbeitenden Industrie an alle Betriebe*, 20 November 1940. 4 Ibid., Leiter der Hauptableitung II, 9 December 1940. 7 Kriegstagebuch der OKfV., i. 997. * E. Jacket, op. d t., p. 152.

FRENCH ECONOMY DURING THE BLITZKRIEG (i 940-194 0

107

T here w ould be nothing to bring against this state o f affairs from the G erm an stand* p oin t [they w rote] if the principal task o f the m ilitary adm inistration in the econom ic sphere, as at the beginning o f the occupation, w as still to transport from France, foodstuffs, raw m aterials, and m achines, and otherw ise to lim it itself to securing the m aintenance o f law and order necessary to the life o f the inhabitants. H ow ever, this phase o f booty (Ausräum ung) has in the m eantim e been replaced b y the phase o f exploitation o f the econom ic strength o f France. The French econom y has been draw n in to the greater G erm an econom ic p lan .1

T he alm ost im perceptible stages by which French econom ic independence had been reduced tend to conceal the scope o f what had been done. The principle on which Hemmen had been told to act, that the Arm istice must not be allowed to block Germ any’s econom ic demands on southern France, had been carried through consistently. Hemmen had an easier task than in any other o f his negotiations. Every month that passed after the Arm istice rendered the real relationship o f France towards Germ any a weaker and weaker one. Every Germ an negotiation was conducted from a position o f massive, and increasing, strength. By M ay 1941 the econom ic clauses o f the Arm istice Agreem ent no longer effectively governed Franco-Germ an econom ic relations, so extensive were the concessions going beyond the agreement which Hemmen had secured. A commissar for foreign exchange, a commissar for the Bank o f France, and a certain measure o f control over all the frontiers o f the unoccupied zone were concessions whose aim was to secure for Germ any ’some influence over the whole o f French econom ic and financial life, that is to say over that o f unoccupied France including the overseas territories and to align them with their Germ an interests’.2 The clearing treaty had been based on Germ any’s unilateral valuation o f the respective currencies; capital transfers between the two economies were possible only in one direction, and unilateral denunciation o f the treaty was possible only for Germ any. France was obliged to submit a periodic declara­ tion o f the state o f her gold and foreign exchange reserves. The Belgian gold reserve, which had been transferred to the Bank o f France for safekeeping, and by then transferred to A frica, had been partly surrendered to Germ any. B y M ay 1941 160,000,000 Reichsm arks o f Belgian gold had arrived in Berlin. The French government had been forced into selling foreign holdings as part paym ent o f the occupation costs, had been forced into innumerable sm all concessions in the com m ercial agreements which had been made, and was obliged to provide full inform ation about all its negotiations with third parties.2 Germ any in return had relaxed the controls on the circulation o f 1 BA., R 7 V III207, Mbh. in F., ’Notwendigkeit der wirtschaftlichen Eingliederung der Departements Nord und Pas de Calais in den Geschäftsbereich des Militärbcfehlshabers in Frankreich*, 27 March 1941. * Hemmen papers, Pièce 501/M/LM, Telegram, Délégation pour l’économie, no. 241, 24 May 1941. * In the case o f Britain it did not do so.

lo8 FRENCH ECONOMY DURING THE BLITZKRIEG (1940-194O persons imposed by the Arm istice, had granted certain concessions on prices to French exporters, had allowed the French to keep for their own air force one aeroplane out o f every five manufactured, and promised, a promise so far unfulfilled, to make negligible deliveries o f sugar and potatoes. In February 1941 the Reichs Economics M inistry was pursuing a policy o f placing contracts in Belgium, both because it seemed politic to relieve the unemployment there, and because delivery times were much shorter there.1 In the same month they opened negotiations with Elmar M ichel with a view to placing more contracts in unoccupied France and were sharply reproved by the Foreign Office on 28 February for infringing their authority.2 General von Hanneken, o f the Economy and Armaments Staff, writing to the Reich Industrial Organizations in M arch, indicated that French entrepreneurs were actively looking for orders from Germ any, that Hitler wanted to encourage the placing o f such orders, particularly in unoccupied France, that the French government was not unwilling, and that if orders were not placed it was largely due to the continuation o f peace-time attitudes o f mind among German manufacturers.1 In June the end o f the policy o f looting o f machines from French factories was foreseen as the growth o f manufacture for German purposes there had begun to make that policy absurd.* The report o f the m ilitary administration for 1941 was quietly selfcongratulatory. The m anufacturing and production capacity o f French industry which, a t the Arm istice, had large supplies o f raw m aterials and finished goods at its disposal, has, to a very great extent, been m ade to serve G erm an w ar production; it has rendered valuable service to the Reich and to the Arm ed Forces by raising considerable quan­ tities o f goods and sums o f m oney as w ell as by placing a considerable output at their disposal.*

Germ any had obtained from France 48,000 tons o f copper, 9,000 tons o f lead, over 2,000 tons o f tin, 200,000 tons o f bauxite, 32,000 tons o f pure aluminium, 26,000 tons o f alumina, and 2,000 tons o f magnesium. France had been allowed to retain for her own purposes only 30 per cent o f the normal output o f the woollen industry, 16 per cent o f the normal output o f the cotton in­ dustry, and 13 per cent o f that o f the linen industry. In the same year France had provided to Germany over a m illion tons o f wheat and oats, 1,100,000 tons o f hay and straw, 160,000 tons o f meat, and large quantities o f fruit, vegetables, wine, and fish. One corollary o f this growth o f the economic exploitation o f France was measures to protect the French labour force. In 1941 123,000 workers left 1 BA., R 7 VIII 207, Rwm., 'Verlagerung von Bergbau-Auftrftgen in die besetzten westlichen Gebiete’, 19 February 1941. * Henunen papers, Pièce 27, 23198 DJM/i. 3 March 1941. * BA., R7 V III207, Mbh. in F., von Hanneken to Reichsgruppe Industrie, 17 March 1941. 4 FD 667/49, Mbh. in F., 'Lagebericht des Wehrwirtschafts- und Rüstungsstabes Frank­ reich für Juni 1941', 30 June 1941. * IMT., 267-EC.

FRENCH ECONOMY DURING THE BLITZKRIEG (1940-1941) l -PS. (RF-65). * R . Aron, op. d t., p. 631. * IM T., xxvi. 138, 3$6(43)-PS, (RF-67).

124

THE LEVEL OF EXPLOITATION INCREASED

Although the transference o f French labour to Germ any on a large scale took place over a short period o f time, it was immensely valuable to the German economy. Between October 1942 and M arch 1943 it was responsible for nearly 10 per cent o f the net addition to the active labour force in Germ any. These were the months when the index o f total armaments production in Germ any, T

able

13

French W orkers in Germany Period

No. of depar­ tures for Ger­ many from France (exclud­ ing Nord and Pas-de-Calais)*

June-30 Sept. 1942 Oct.-3 1 Dec. 1942 January 1943 February 1943 March 1943 April 1943 May 1943 June 1943 July 1943 August 1943 September 1943 October 1943 November 1943 December 1943 January 1944 February 1944 March 1944 April 1944

32.530 163.726 60.063 63,617 »6,369 18,000 19.000 74,000 30,000 10,000 5.000

I I

3. 72s

3.601 5.623

2,5*2 2,876 5.222

8,228

No. of depar­ tures from Bel­ gium (including Nord and Pas de Calais)t

No. of depar­ tures from the Netherlandsf

# ..

22,000 17.000

3I.OOO

23.OOO I3.OOO 12,000 16,000 6,000 5.000 1.901

1.516 2*445

1,183 1,832 3.143 2,778

#

..

14.000 12,000 17.000 8,ooo 22,000 43,000 29.000 10,000 ..

Presumed propor* tion of French workers as a per­ centage of total new employment in Germany over that period) 1*0 69 n *4 9*4 9*9 1-7 2-3 l i *3 5-4

1-8 0*6

2,951 1,735 7.573 2,145

0*4 .. .. ..

1.913

• •

2,532

..

2,761

••

CCDR., ix , D.P. I . t FD 3040/49, Section IV, Sc. 433, Rm.f.R.u.Kp., Planungumt, ‘Werbung von Arbeitskräften nus den besetzten Gebieten für den Arbeitseinsatz in Deutschland*, 20 June 1944; ‘Heranführung ausländischer Arbeiter aus Belgien und Nordfrankreich, Frankreich und Holland’, 3 July 1944. ! Ibid., GbA., ‘Die in der gesamten Wirtschaft eingesetzten Arbeitskräfte nach Wirtschafts­ sektoren*. It should be noted that the GbA.’s figures for new employment are really new registra­ tions in employment. Each change of occupation is therefore counted as a new workman in a new job. These percentages may therefore be underestimates. *

after remaining level from July 1942, took its second leap upwards. Seen in the European context o f massive transfers o f workers from all economies to Germ any the phenomenon is more striking. It was a most comprehensive example o f the value o f conquest. Its value is the more striking because at no time could it be said that the removal o f labour was Germany’s only policy o f exploitation or even her prim ary policy. Throughout the whole period o f this massive transfer the previously established policies o f exploitation were successfully continued.

THE LEVEL OF EXPLOITATION INCREASED

125

O n 5 February 1942 the French government ratified the M etallplan which governed the transport o f scarce metals to Germ any. In fact the rate o f re­ m oval slowed in 1942 but this was not due to any easing o f Germ an policy, rather to the increasing difficulty in obtaining such metals. It was for this reason that on 1 December the Führer ordered that ‘it is to be examined internally— without attracting particular attention in France— how much

copper could be obtained by ruthlessly rem oving church bells and monu­ ments’ .1 B y the end o f M arch 1942 16,715 machine tool units had been trans­ ported to Germ any, and by the end o f July the total was over 17,000.* In June 1942 50,000 more vehicles were confiscated in the occupied western territories fo r use in the R eich.1 A fter the A llied invasion o f M orocco and the successful implementation o f the Germ an plan, already in existence for a long time, for the total m ilitary occupation o f France, Germ any’s financial demands on France also increased. The legal excuse was the greater cost o f administering the greater area. A t the outset o f the occupation the costs had been fixed at 20,000,000 Reichsmarks (400,000,000 francs) a day, and from M ay 1941 France had begun, unofficially, to pay at the rate o f 15,000,000 Reichsmarks a day. On 15 December 1942 a new Germ an demand was presented for payment at the rate o f 25,000,000 Reichsmarks (500,000,000 francs) a day.4 The timing o f this demand, co­ inciding as it did with the much greater demands for French labour, led Laval to make his despairing, and, in the event, fruitless, journey to the Führer * FD 3353/45, RmXB.u.M., ‘Führerkonferenz’, 1-3 December 1942. * FD 671/46, Wi.RO.Stab., ‘Lagebericht’, March 1942. G . Thomas, op. d t., p. 275. * FD 3353/45, Rm .f.B.u.M ., ‘Führerkonferenz’, 4 June 1942. * P. Aroouh, op. d t., p. 88.

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D eliveries o f Selected Consumer Goods from France to Germany>*

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. * F D 301/46, Mbh. in F ., W i.Abt., ‘Der Beitrag dee französischen Raum es.

£ 3 f t $ 5! 8,

THE LEVEL OF EXPLOITATION INCREASED

14s

than the value o f contracts for other products. A s French consumer goods production fell the share which Germany took increased. The policy o f producing consumer goods in France in 1943 may also there* fore be said to have had some measure o f success, although the general average o f consumer goods production for German purposes as a part o f total French production remained much lower than that o f other sectors o f French pro* duction. The closer connection between the two economies also meant an increase in certain German exports to France in 1943. This increase did nothing to benefit the French population. In so far as it created employment by providing the necessary raw materials and fuel, it only made up in most cases for deficiencies which became increasingly evident in French domestic supply, due to the severance o f Franco-North African trade and declining output o f some domestic raw materials. Was the economic exploitation o f France beyond the 40 to 30 per cent level possible? The estimates which indicate an increasing exploitation in autumn 1943 take no account o f the one area where German policy had become an evident failure. In August 1943 only 10,000 workers left for Germany, the lowest total in any month since the beginning o f the Sauckel actions. In September only 3,000 left. The more costly and determined the German efforts to secure labour, the smaller the numbers obtained. A fter August the share o f French production going to Germany also began to decline. Had the ceiling o f possible economic exploitation been reached? Hemmen thought that might be the case; neither Sauckel nor Speer thought so. German contracts to France in 1943 amounted to about 4,400,000,000 Reichsmarks and were greater than the total o f the previous two and a half years combined. Deliveries o f raw materials, semi-finished goods, and food­ stuffs, valued at 1,800,000,000 Reichsmarks in 1942, stood at 3,200,000,000 in 1943.' The purely financial contribution made by France had increased by 40 per cen t The financial contribution and those payments into the clearing account used by Germany to pay for imports together showed an increase o f 80 percent. Together they were two-thirds o f the French budget. This increased level o f exploitation had only been achieved by stringent controls to avoid the threatened inflation at the beginning o f 1943 when it had seemed that France might ‘go the way o f Greece’.1 In 1944 Germany would have to reckon with much greater transport difficulties in France, and, more than that, with the utter hostility o f the population, not only to Germany, but also to its own governm ent The black market, the knowledge that food could still be bought for sufficient cash, had created in addition a serious social problem in France which further alienated the population. This pessimistic outlook was not shared by Sauckel. He never moved from the position he had taken in his telegram to Hitler on 27 June 1 Hemmen papers, 'D ie Entwicklung unserer wirtschaftspolitischen Beziehungen zu Frankreich im Jahre 1943 und ihre aussenpolitischen Rückwirkungen’, 1764-PS. 8211838 L

146

THE LEVBL OF EXPLOITATION INCREASED

1943.1 There was still room to extend further contracts from Germ any to France. A t least a m illion more Frenchmen could be made available in Germ any. G iven better organization o f the French food supply and a more direct supervision over French labour this would in no way block the policy o f placing more contracts in France. Speer also had no doubts that further exploitation was possible, but only by adm itting that the labour policies pursued in 1943 had arrived at a dead end. They must be scrapped. I f Germ any were to survive, the principles which underlay the adm inistrative changes o f February and M arch must be pre­ served, her survival was contingent on the organization o f a European war econom y embracing all the occupied territories. Sauckel’s policies must be abandoned in favour o f a new policy based on the econom ic rationality o f new circumstances. That new policy was to be based on Speer’s own conception o f Germ any’s role in Europe, the central manufacturing core o f a large freetrade area. It was the dream o f German econom ic expansion which had so long prevailed in Germ an industrial circles. T o Sauckel and the N ational Socialist Party it appeared as yet another compromise, for immediate ends, with the fundamentals o f the revolution. Therefore what Speer proposed, although to him a rational policy drawn from necessity, was in fact an attack on the N ational Socialist ideas o f the ‘New Order*, a blow a t the N ational Socialist revolution in Europe.

1 IMT., xxvi. 154,556 (39)-PS, (RF-65).

V I

WHAT KIND OF EUROPE? T w a n t e d to form a coal com bine, for exam ple,’ said Speer after the war, ’to which Germ any, France, Belgium, Holland, and Bohemia, etc., were to belong, a similar combine fo r iron ore, for aluminium, for m otor vehicles, or for power-generating.’ 1 These cartels were to be an extension into the rest o f Europe o f the organizational methods which had been so successful in increasing Germ an domestic war production. The control o f production by the best m anagerial abilities within the relevant industry, although an ideal not always attained, had proved a valuable device in Germ any. A s Germ any’s needs led to heavier demands on the occupied areas it seemed this might also be the w ay to increase production there. There would, o f course, have to be certain restrictions on the nationality o f the managers controlling some parts o f these cartels. Nevertheless, if the occupied territories were to be really useful there must be over-all planning o f their output on the same basis, and follow ing the same procedures, as in Germ any. I w anted fin ally to put the ’European Production Planning’ at the head o f these individual com bines as a covering organization [Speer said]. I w as o f the opinion that, if the m ilitary developm ents had not brought any further setbacks, the other countries, such as Sweden, Sw itzerland, or Portugal, w ould at least have their feelers in this organization. A n organization o f this sort could have settled m ore political disagreem ents in a short tim e than a ll diplom atic attem pts. W hen, fo r exam ple, I have a unified plan fo r ores in a unified ta riff zone, and the ore is therefore distri­ buted everywhere according to the requirem ents, then m inette is no longer a bone o f contention fo r w ar. It w ould have been the supposition th at the ta riff w as lifted from this large eco­ nom ic area and through this a m utual production w as really achieved. F o r any deeply thinking individual it is d ea r that the tariffs w hich w e have in western Europe are unbearable. S o the possibility fo r produdng on a large scale on ly exists through this schem e.12

When the industrialist von D elbrück had been asked in September 1915 by the Reichs Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg to consider a plan which would include France within a customs union with Germ any, he had expressed similar opinions. ‘We are no longer fighting for the mastery in the internal market,’ he wrote, ‘but for mastery in the world m arket, and it is only a Europe which forms a single customs unit that can meet with sufficient power 1 Speer Report no. 30, Intelligence Report EF/AM/6, interrogation of 21 July 194$. 2 Ibid. The curious English is that of the original intenogation.

148

WHAT KIND OF EUROPE?

the over-mighty productive resources o f the transatlantic world.*1 This was the conclusion at which liberal capitalism in Germany had arrived.2 The members o f the Prussian Ministries, when consulted in 1915 on the possible forms o f a central-European federation between Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, expressed fears that such arrangements might exclude Germany from the rest o f Europe, where she was bound to dominate. Von Falkenhausen o f the M inistry o f Agriculture wrote o f creating a new European power which would match the United States, Russia, and the British Empire, and which would be dominated by Germany.2 In the ‘Prin­ ciples’ which Kuhlmann extracted from the Habsburg Foreign M inister Czem in in October 1917 Austria-Hungary was forced to acknowledge the strength o f German ideas o f a larger economic unit; by that date o f course it could only be in central Europe. The German plans for the exploitation o f the Russian iron and manganese ores at K rivoi R og in the Second W orld W ar are plainly foreshadowed by the representations o f the Verein Deutscher Eisen- und Stahlindustrielien at the time o f the preparations for the treaty o f Brest-Litovsk.4 Speer’s views on the industrial organization o f Europe, although prim arily inspired by the immediate need to increase war production, fitted, therefore, quite com fortably into the line o f German liberal capitalistic thought stretch­ ing from the work o f R udolf Delbrück to the Common M arket. They were not excluded from that line o f succession in any way by the regrettable tinge o f nationalism which coloured them. I planned that, as m uch as possible, Germ an c a n should be m ade in G erm any, and I w anted to draw from the com ponents industry in France, even at the risk that, consequently, fo r exam ple, fewer Citroens or Renaults w ould be produced. In G er­ m any w ithout air-raids we could have raised our production 30-40 per cent while the French were to have m aintained their level*

Considering that Speer’s task was to win a war, he was less nationalistic than many thinkers in his company. His European plans reawakened past forms o f German plans for Europe. They awoke, also, a vision, not too distorted, o f the Europe o f the next decade. Inasmuch as Hitler’s foreign policy seemed to offer the reality o f a European economic unit dominated by Germany it had attracted the support o f many whose economic ideas were based on a solid historical derivation. W hile Hitler was successful such ideas had lived harmoniously with the more revolu­ tionary views o f the N ational Socialist Party. When Hitler’s failure forced * F. Fischer, Griffnach der Weltmuht (Düsseldorf, 1961), trans. Germany's Aims in the First World War (London, 1967), p. 248. * It is interesting that it should have arrived there so much earlier than in rival economies. Outside Germany the desire to compel by force other powerful states to be liberal has been confined to relatively recent history. * F. Fischer, op. d t , p. 250. ♦ Ibid., p. 483. * Speer Report no. 30, Intelligence Report EF/AM/6.

WHAT KIND OF EUROPE?

149

Germ any to consider more immediately the problems o f European organiza­ tion the harmony disappeared. W hen the New Order was in the process o f being formed, these differences o f opinion could wait on the event. W hen, however, it was a question o f organizing the territory that Germ any actually possessed, and for defensive purposes, this was not possible. The economic power o f Germ any’s opponents meant that some European economic entity, larger than the German economy, had to be created. The disputes which arose over its creation were rooted in the very nature o f the National Socialist revolution in Germ any. One aspect o f that revolu­ tion was German society’s last stand against capitalism . The economic ideas o f the National Socialist Party had a lineal descent from the many social and economic protests against industrial capitalism . The ideas were championed, against Speer’s plans, by F ritz Sauckel, the Comm issar-General for Labour, a former Gauleiter. Fanatical, revolutionary, and irrational, he might well in an earlier age have been the leader o f a millenarian anti-capitalist move­ ment. His ’socialism ’, like that o f the N ational Socialist Party itself, was not so much a logical extrapolation from the development o f capitalist society as a prim itive rejection o f that society. He rightly suspected Speer’s Europe o f the future as being the Europe which the m ajor German business interests would have wished to create. The coincidence between his economic stand­ point and that o f the men who created the independent economic empire o f the S.S. was very close. The revolutionary nature o f his ideas is best revealed by his refusal to compromise on them in the practical circumstances o f autumn 1943, and their primitive nature m ay be judged from his insistence on the value o f the oldest kind o f booty, appropriate only to the conquest o f the simplest societies, the seizure o f men. The dispute between Speer and Sauckel, protagonists not merely o f two different ways for Germ any but o f two different ways for Europe was already simmering in 1943. But at that time Speer was immersed in the problems o f organization in Germ any itself. It was the realization that no amount o f economic reorganization within the frontiers o f the Reich itself was sufficient that brought Speer into conflict with Sauckel’s already established policies. Speer, the rational pragmatist, became the advocate o f a policy which could only be seen by the Party as a compromise. Sauckel became the advocate o f a continuing National Socialist revolution in Europe, a revolution which could brook no compromise for merely practical purposes. Sauckel’s meeting with Laval and Bichelonne in the German embassy in Paris on 6 August 1943 had been a difficult one, lasting from a quarter to five until h alf past ten.1 The testimony o f G aillochet, the under-secretary at the M inistry, about this meeting is borne out by the tone o f Sauckel’s later letters to Hitler.* He complained that the French government had refused all help * France during the German occupation, op. d t , I, p. 48. * IMT., xxvi., 158,556 (43)-PS (RF-67).

ISO

WHAT KIND OF EUROPE?

in further labour recruiting. On 26 August Sauckel was again in Paris and attended a meeting o f the German labour organizations there. B y this time the drastic fall in labour recruitment in August had become clear. Sauckel blamed the abandonment o f its authority by the French government for these results. A t a local level the French bureaucracy was now actively opposing any further attempts at labour recruitment. Given the distaste o f the m ilitary administration for Sauckel’s measures, the problem o f executive force was a very serious one, especially as the growth o f the resistance movement in France was so stimulated by the labour draft. The resistance o f the French government to Sauckel had been strengthened by the interest shown by the German administration in Paris in alternative policies. On 28 M ay Speer and his officials had taken the preliminary steps in abandoning their support o f Sauckel’s policies.1 In July Bichelonne had approached M ichel with proposals for increasing the volume o f production in France for ‘the European war economy*.2 Bichelonne’s proposal was that the Germans should not only classify as protected labour the workers in agriculture, mines, and certain armament factories but also all who were concerned in the production o f component parts, semi-finished goods, or raw materials o f value to German war production. In return France would make a much greater productive effort in aid o f Germany. Although the initiative in France came from Bichelonne it did not take the Speer M inistry by surprise and it was not unwelcome.The Speer M inistry itself had been extending its powers into France in order to supervise and control the increasing amount o f production there, and in summer 1943 it may only have been the administrative jealousy o f others which had prevented Hitler from allowing Speer even greater powers there.2 There had been a growing conviction in the Speer M inistry that some new approach to the occupied territories must be made. In A pril Speer had attempted to organize some armaments production in the General-Governm ent and by doing so had called in question the whole o f National Socialist occupation policy there, which had been to strip the whole area o f any manufacturing capacity and to turn it into a primary producing area for Germany. In M ay the so-called Iwan Programme for the manufacture o f munitions in the Ukraine was given pro­ tection from Sauckel’s actions. Must as in all other occupied and annexed territories, anything detrimental to the armaments industry must also be avoided here. The responsibility for armaments rests with me and thus also the decision as to what has to be done before authority can be delegated to my intermediate agencies.*4 1 FD 3037/49, Section 1, Sc. 132, Rm.f.B.u.M., 'Chronik der Dienststellen des Reichs­ ministers Albert Speer*, p. 57. 1 FD 3040/49, Section IV, Sc. 425, Rm.fB.u.M., Chef des RQstungs- und Beschaffungs­ stabes Frankreichs to Mbh. in F., Verwaltungsstab, 30 July 1943. * G. Janssen, Das Ministerium Speer; Deutschlands Rüstung im Krieg (Frankfurt a. M., 1968), p. 151. * FD 3353/45, RmXB.u.M., ‘FOhrerkonfereaz’, 13-15 May 1943.

WHAT KIND OF EUROPE?

ISI

The success o f armaments manufacture in Poland and the Ukraine was not very striking. On 30 M ay H itler declared that it was unsafe to evacuate armaments factories to the General-Governm ent.1 Nevertheless, some pro­ duction was obtained in both areas. I f armaments could be manufactured in territories destined to play a wholly agricultural role in the New Order, could not war production in a wider sense take place in France where, on a small scale, there had always been some armaments manufacture for Germ any? Bichelonne’s approaches therefore should not be seen merely in the context o f Franco-Germ an relations. They were part o f a general change in the relationship between Germ any and the whole o f occupied Europe. The M inistry o f W ar Production had become increasingly determined during 1943 to reduce the amount o f consumer goods production in Germ any. The policy o f manufacturing consumer goods for German purposes in France had been first implemented on a small scale in 1941 with the ‘ Kehrl Plan* for textile manufacture. Hans Kehrl him self moved into the M inistry o f W ar Production and became Head o f the Planning Office in autumn 1943, when he and Speer began to develop this policy much further. Speer’s own opinion o f the capacity o f the French to produce armaments was very low, and a variety o f difficulties ranging from that o f organizing the supply o f spare parts to the danger o f sabotage justified this opinion. If, however, it were possible to suppress com pletely die production o f consumer goods in G er­ many in order to increase armaments manufacture there and, while doing this, to increase the volume o f war production in its wider sense in France, such a policy would fit well with Speer’s own conception o f the future Europe. Germ any would remain a specialized manufacturing centre receiving supply from the peripheral states. W hen, therefore, Bichelonne proposed that he and Speer should meet to consider an increase in the dispersal o f contracts from Germ any to France, Speer was not merely eager to com ply but saw the meeting as a potential turning-point in the policy o f his M inistry. He urged Hider to permit the meeting to take place and to accept whatever consequences might flow from it. Circumstances contrived to make the meeting o f even greater importance than either Speer or Bichelonne could have first imagined. On 2 September the functions o f the Reichs Economic M inistry in respect o f production were transferred to the Speer M inistry. The Economics M inistry retained only very limited powers.2 The tide o f the Speer M inistry was widened into that o f M inistry o f Armaments and W ar Production to recognize these changes. Speer now effectively controlled economic policy in the annexed eastern territories and in the Protectorate. Three days later his powers were extended 1 Ibid., ‘FQhrerkonferenz*, 30 May 1943. * FD 3049/49, Folder no. 2, ‘Erlass des Führers Ober die Konzentration der Kriegswirt­ schaft’, i September 1943.

151

WHAT KIND OF EUROPE?

to Alsace and Lorraine, to Luxem bourg, to the General-Government, and to the district o f Bialystok.1 On 9 September the news o f the Italian defection broke in Germ any. This news dram atically simplified the relationship o f the Italian and German economies in the German war effort. The burden o f supplying Italy with coal and other raw materials need no longer be supported except where it was necessary for armaments production. Italian armaments factories could be controlled and supply to the rest o f the Italian economy ruthlessly cut off. On 12 September this was decided between Speer and the Führer. The Führer is impressed by the am ount o f supplies so far delivered to Italy. The discounting o f these supplies, he thinks, constitutes a considerable relief fo r the w hole o f our arm ament industry. In view o f the situation generally it has been decided that these supplies should on ly be continued in the future if in the interest o f our own arm ament industry. Planning O ffice : to see to it that the m aterials saved by cutting down supplies to Italy are used on ly in the direct interest o f our ow n arm ament industry.*

Whereas the Italian decision to seek an armistice did not damage Germ any’s prospects o f greater armaments production it did potentially affect the total supply o f other goods to Germany. This was the more worrying in view o f the constant Russian advances in September. It was becoming increasingly obvious that the chance o f getting any substantial return from the occupation o f Russia was fading away. The official contacts at a high level between the French and German governments had been astonishingly few and bizarre. N ot the least bizarre, in historical perspective, had been the extraordinarily uncommunicative ex­ changes between Pétain and Hitler in a railway carriage at M ontoire. The German representative at Vichy, K rug von Nidda, had scarcely fulfilled normal diplom atic duties. Laval’s impulsive visit to the Führer’s head­ quarters after his dispute with Sauckel had been menacingly unceremonious. Speer now insisted that Bichelonne be received with the honours due to a minister o f an allied State. The possible co-operation between the two was to be the basis o f Speer’s European plans. The Führer agrees to the visit o f Bichelonne [Speer recorded on 12 Septem ber]. H e thinks that Bichelonne should be treated w ith courtesy and in a friendly m anner. The Führer agrees in principle to m y proposal to plan production on a European basis, possibly by setting up a production office. H e also agrees that France should be represented in this planning on an equal footing w ith the other nations. H e also takes

1 IWM., Kehrl Documents, ‘Anordnung des Führen zu dem Erlass über die Konzentra­ tion der Wirtschaft’, 5 September 1943. * FD 3353/45, Rm.f.B.u.M., ‘Führerkonferenz’, tt-t2 September 1943. FD 3049/49, Folder no. 2, ‘Anordnung des Führen über die Bestellung eines Bevollmächtigten des Grossdeutschen Reiches in Italien und die Gliederung des besetzten italienischen Gebietes’, 10 September 1943; ‘Erlass des Führen über die Sichening der Kriegswirtschaft in Italien*, 13 September 1943.

WHAT KIND OF EUROPE?

153

it for granted that Germany, as the leading power in Europe, will retain undisputed leadership as far as production planning is concerned.1 The necessity to increase war production, the desire to organize a territorial base within which the factor endowment o f the war economy might be com­ parable to that o f the war economy o f the United States or Russia, the desire to centralize under one direction the control o f German war production, and the territorial losses in the east and in Italy all contributed to the importance o f the Speer-Bichelonne meeting. But there were also other causes, related to the organization o f production, which pushed Speer in the same direction. In particular there was the growing effectiveness o f the strategic air offen­ sive against Germany. The transport o f semi-finished products and component parts over long distances was becoming more and more difficult. N o illusions existed that the Allies would not bomb factories in France. But it was also clear that the weight o f Allied air attacks on Germany would increase what­ ever the future policy. The manufacture o f completed goods in France would reduce the amount o f transport necessary in the completion o f any particular article and that in itself constituted some economic defence against air attack. Arguments based on this reasoning had been advanced on 30 July by the Speer M inistry’s representatives in France to the m ilitary administration in response to Bichelonne’s letter o f 15 July.2 Behind all these considerations lay the certainty that the policy still at that time in operation in France was failing. Continued increases o f production for German purposes in France were incompatible with continued labour drafts on such a scale. Before the Speer-Bichelonne meeting several remark­ able proofs o f this failure were demonstrated. Out o f one hundred men drafted from a workshop for the training o f apprentices in Troyes only eleven turned up at the station for transport. Ten o f these disappeared on the way to the frontier.3 Out o f 1,500 men conscripted in one conscription area about 300 arrived in Germany.3 But this must be seen as quite a good result, for in September only about 10 per cent on average o f the men detailed to go to Germany actually arrived there. The consequence was special police searches to round up those who did not appear for transport at the appointed time. These produced still more grotesque results. One such ‘action’ supported by the local field commander to round up 5,618 escapees produced twenty-three.4 ' FD 3353/45, Rm.f.B.u.M., 'Fühlerkonferenz*, 11-12 September 1943. * FD 3040/49, Section IV, Sc. 423, Chef des Rüstungs- und Beschaffungsstabes Frankreich to Mbh. in F., Verwaltungsstab, ‘Vorschlag der französischen Regierung für die Produk­ tionssteigerung der französischen Wirtschaft*, 30 July 1943 ; this view may be compared with Speer's remark in February 1943, ‘In France we are more and more turning towards giving up finishing processes, and stressing the sub-contracting. It is the foundries and similar works, e.g. in the aluminium industry, which we wish to use to capacity.* NCA., vili. 180, Minutes of Zentrale Planung, 16 February 1943. » FD 3040/49, Section IV, Sc. 425, GbA. to Beauftragten für den Vietjahresplan, 11 September 1943. ♦ Ibid., Anlage 5.

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* H. Kistenmacher, op. d t., appendices 16-19. $ Includes exports to Alsace-Lorraine. II Danzig-West Prussia, Wartheland, SQdostpreussen.

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* t I '•

M. Cépède, Agriculture et alimentation en France durant la U* guerre mondiale (Paris, 1961), M. Weimnann, op. d t. Supply year 1 August to 31 July. % Includes requisitions intended for Belgium. Supply year 1 May to 30 April. || CCD R ., vii, P A . 9. Supply year 1 August to 31 July.

Period and quantity

Quantities o f Agricultural Produce Obtained fo r German Purposes from France*

T a b l b 54

AGRICULTURE

259

o f fuel and fertilizers exacerbated by transport difficulties, militated against any radical change. Thirdly, the structure o f French rural society was not such as to respond quickly to changed circumstances. The historical heritage o f French farming from the eighteenth century and the Revolution was one o f peasant farms, low productivity, and rural ignorance. The German admini­ stration flattered itself absurdly in supposing that it could change in five years a system that had endured for two hundred, particularly in view o f the romantic­ ally conservative view o f rural France which activated the policy o f the Vichy governm ent Finally, German policy, although in many ways bearing more lightly on the peasant than on any other member o f French society, did not succeed in buying his co-operation. The peasant became richer and better fed, but his wish to collaborate with the occupier grew no stronger. The German administration met with passive, undeclared, often unperceived, resistance on the peasant farm just as it did in the coal-mine. M igratory labour had provided a small part o f the French agricultural labour force since the eighteenth century, especially in the northern depart­ ments. A fter the First W orld W ar the proportion o f migrants increased and many became permanent settlers in France. By 1939 there were approxim ately 250.000 immigrants engaged in agriculture, o f whom about 50,000 were estab­ lished permanently as cultivators.1 The transitory migrants were m ainly Spaniards, Italians, and Poles, but few Poles were actual cultivators. M any Belgians had settled as peasant farmers and market gardeners in the northern departments. The impact o f the German invasion on these foreigners was no less than it was on the labour force o f the iron-ore mines. That great body o f refugees m oving from the path o f the invader contained many labourers and cultivators who would not return for the duration o f the occupation. It is not known what proportion o f the French prisoners o f war retained in Germ any were agricultural workers or cultivators. But the original m obiliza­ tion o f the French forces drew very heavily on those sources. Approxim ately 1.300.000 men from the agricultural sector were called to the colours. O f the prisoners taken, the M inistry o f Agriculture estimated that 40 per cent, or 683,000, were form erly employed in agriculture. This enormous labour loss was disguised in summer 1940 by the return o f men after the armistice, but by the end o f the year it had become apparent that about 13 per cent o f the active male agricultural population, and those often the fittest and strongest, were missing.2 Such a situation could not be regarded with equanimity by the French government, knowing the kind o f demands that the occupiers were likely to make on French food supplies. N ot only did practical politics imply some special measures to deal with the problem o f agricultural labour, but the whole cast o f thought o f the Vichy government by itself suggested some such policy. The first M inister o f Agriculture in the Vichy government, Pierre * C . Rosier, La fra ice agricole (Paris, 1943), p.361.

1 M. Cépède, op. d t., p. 210.

260

AGRICULTURE

C aziot, had long been an ardent defender o f the French peasantry. F a r from wishing their reduction he hoped for a system o f cultivation in which the number o f peasant proprietors would be increased. In the peasant he saw the embodiment o f all hum an virtue and the defender o f the French tradition.1 H olding such views his position in the cabinet was strong, fo r Pétain’s own intellectual views were close to his. The so-called M ission o f Peasant Restora­ tion proclaim ed by the cabinet in August 1940 as part o f the National Revolu­ tion m ay seem absurd when judged by its results, but it was not a policy fo r two years, rather for fifty. It was aimed to secure the long-run transform ation o f French society. It was easy for the occupiers to confound Caziot’s policy with N ational Socialist ideas. Their error was soon made clear. The Reichsnährstand, in so far as it was an attem pt at repairing the strains in German society caused by the rapid economic development o f the country, was a revolutionary attem pt The principles on which it was constructed were at least new. The Agricultural Corporation created by Pétain and C aziot was an expression o f the purest conservatism. It was unpopular with the peasants, with many members o f the government, and above all with the French administration, which saw in it a dangerous, and foolish, rival organization. Irrespective o f government policy there was a ‘return to the land* simply because to be there was to be safer and better fed. The rural population was therefore temporarily increased although not always in a useful way. B y the decrees o f 9 M arch 1941 and 31 December 1941 farm ing was declared an activity o f particular national interest. Under certain circumstances labour could be drafted to farms. Both laws also placed so high a priority on agricul­ tural labour that the movement o f labour out o f agricultural jobs could be forbidden. The employment o f persons from rural communes in industrial positions, unless they had left the land before 1 September 1938, was illegal. These remedial measures were eked out in slight degree by German policy. Small numbers o f French prisoners were released to help in harvesting. T o gather in the 1940 harvest 70,000 were used and o f those prisoners return­ ing under the ‘relève* about one-fifth had been previously employed in agri­ culture.2These measures could have but little effect. The agricultural survey o f spring 1942 recorded a labour force as large as that o f the pre-war period. But the circumstances in which the inquiry was carried out make the figures absurd. Householders* returns indicated that everyone living under their ro o f was employed on the farm. In such a way they could protect their household from the labour draft and at the same time entitle themselves to higher rations. Even were the returns correct, the proportion o f women, o f the very old, and the very young, in the agricultural labour force would have increased by comparison with the pre-war period. 1 See his book. Au service de la paysannerie (Paris, 1942). * M. Weinmann, op. d t., p. 50.

AGRICULTURE

sòl

When every allowance is made for the further slowing down o f the exodus from the countryside in France and for the repatriation o f prisoners, the number o f workers, for the most part drawn from the best age groups, missing from the French agricultural labour force in 1944 by comparison with 1938 could not have been lower than 400,000. In these circumstances the failure to switch from pasture farming to the more labour-intensive types o f cultivation such as arable farming or market gardening is still more comprehensible. In agriculture, as in other industries, the New Order was quite unable to solve its labour problems. Indeed, it only created greater problems. No less an obstacle to German policy than the reduction in the labour force were the shortages o f tractors, horses, and fertilizers. The number o f tractors in France had always been relatively low in relation to the large area to be farmed. M ost o f the 35,000 tractors in service at the beginning o f the occupation were o f foreign origin and in the follow ing five years it was more or less impossible to get spare parts for them. French production had always been very small. In spite o f the switching o f two substantial firms to tractor production in 1942 and 1943 output diminished during the occupation.1 Only 348 tractors were turned out in 1944 compared to 2,000 in 1941.* By 1944 the stock o f tractors in use had declined from 35,000 to 28,000. This shortage was aggravated by the fuel shortage. M any tractors had to be adapted to function either by means o f gas generators or on alcohol. These improvisations were not very satisfactory, although the effort put into the production o f gas generators by the German administration was most per­ sistent. O f the possible tractor fuels only alcohol was in sufficient supply and that could scarcely make up for deficiencies elsewhere. Even when top priority was accorded to the needs o f agriculture the fuel shortage persisted. One result o f the priority accorded to agriculture in fuel supply was the leakage o f fuel to the resistance movement. This fact alone suggests that the fuel crisis bore less heavily on farmers than on industrialists. The shortage o f fuel for agricultural purposes was also mitigated by the widespread programme o f rural electricity distribution carried out by the Vichy governments. For many farming operations electricity became a more important source o f power than oil or coal for the first time in the harvest o f 1944. The number o f draught-horses on French farms fell from 2,700,000 in 1938 to 2,110,000 in 1944.3 The reduction was mainly due to German requisitions for m ilitary purposes. It could only be partly remedied by the use o f oxen, the number o f which increased over the same period by 100,000. In so far as tractors were used by those cultivating the larger units their shortage did not affect the more humble peasant cultivators. They, however, found their activities greatly restricted by the reduction in the number o f draught animals. A ll cultivators were impeded by the shortage o f fertilizers. The gap which 1 ‘La manufacture d’armes de Paris’ and ‘Les établissements Bernard’, C CD R ., v, A . 1.13. 1 M. Cépède, op. d t., p. 213. * Ibid., p. 213.

AGRICULTURE

26»

had existed before the war between the average yields in France and Germ any was widened.1 In agriculture as in industry the productivity o f the occupied fell while that o f the occupier rose. This fill in productivity meant that there was no permanent prospect o f increasing the total output o f food in France. Like the shortage o f tractors the shortage o f fertilizers was not m erely a result o f the occupation. Before the w ar the quantity o f fertilizer used in French agriculture varied from region to region. The lack o f fertilizer during the occupation only exaggerated the difference between the more advanced and the less advanced agricultural regions in France. T a b l b 55

Effective Consumption o f Fuels in France* (tons)

Benzine Alcohol Petroleum Gas-oil Heaüng-oil

1938

1941

2,685,802 100,918 132,092 1,580,386

212,547 126,314 18,130 142,293 180,140

5401492

«79424

902,544

Proportionate change by 1941 (percent)

7*9

125*2 I 3'7

15*7

11*4

12*6

* F D 272/45, Mbh. in F .t W LA bt Il/a, ‘Verbnuichskontingente und Auslieferungen der französischen Wirtschaft 1942 im besetzten und unbesetzten Gebiet («rime Nord und Pas-deCalais)’, 5 January 1943.

The quantity o f nitrogen used by French agriculture decreased by a h a lf between 1939 and 1944, and the quantity o f phosphoric fertilizer diminished still further.2 The loss o f N orth A frica interposed an alm ost insuperable obstacle to the acquisition o f sufficient quantities o f phosphoric acid fertilizers, and nitrogen had other equally vital uses in wartime. These deficiencies m ight have been made up with a greater use o f phosphatic fertilizer, the employment o f which had shown a steep and continuous rise in the inter-war years. This increase had been based on an increase in the output o f phosphates in N orth A frica more than on an expansion o f French domestic production. Since the m ajor source o f domestic production was Alsace, the dependence on N orth A frica became even greater after the armistice. From A lgeria, M orocco, and Tunisia 834,438 tons o f phosphates had been shipped to France in 1936 and 972,551 tons in 1937.* It was more difficult 1 E. Woermann, DU europäische Ernährungswirtschaft in Zahlen (Berlin, 1944). * M. Cépède, op. d t., p. 236. * FD 281/45, Mbh. in F., W i.Abt. Il/a, letterfrom Ministère secrétaire d’état à la produc­ tion industrielle et aux communications. Direction des Mines, 5 April 1943, ’Produktion der Nordafrikanischen Phosphate*.

AGRICULTURE

*3

under wartime conditions in the Mediterranean to move so much, and even had that not been the case German demands for a stake in this supply would only have increased. The German administration's efforts to increase the output o f phosphates in France itself, although crowned with some success, could not compensate for the failure o f N orth African and Alsatian supply.1 The largest company, the Com pagnie Française des Phosphates, whose main mine was at Beauval in the department o f Somme, had an output o f only 4,500 tons a month in 1942. The average monthly output o f phosphates in occupied and unoccupied France in that year was 10,760 tons.* Germ any took twice that quantity herself from French N orth A frica.3 In the most favourable conditions the agricultural sector o f the French economy had not shown itself to have much resilience; under wartime con­ ditions no improvement could be looked for. The importance which the Vichy government attached to agriculture can be deduced from the fact that alone in the French economy, under the law o f 2 December 1940, it received a full corporate charter. The idea o f such a charter had already been mooted at the beginning o f September by the leaders o f the most right wing o f the agricultural 'syndicats', the Union N ationale des Syndicats Agricoles, who were disturbed by the growing evidence o f independence among the newer peasant asso­ ciations less dominated by the larger proprietors.4 The charter imposed a paternalistic law on the growing strength o f these organizations. A ll existing associations were forced into the strait jacket o f the new corporation, wherein the regional associations were directed from above by leaders named by the upper ranks. When joining the corporation the head o f a household was held to have committed the whole o f his fam ily too. In fact, the creation o f regional organizations wholly subservient to the central body was very difficult. The bewildering number o f decrees on agri­ cultural organization and their com plexity testify to this difficulty. The law o f 16 December 1942 tried to enlarge the com position o f the regional associations by forcibly incorporating into them members o f the specialized agricultural services maintained by the government and more under its control, with the clear intention o f reducing the independence o f the regional bodies. The renewal o f peasant society in France was to take place on the government's terms and not on the peasantry’s own terms. The opposition to the government’s measures preceded the opposition to the occupier and the one led naturally to the other. Except where the Union nationale had been strong before the war, in south-eastern France and in Brittany, the regional organizations refused to be dictated to from above. The associations that had been crushed by the forced integration into the new 1 See above, p. 91. * FD 281/45, Mbh in F., W i.Abt. n/a, ‘Gisements de phosphates en exploitation'. 1 Ibid., ‘Bericht über die Phosphat- und Eiseoerzlieferungen aus Nordafrika für Deutschland 1941 bis 8.11.1942’, 17 November 1942. ♦ See J. Leroy-Ladurie, Vers wie politique paysanne (Paris, 1937).

264

AGRICULTURE

corporative body recovered their forces as early as 1941 and began to organize local clandestine meetings. It was in these meetings that the idea o f a democratic Confédération Générale de VAgriculture was born.1 The new body would be as comprehensive as the National Peasant Corporation, but democratic rather than paternalistic. In defiance o f the laws governing the corporation the regional groupings secretly carried out free elections for local leaders. A t the same time a steady resistance to German demands took place, harder to detect than in industry, but equally present. The Vichy government not only encouraged the survival o f French agri­ culture in its historic form but also tried to stifle any movement for change originating in agricultural society itself. Exchanges and transfers o f land were forbidden other than under the supervision o f the prefect. The only changes in the system o f landholding tended to greater stability. The laws o f 4 September 1943 dealing with tenancies and leasehold effectively extended many leases for the duration o f the war. These policies were not ignored by the German administration, which had been a close observer o f the National Socialists’ own attempt at rural regenera­ tion in the previous decade. The recognition that ignorance was one o f the most persistent problems in such a society led to those prisoners o f war who had diplomas in agricultural science being given priority under the various release schemes. Five hundred were so released.2 Each o f the regional field commands in France had agricultural specialists attached to it, and the central German administration also maintained some specialized agricultural services. A lter the disappointing harvest o f 1942 and the weakening o f the German position in the east, a greater effort was made to raise the level o f productivity in French agriculture by the dissemination o f technical information. In A pril 1943 400 specialists were sent from Germ any to give technical help on a local level, the co-called Landwirtschaftsführer. By 1944 their number had at least doubled. Some parts o f France were more directly controlled by the occupiers. A long the north-eastern frontier o f France a barrier zone had been created into which the deported refugees were not allowed to return. The farms left vacant were administered by a German com pany, Reichsland Landbewirtschaftungs G .m .b.H ., earlier and better known as Ostland G .m .b.H . Its main interests were in the eastern empire and its activities in France were incidental to those greater interests. Farms confiscated from Jews in other areas o f France were also taken over by the same organization as well as farms adjudged to have insufficient labour or capital equipment to be efficiently run. The company controlled almost 9,000 separate units o f landholding, totalling 170,000 hectares. Although the food produced on its lands did enter into the general total o f available food for distribution, it did so to a lesser degree than i f the farms had remained French. Some part o f the land was used to feed 1 See. G . Wright, Rural Revolution In France (Stanford, 1964). * M. Weimnann, op. d t., p. 57.

AGRICULTURE

265

German cattle which were then re-exported to Germany. There is no evidence that the direct control o f French land by this means was ever used as a means for demonstrating better methods o f farming, the land being merely used more exclusively in the German interest than if it had remained with its former owners. D irect control o f the land in this way was certainly a simpler method o f exploitation. But the m ajor part o f German agricultural policy was concerned with devising indirect means by which French agricultural output could be both increased and changed. The official bread price rose by 19*4 per cent between 1939 and 1944, but the cost price o f production rose five times more. The gap was bridged by changes in the quality o f the lo a f and by massive sub­ sidies to the producers, 9,400,000,000 francs over the course o f the occupation.1 This subsidy was more in favour with the m ilitary administration than with the government; indeed, the German administration, by frequently refusing permission to the French to increase the bread price, left the government little scope for manœuvre. The net result from the German point o f view was to help to sustain purchasing power. Although this helped those families whose incomes were such that they could not deal on the black market, it enabled other and wealthier families to use their surplus for black-market dealings, thus putting up the price o f other foods. N or was the price o f bread raised sufficiently to generate a large enough swing from pasture to arable farming. The apparent necessity o f appeasing the population by keeping the price o f bread relatively low thus hindered a thorough use o f the price mechanism to effect the necessary changes in the com position o f total output. The alternative solution, to sink meat prices to the point where fodder production would greatly decrease, proved impossible. W ithout access to imported fodder, meat prices would have risen even were there no black market to accentuate that tendency. The official prices offered for meat in fact increased. Between August 1939 and August 1943 the official price o f veal rose 40 per cent, o f beef 70 per cent, and o f lamb 94 per cent.2 The increases in milk and egg prices were much greater. The area devoted to grain farming in France appears to have decreased at a rate greater than its rate o f decrease in the inter-war period. Unfortunately the agricultural statistics collected during the occupation are most unreliable. Under-reporting o f the area o f land cultivated and o f the total product was the inevitable result o f a system o f requisitions such as that practised by the occupier. The farmer gave incorrect inform ation to diminish the tax burden on him self and to retain a surplus for the black market. For this reason the apparent decrease o f grain fanning was probably not so great as it appears in Table 56. German price policy had no impact on the long-term trend o f French farm­ ing. By 1950 the area devoted to grain farming had increased to 8,724,000 1 H. Kistenmacher, op. d l , p. 86.

1 M. Wemnuum, op. d t , p. 72.

AGRICULTURE

266

hectares, still well below its pre-war average.1 Between 1939 and 1941 the reversion to grassland appears to have been at a faster rate than in the interwar period but thereafter slowed to the same rate. In spite o f this the stocks o f animals seem to have fallen until the end o f 1943, the number o f cattle apparently declining from 14,655,100, the average o f the years 1935-8, to 13,871,800 in October 1943.* This figure m ay perhaps be discounted as a T a b l b 56

Area Devoted to Grain Farming in France (excluding Alsace-Lorraine, Pas-deCalais, and N ord)* (1,000 hectares)

A ll Grains Wheat Rye Barley Oats Buckwheat

Average 1935-8

1939

9497

1940

1941

1942

1943

9,127

#,

••

4,820 529 690 3,008

8.531

4,347

4.540

4.350

8,131 4.240

455

455

277

262

4.250 510 690 2,680 ••

506 806

3,039

460 740

2,590 ••

615 2,700 25O

615 2,610 250

* M . Weinmann, op. d t., p. 79*

T

ablb

57

Approxim ate Grain Harvests in France, German and French Estim ates (not including Alsace-Lorraine, Pas-de-Calais, and Nord) (1,000 too») Average 1933-8*

Wheat Rye Barley Oats Buckwheat

7.O76 3«7 979 4.064 273

1940

1941

194a

1943 German* Frenchf

German* Frenchf

German* Frenchf

German* Frenchf

3,060 330 910 3^30 ••

6,370 470 1,000 3410 ••

3.307 433 830 3.103 173

5.000

..

917 3.232 aaj

• M. Wemnuum, op. cit.( p. 79. K. Brandt, op. d t , pp. 540-1.

t

5.097 4>4t 789 2,700 181

3.082 406$ 765 2.994 83

3.936 300 800 2*900 173

3.8*5 4M * 7*S 2,812 495

f CCDR., vii, PJL l, PJL 2.

result o f faulty statistics; in O ctober 1942 the head o f cattle was greater than before the war. A s German demands became more onerous under-reporting o f stocks m ay have become more frequent. But it is difficult to explain away in the same terms the fall in m ilk production between 1934-8 and 1943 from 14,290,000 tons a year to 8,114,000 tons. Butter production over the period 1934-8 averaged 202,000 tons, cheese production, 165,000 tons; in 1943 butter production was 149,000 tons, cheese production 47,000 tons.3 The apparent decline in grain output m ay be seen in Table 57. 1 L. Miiller-Ohlsen, op. d t., p. 15. » Ibid., p. 87.

* M . Wemnuum, op. d t., p. 86.

AGRICULTURE

a«7

The one success attributable to German price policy and one which wrought a long-term change in the composition o f French agricultural output was in the cultivation o f oil seeds. Before the war the cultivation o f oil seeds had almost died out in France in the face o f imports o f arachid oils. When the import o f these oils was cut o ff in 1942 much higher prices were offered for domestic vegetable oils. Experiments with a wide variety o f plants ensued. The colza bean proved much the most satisfactory. The area planted to oil seeds increased from 19,000 hectares in 1941 to 287,000 hectares in 1944.1 Although it subsequently decreased it remained at over 200,000 hectares in 1950. In this instance German policy was not so steadfastly trying to reverse a long-term trend as in other areas. The success was a small one, it showed what might have been done with a bolder and more imaginative policy. In July 1940 the m ilitary administration calculated that 1,400,000 hectares o f unused land in France could be put to the plough.2 The ultimate result o f German policy was an increase in uncultivated land. In part this was due to the need for the soldiers to have land on which to conduct their m ilitary opera­ tions. The area o f non-agriculturai land increased from 3,850,000 hectares in 1939 to 4,570,000 hectares in 1944. So great an increase might be regarded as a normal incident o f occupation by so large an army. But the area o f agri­ cultural land not cultivated increased from 5,961,000 hectares in 1939 to 6,614,000 hectares in 1944. Far from extending the area o f cultivation in France3German policy ended by bringing about a net loss o f agricultural land. The very fact o f m ilitary occupation and the interruption o f overseas supply placed severe constraints on German price policy. But what ultimately nulli­ fied this policy was the growth o f the black market. The resistance o f the agri­ cultural community to the occupier was not merely statistical; the black market, however socially unjust, was also an expression o f the will to resist the occupier. T o eliminate it was impossible, the only way was to come to terms. In July 1942 a large share o f the occupation costs was allocated to pre-emptive buying for German purposes on the black market. Between that date and February 1943 93,700 hectolitres o f wine and large quantities o f food were purchased.4 There were many loopholes in the system o f control through which food could escape on to the black market. Illegal slaughterings were common; the difference between the official figures for delivery o f carcasses and the actual number o f beasts slaughtered may have been as high as 350,000 a year. The m ilk delivery programme, to be enforced properly, needed a system o f daily collection o f milk. The transport shortage meant that collection frequently took place on every other day. In summer the dairy farmer was more or less driven on to the black market to defend himself.4 The official butter price rose * M. Cépède, op. d t., p. 302. * M. Cépède, op. d t , p. 294. * Ibid., p. 59.

* M. Weinmann, op. d t., p. 42. 4 H. Kistenmacher, op. d t , p. 116.

268

AGRICULTURE

from sixty-six francs a kilo in December 1942 to eighty francs a kilo in June 1944; the black-m arket price rose over the same period from 17s francs to 445 francs. Potato prices on the black m arket in summer 1944 were roughly double the official price, egg prices were four times the official price, pork prices more than five times the official price.1 W ith so developed a black m arket country dwellers more and more lived outside the fram ework o f the official economic system. The peasant retained more food for his own consum ption, sold on the grey market to his acquaint­ ances at prices above the official level, and on the black m arket at prices which justified the risk. In the last case he was sometimes selling to agents o f the Germ an administration trying to ensure their own supply. N ot only did the peasant benefit from the breakdown o f controls in terms o f his income from sales, the value o f his land soared upwards. Peasant farmers were offered prices for their land in 1944 which would have been unimaginable in 1938. The com petition on the m arket between food consumers was accompanied by the same com petition for the land itself. Land was a safeguard against inflation and a guarantee o f food. In such circumstances, bearing in mind the scarcity o f agricultural inputs and the uncertainty o f the times, the apparent increase o f fallow land is not so surprising. T o the long-run problems o f French agriculture, to the shortages occasioned by the war and the occupation, to the depletion o f the capital stock, and to the shortage o f labour must be added the weaknesses o f German policy. A ll explain the relatively disappointing results which the German agricultural adm inistration obtained in France. The French population as a whole, especi­ ally those unable to operate on the black market but able to watch the rise in land values, might well have echoed Adam Smith. ‘W hatever keeps down the produce o f the land below what it would otherwise rise to, keeps down the revenue o f the great body o f the people still more than it does that o f the proprietors o f land.’2 1 H. Kistenmacher, op. cit., pp. 98-9.

1 The Wealth o f Nations, V, n, i.

XII CONCLUSION T h e fate o f the New Order was settled by m ilitary might. In the long battle against overwhelming odds German economic policy in the occupied territories was forced to abandon its earlier concepts. The pressure o f economic necessity distorted the New Order until it became that quite different thing, ‘the Euro­ pean war economy*. A t that moment when the Blitzkrieg in Russia had almost achieved its ends the shape o f the National Socialist New Order may be seen. But the moment is a brief one, and once over, official silence falls over the New Order and that New Order itself begins its metamorphosis. But to return to the starting-point. Could the New Order have survived had the outcome o f the military events been different? Had fascism not suffered so resounding a m ilitary defeat would not the New Order have collapsed from its own internal weaknesses? The evidence must lead us to the conclusion that the liberal idea o f conquest, as a general proposition, was quite unreal. Economically, the acquisition o f France was o f great value to Germany. T o show it to have been so it is necessary to make a certain number o f assump­ tions, some o f them, perhaps, assumptions with which the reader would not agree. M y intention in doing so is to put into some proportion, against the resources o f her own economy, the resources which Germany was able to derive from France. Such a procedure, although it begs one or two economic questions, has the simple merit o f trying to answer a simple question. But if it reduces the liberal argument to the level o f the counting-house, I would not wish it to be thought that such is my ultimate intention. I merely wish to show that on that level the advantage to Germany o f her conquest is a historical fact and one which gainsays deductions made from the initial premises o f liberalism. It will already have become apparent to the reader that the history o f labour during the occupation o f France provides substantial evidence that the liberal view o f conquest was not wholly fanciful, and to these wider issues the argument must ultimately also return In every year o f the war until 1944 the increase in the foreign contribution to Germany’s total available product was greater than the increase in the domestic contribution. Until the end o f 1942 the greatest single contribution to the increase in government expenditure was the revenue from conquered territories rather than the decline in consumers* expenditures. A report o f the Reichs Minister for Finance in A pril 1944 made provisional calculations o f the extent to which the occupation costs paid into the German treasury had

CONCLUSION

270

contributed to Germ an war finance. F or the whole period o f the w ar the incom e from occupation levies was roughly 40 per cent o f the income from taxation. Incom e from taxation reached its wartime peak in the financial year 1 A p ril 1942 to 31 M arch 1943. It then declined to the end o f the war. ‘Special incom e from abroad’, however, reached its highest level in the financial year 1943/4, when it accounted fo r 38 4 per cent o f total treasury incom e.1 Forty-tw o per cent o f this ’special incom e’, over the whole duration o f the war, came from France. The occupation costs paid by the French government were thus an im portant source o f war finance for Germ any in every year in which they were paid. W hile it is true that the m ain reason for Germ any’s lack o f recourse to the capital m arket in the Second W orld W ar as com pared to the First W orld W ar and the consequent ’sounder’ appearance o f her war finances, was m ainly due to the higher levels o f personal taxation in 1939-45, the incom e received from France also played its part in reducing the government’s need to borrow. T a b l b 58

R ole o f Occupation Costs in German War Finance * (million Reichsmarks) Date

i Sept. 1939 -31 Mar. 1940 1940/1 1941/2 1942/3 1943/4 1944/5 I Apr. 194s -8 May 1945 Total

Regular receipts

Out o f taxation and dues

18,200 39.500 50,100 70,600 60,800

14,600 27,200 32,500 43.000 35,000 31.000

2,300

1,500

314,800

184,800

73.300

‘Spedai in­ come from abroad*

••

6,000 11,000 19,000 28,000 21,000

85,000

* F. Federali, Der zweite W eltkrieg. Seine Finanzierung in Deutschland (Tübingen, 1962).

The com plicated accountancy used for the paym ent o f the French occupa­ tion costs hampers any attem pt to show their relative usefulness to Germ any at different stages o f the war. Since the occupation costs in France were never intended merely to pay for the upkeep o f the arm y o f occupation, but also to give Germ any sufficient purchasing power to exploit the French econom y to her own advantage, the movement o f the clearing deficit over time could logically be considered as much a part o f the actual financial burden on France as the costs themselves. M unz estimates the actual burden o f such costs jo in tly considered on each individual in France as rising from 2,015 francs per head in 1940 to 6,755 francs per head in 1943.2 The greatest part o f the increase * F. Federali, Der zweite W eltkrieg. Seine Finanzierung in Deutschland (Tübingen, 1962). * A . Münz, op. d t , p. 51 ff.

CONCLUSION

*71

is after 1942, the burden on the individual being 40 per cent greater in 1943 than in 1942. Hitler’s menacing threats o f 3 January 1943 against the French were not empty ones.1 In Table 59 M unz’s estimates o f the annual financial burden on France are used to estimate the contribution o f these payments to the German economy. T

able

39

Occupation Costs and Other Payments from France in Relation to Germany's Gross National Product Year

IMO IM I IM * IM 3 *M4

O.N.P o f Germany (st current Reichs­ mark prices)0 (million RM )

French occupa­ tion costs (cur­ rent francs)t (million francs)

145,000 156,000 162,000 170,000 173.000

lOyOQO 121,500 109.000 194.000 126,900

Total payments from France ind. clearing deficit (current francs) (million francs)

Occupation costs as a percentage o f German G.N.P. at wartime

81,600 144*300 156,700 273.600 206,300

al 3*9 3-4 3*7 3*

Total payments as a per­ centage o f German G.N.P. at wartime exchange 2§ 4-6 48 8*0 3*9

at i»)S exchange^ 3-0 3-3 3*3 9-1 6*7

• USSBS., Overall Economic Effects Division, T h e G r o s s N a t io n a l P r o d u c t o f G e r m a n y 1 9 3 6 t o 1 9 4 4 (Washing­ ton, 1945). B. H. Klein, op. tit., pp. 241-57, has revised these estimates. Pert o f his revision lies in an amendment o f the total income from foreign contributions. G.N.P. as used here is without those foreign contributions. I have used the USSBS. calculations because it was easier to separate their estimates o f those contributions from the totals. 1 have no wish to quarrel with Klein*» revision and the reader who prefers his estimates will easily make the small adjustment necessary. t A. Munz, op. tit, p. 75. t Estimated on the basis o f 176 francs to the pound sterling and 10 Reichsmarks to the pound sterling.

France’s contribution to the German economy can be seen to have increased from the beginning o f 1943. Since France was able to contribute effectively only for the first six months o f 1944 her contribution in those six months may be said to have increased proportionately to her contribution in 1943. Between 1941 and 1942, however, there was little change. Some check may be made on these estimates by assuming that the proportion o f occupation costs paid by France, 42 per cent, o f the total occupation costs received by Germ any, is the same as the French proportion in the total foreign contributions estimated by the Wagemann-Institut during the war and the United States Strategic Bombing Survey after the war. The estimates made by the WagemannInstitut were used to make rough calculations about German N ational Income during the war and were partly used by the Bombing Survey in pre­ paring its own estimates o f Gross National Product.2 The Bombing Survey’s estimates o f foreign contributions include the occupation levies paid by France, H olland, Norway, Bohemia, and Poland, the net deficit in Germ any’s foreign trade balance, the purchases made from foreign countries by invasion cur­ rency, and the net product o f the annexed areas after the consumption and 1 See above, p. 1 1 7 L 1 F D 4422/45, Wagemann-Iiutitut, ‘Volkseinkommen, öffentlicher Brutto- und NettoAufwand und privater Aufwand*.

272

CONCLUSION

capital form ation within those areas has been deducted. W ithin this lim ited fram ework these estimates o f the total foreign contribution to the Germ an econom y are probably too high. It appears that the Bombing Survey did not take sufficiently into account the growing difference between foreign prices, where price control was less effective, and Germ an prices. Whereas the Bombing Survey calculated the total foreign contribution from the beginning o f 1940 to the end o f 1943 at 104,000,000,0001939 Reichsmarks, K lein would place it no higher than 83,000,000,000 1939 Reichsmarks.1 The assumption that the French share o f these total foreign contributions was 42 per cent is not outrageous. The occupation costs themselves were much the largest part o f the total, and Germ any needed to supply less essential imports to France than to many other occupied areas. O n the basis o f this assumption the French contribution to German National Income as calculated by the Wagemann-Institut would be 3-4 per cent in 1940-1, 4*0 per cent in 1941-2, and 4*7 per cent in 1942-3. The W agemann-Institut’s calculations o f N ational Income are, however, not very reliable. In computing Gross N ational Product the Bombing Survey preferred, wherever applicable, the calculations o f D r. GrQnig on consumer expenditures, domestic investment, and govern­ ment expenditures.2 Using the Bombing Survey’s estimates o f Gross N ational Product and their estimates o f foreign contributions and making the same assumption about France’s share, that share appears as 2*6 per cent o f G ross N ational Product in 1940,3*4 in 1941,8*3 in 1942,8*2 in 1943, and 7*4 in 1944. Such a calculation can do no more than provide additional evidence that the order o f magnitude o f the French contribution given in Table 39 is roughly correct. The fact that it makes the French contribution in 1942 appear much more important is likely to be a reflection o f events in other occupied terri­ tories. W hat proportion o f France’s resources did these transfers represent? In every year o f the occupation the sum total o f payments was greater than French revenue from taxation. In 1940 the disparity was 3,800,000,000 francs, in 1943 it rose to 148,800,000,000 francs. Over the period as a whole France was transferring to Germ any a cash sum equivalent to 169 per cent o f the whole o f her income from taxation.3 The government’s recourse to the Bank o f France was inevitable in the circumstances, even though it may be argued that French taxation policy could have been adopted to bring in larger sums. The proportion o f these cash transfers to the total expenditure o f the French government also rose; they accounted for over 60 per cent o f such expenditure in 1943. Over the period 1940 to 1944 as a whole payments to Germ any were 49 per cent o f total public expenditure. That period is not the same as the 1 B. H. Klein, op. d t., pp. 252-3. * FD 4422/45, ‘Dr. Grünig vor dem Beirat der RW K, Volkswirtschaftliche Bilanz für Deutschland, Grossbritannien und die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika’, 14 December 1944.

* A . Münz, op. d t , p. 76.

CONCLUSION

*73

actual period o f the occupation. W ere it possible to be more precise the pro­ portion would o f course be greater. Approxim ately one-third o f these trans­ fers were covered by taxation, the rest were covered by currency creation and by borrowing. Germ any thus had interest free access to an active capital market as well as a system o f bilateral trading com pletely in her favour. There are no estimates o f French N ational Income for the wartime period except for those guesses made by the Economic Section o f the German Arm is­ tice Delegation. They estimated French N ational Income a t between 450,000,000,000 and 500,000,000,000 francs in 1942. French guesses placed it rather lower. The estimates o f total available product made for the year 1938 are more exact. Using them rather than the wartime guesses we may say that the total payments from France to Germ any in 1940 were equivalent to 9*3 per cent o f France’s total available product in 1938. In 1943 they amounted to alm ost one-third o f France’s 1938 product. The wartime movement o f the value o f the franc was such that these estimates are probably more inaccurate at the beginning and end o f the period o f occupation than for the middle. I f the German and French guesses at French National Income during the war were used the proportion secured by Germany would appear as high as a third in 1942 and alm ost a h alf in 1943. T a b l b 60 Payments to Germany from France? As a percentage o f French National Income in 1938 at 1938 pricesf 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944

10*9 19*3 20-9 36*6 27*6

A s a percentage o f total available product in 1938 at 1938 prices!

93

16*5 17*7

31*3

23*6

• Current francs converted to 1938 francs at 1/2*2. t A Sauvy, op. d t., ii. 428-44,573-6. j For the size o f total available product, Ministère des finances, Statistiques et études financières, supplément. Financesfrançaises, no. 20,1953.

The fluctuating prices and the arbitrariness o f the Franco-German exchange rate mean that these calculations can be nothing but vague approximations. They are doubly so because o f the vagueness o f the calculations o f the Gross National Product o f both countries. Were these calculations, however, uner­ ringly precise, the information they convey would still be o f doubtful value. These are narrowly financial estimates o f France’s value to Germany. The estimates o f ’foreign contributions’ made by the Bombing Survey are not even • 21483»

T

*74

CONCLUSION

complete within the bounds o f this narrow framework. They do not include the value o f goods and services consumed by German troops outside Germany without payment, nor o f the value o f booty. N or do they include the contribu­ tion o f foreign workers in Germany, which is a particularly grave omission where France is concerned. Indeed, the contribution o f French workers in Germany is considered as a part o f German Gross National Product The first two o f these omissions do not greatly distort any calculations about France. There was little reason for the Germans not to pay, and booty was soon abandoned as impracticable. But a great deal o f m ilitary equipment was surrendered under the terms o f the Armistice Agreem ent It is a sufficiently large item in the accounts not to be dismissed. M uch more serious, however, is the omission o f the contribution o f French workers in Germany. W ithout knowing the precise level o f productivity o f Frenchmen working in Germany it is not possible to remedy this defect except by a series o f statistical abstractions placing too high a value on the original evidence. Foreign workers in Germany were less efficient than German workers, but all observers agreed that the French were more efficient than others. Speer believed the French workers to be the best o f all foreign labour, rivalled only by Russian women workers.1 His view was based on a survey by the Reichs­ wirtschaftskammer in 1944, which estimated the productivity o f Russian women or French men at between 90 and 100 per cent that o f German workers, while that o f Dutch and Danish workers was between 50 and 70 per cent that o f their German counterparts.2 Speer may have been taking an optimistic view; although apparently easy to control, the foreign labourers in Germany were indifferent to the quality o f their work, the French being no exception.9 But, if the survey conducted for Speer was a good one, it is beyond doubt that French workers were more productive in Germany than in France. The sums transferred by French workers in Germany back to France seem to have been larger than those transferred from Germany by any other ethnic group. The only similarly large number o f workers o f the same nationality were the Russians, and since they were women, and less skilled and more dis­ criminated against, their earnings were much lower. In 1943 at least 277,046,200 Reichsmarks were sent back to France. For the first six months o f 1944 the total was alm ost as great.4 The French Reparations Commission calculated the loss to France o f that part o f her work-force going to Germany, together with those workers in France forced to work for German agencies, by estimating the number o f hours o f work lost to the French economy. The total was approximately 1 Speer Report no. 29, Intelligence Report no. EF/LN/2. * E. Homze, op. cit., p. 259. * E. A . Shils, ‘Social and psychological Aspects o f Displacement and Repatriation*, in Journal o f Social Issues, ii, no. 3 (1946). * E. Homze, op. cit., p. 246.

CONCLUSION

*75

13,000,000,000 hours o f w ork.1 T o evaluate these working hours the average income per hour o f work devoted to internal national production in 1938 was taken as a yardstick. On this basis France could be said to have also lost during the war one-third o f the working hours o f one pre-war year’s produc­ tion. But because o f the difference which existed between the productivity o f a Frenchman in Germ any and a Frenchman in France the cash value o f these hours o f w ork was reduced by estimating seventy-two hours wartime w ork in Germ any at the value o f forty-eight hours w ork in France in 1938. B y this process the loss to France was calculated at 71,000,000,000 1938 francs. The coefficient used does not seem to overestimate the total in view o f the other evidence about the productivity o f French workers in Germ any. The produc­ tivity o f labour in German industry rose by more than 10 per cent during the war in spite o f the large number o f foreign workers employed.2 W ith all re­ spect paid to the patriotism o f German workers, and the ingenuity o f incentive schemes o f payment, this increase o f productivity is most likely to have resulted from the greater capital-intensivity o f German industry in wartime. It is a frequently observed phenomenon in war economies that the demand for labour produces rapid mechanization o f the production process. That mechaniza­ tion would have affected French and German alike. Since the opposite process took place in the French economy, however, the value o f those hours o f work to France may well have been less in wartime than in 1938. T o enter by these high-walled arithmetical alleyways is to miss the many receding vistas o f France’s economic value to Germany. Ultim ately it was not the financial value o f her conquest which was important to Germany. Nations pursuing modern fiscal policies did not find it hard to finance their part in the Second W orld W ar while avoiding disastrous effects on their economies. The war was pre-eminently a war o f production, from the outset for Germ any’s opponents and from the end o f 1941 for Germ any. These enormous sums transferred from France had their real value in goods, and the ultimate value o f any good to a war economy is not measurable by any merely financial yardstick. Nevertheless, the degree to which Germ any’s financial gains could be exchanged for goods must be considered. For does not the question arise, whether Germ any would not have been wiser from an econom ic point o f view to have incorporated the French economy more directly into her own from an earlier stage rather than proceed by the tor­ tuous route o f an occupation levy? By no means all the goods and services obtained from France were paid 1 CCDR., i, ch. 7. See the calculations by A. Piatier, ‘La vk économique de la France sous l’occupation*, in La France sous l'occupation. He estimates the loss at 9,700,000 worker yean, 4,500,000 attributable to the loss of prisoners of war, and 5,200,000, attributable to non prisoners of war. Supposing a thirty-six hour week still to have been in force this would mean a total of more than 16,000,000,000 hours of work lost. * USSBS., Overall Economic Effects Division, Special Paper No. 8, Industrial Saies, Output and Productivity, Prewar Area o f Germany 1939-1944 (Washington, 1946).

CONCLUSION

276

fo r, whether in occupation currency or through the clearing mechanism. T h e French Reparations Com m ission attempted a comprehensive listing o f goods and services according to the method o f paym ent, but in many instances the type o f paym ent remains obscure. There must also remain considerable obscurity around the total sum o f goods and services provided. It w ill be seen that where specific industries have been considered in this book the volum e o f deliveries to Germ any differs somewhat from the estimates o f the Comm is­ sioners. This was also the case in agricultural production where the quantity T a b l e 61

Value o f Goods and Services obtained by Germany from France, 1940-4* (million francs) Category

Current francs 1938 francs

Advance deductions of agricultural products 131,818*1 Requisition or utilization of agricultural equipment 12,367*7 Advance deductions of raw materials 106,237-0 Production of manufacturing industry i 85,740*7 19,261-8 Seizure of industrial equipment Advance deductions from transport and communications system and use o f that system 265,186-1 115,181-0 War material and military buildings 100,103-9 Quarters for personnel 26,770-0 Specie, precious objects, art objects Goods and services obtained from the 170,590-2 annexed areas Goods and services obtained from 2,905-9 Corsica, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria Other charges, services and deductions in advance 14,894*0 Total 1,151.056-4

64,720-7 5,621-7 57,191-0 86,983-8 8,755*4 120,265-0 52,355*0 44,896-5 12,168-0 77,541*0 1,320-9 6,770« 538,589«

• CCDR., i, pp. 407-8.

o f deliveries to Germ any has not been universally agreed. T o insist on these differences would not be pedantic, as the Reparations Comm issioners cer­ tainly had every incentive to exaggerate their claim s, although the present evidence does not impugn their honesty. Their task was enormous. F or the purpose o f a global view their figures m ay be used with the same reservations as should accom pany the N ational Income calculations for the two countries. The value o f the services consumed, both by the large adm inistration and the arm y, is striking, although it should be noted that in the case o f the largest item , the French transport and communications network, a large part o f the total sum covers the confiscation o f railway locom otives and trucks, often fo r use in Germ any. The value o f the manufactured goods acquired from France,

CONCLUSION

m

throughout the war, excepting the m ilitary equipment seized under the terms o f the armistice, appears as 5*5 per cent o f the German Gross National Product in 1943, if calculated on the basis o f the wartime exchange rate. This is less than the contribution made by the occupation costs in that one year alone. The value o f the agricultural products obtained throughout the war is 3*9 per cent o f German Gross National Product measured in 1943 and that o f raw materials 3*1 per cent. O r, to put it another way, the combined total o f these three categories was about one-fifth o f the value o f private production in Germany during any one war year. The exploitation o f French industry and agriculture by Germany may thus be seen in a perspective where the German effort looks much less success­ ful. It was far easier, after the crushing m ilitary victory, to ask for money than to organize the French economy as a part o f the German war economy. Nevertheless, the immense presence o f Germ any, and the manifold ways in which she was able to bring pressure on the French government, meant that the total value o f goods and services which, on this reckoning, Germany obtained was roughly equal to one-quarter o f her own Gross National Product on the eve o f the war. The gradual change which came over German policy, culminating in Speer’s attempt to use French industry as the basis o f German consumer goods pro­ duction, was tantamount to an admission that Germany’s need for goods was an overriding one. These changes o f policy mean that the type o f goods making up the total annual quantity obtained by Germ any changed over the period o f the occupation. Production for German purposes o f certain branches o f French manufacturing industry increased after 1941.' In autumn 1943 the value o f German orders to French consumer goods industries increased sharply.2 Until 1941 the volume o f French production which was diverted to Ger­ many, and the German orders placed with French manufacturing industry, were established without any over-all knowledge o f the precise proportion o f French production they represented. In 1941 the O ffice Central de Répartition des Produits Industriels was ordered to collect statistics which would establish how large a part o f France’s total productive capacity Germ any was in fact utilizing.1 It transpired that in the occupied zone, with the exception o f the construction industry, the aircraft industry, and food-producing industries, the general level o f deliveries for Germany was between 30 and 40 per cent o f total ou tpu t I f the three industries which were excepted were included the proportion rose to over one half, because the construction industry and the aircraft industry worked alm ost entirely for German pur­ poses. On the other hand, if the unoccupied zone were included the propor­ tion would have remained a t about 30 per cent. The economic section o f the 1 See Table 13 above. * See Table 30 above. 1 FD 3039/49, Section II, Sc. 3S3, Rm.f.R.u.Kp., Planungsamt.

278

CONCLUSION

m ilitary administration would not accept this result. They held it to be based on unsatisfactory statistical methods and insufficient statistical evidence; their own opinion was that French production was being exploited for Germ any at a level o f between 60 and 75 per cent. The two reports o f the Central Contracts Office, o f 22 December 1943 and 12 January 1944, gave a long-term view over the value o f contracts placed in France. From this it could be seen that between 15 September 1940 and 30 September 1943 the average m onthly value o f deliveries under contract was 238,500,000 Reichsmarks. O f this total 114,700,000 Reichsmarks a month went to the construction industry, leaving a m onthly average o f 123,800,000 Reichsmarks to all others.1 I f the m onthly average value o f contracts to the aircraft industry is also deducted, since neither this nor the construction industry came under the aegis o f the O ffice Central, the m onthly average value o f contracts seems to have remained not far distant from what it had been in 1942. In general, armaments industries and some branches o f the engineering industry were producing over the average o f 30-40 per cent o f their output for Germ any, while consumer goods industries were producing at less than the average. In early 1944 contracts to consumer goods producers in France were arranged more frequently and for greater quantities o f goods, but from G er­ m any’s point o f view the success o f this policy was not very impressive. In October 1943 the proportion o f French production in the form er unoccupied zone utilized for German purposes was much sm aller than in the form er occupied zone. It will be clear that the quantity o f goods obtained by Germ any was not the same as the quantity paid for. Nevertheless, the growing demands on the French construction industry were alm ost certainly responsible for inflating the apparent total o f French deliveries to Germ any. The quarterly average o f these deliveries, according to the m ilitary adm inistration, more than doubled by the end o f 1943. The building o f the Atlantic W all was an industrial enter­ prise o f vast scope, much the biggest new constructional undertaking in war­ time France. When the building o f airfields and other defensive installations is taken into account, Table 62, which shows the increasing value o f French output for Germ any, is perhaps seen in truer perspective. N or is the increase in total output for German purposes as great as it there appears. The sup­ pressed inflation in France still had its effect in forcing Germ any to pay more than the official prices for essential goods, and sometimes even to seek them on the black market. Some allowance for inflation should therefore be made. This allowance would, however, alm ost certainly be cancelled out by the inclusion in the table o f all the hours worked by French workers in Ger­ many and o f all the booty taken to Germ any. Only that part o f the French labour force working for Germ any whose labour was paid for out o f the occupation levies or the clearing deficit is included. 1 FD 301/46, Mbh. in F., 'Der Beitrag des französischen Raumes. . .*.

CONCLUSION

*79

I f the statistics o f the m ilitary administration are accepted, it appears that 1942 was the first year in which Germ any bestowed the same importance on the goods and services obtained from France as it had done on the cash. The apparently inexhaustible supply o f money diminished rapidly in 1942. A t a meeting o f the Commercial Policy Committee in the German Foreign Office in November it was decided to press for greater occupation costs.1

T able 62 French Output fo r Germany* (million Reichsmarks) Time

Paid from occupation levy

Balance of Total clearing account

1940 3rd quarter 4th quarter Annual total

*49 1,510 1.759

43 43

249 «.553 1,802

1941 ist quarter 2nd quarter 3rd quarter 4th quarter Annual total

1,208 1.295 1.33« 1.253 5.087

7« 146 262 3*7 811

1.284 1441 «.593 «,5*0 5,898

1942 ist quarter 2nd quarter 3rd quarter 4th quarter Annual total

«.«57 1,812 2,209 2,194 7.872

409 33« 408 555 «.7*0

2,066 2,148 2,689 2.749 9»«5*

1943 ist quarter 2nd quarter 3rd quarter 4th quarter Annual total

*,«45 2,240 2.418 2495 9.79«

7«9 908 845 793 3.315

3414 3,148 3»*«3 3488 13.113

24,516

5,949

304«5

1940-3 Total

* FD 301/46, Mbh. in F., 'Der Beitrag des französischen Raumes . . .*.

French deliveries o f foodstuffs and agricultural produce to Germ any were much heavier in the harvest year 1942/3 than in the previous year.* The har­ vest year 1943/4 saw relatively little change. There was no significant category o f agricultural produce where the proportion o f French production made available to Germany, and also the actual quantity, did not increase in the harvest year 1942/3, so that by the close o f that year Germany was taking over IS per cent o f French agricultural output for her own purposes. O f the imports o f bread grains into Germ any in that year 46 per cent came from France, which had become the most important o f Germ any's suppliers. The 1 Hemmen Papers, NG. 43*6, 'Sitzung des Handelspolitisches Ausschusses vom 26 November 1942'. * See above, pp. 257-8.

28o

CONCLUSION

bread ration in Germ any depended on the French harvest. I f the hopes o f a great German agricultural dependency in eastern Europe had been dashed, German policy turned France into a replacement. The contribution which France made to the supply o f raw materials in Germ any increased in size and increased much more in relative importance. A s the territorial area over which Germ any had command shrank, and as the German economy began to exploit much more fully its productive capacity for war purposes, the relative utility o f French supply increased. The extra­ ordinary importance which Germ any was obliged to attach at the last to the quite insignificant supplies o f wolfram from France bear witness to this. It was not in fact only in those areas where France was particularly well endowed with raw materials that she was useful to Germany. In such areas Germ an control was unrelenting. Including the annexed areas o f France Germ any took for her own purposes three-quarters o f France’s iron-ore supply, excluding those areas she took about one half.1 I f Alsace and Lorraine are counted as German territory for the duration o f the war Germ any was not as dependent on French iron-ore supply as these figures might suggest. The supply from all occupied territories to Germ any remained lower in 1943 and 1944 than imports into Germ any from neutral areas.2 In both those years German iron-ore imports from Sweden, measured by iron content, were larger on a monthly average than her supply from occupied territories. The quantities o f bauxite obtained from France were probably o f more absolute importance to the German war economy. In 1942 Germ any took 36 per cent o f total French bauxite production, in 1943 53 per cent, a total o f h alf a million tons in the latter year, or over four times her annual level o f bauxite imports from France before the war.2 The coal-m ining areas o f France which Germ any annexed had their supply diverted entirely to German purposes. In spite o f the constant coal shortage in France she thus lost 15 per cent o f her total output to Germ any for the duration o f the war. French output o f other non-ferrous metal ores and metals was generally small. Since such materials were all relatively scarce in Germ any, however, France was made to contribute heavily to total German supply. The contribu­ tion came particularly from captured stockpiles which formed a substantial part o f German booty. The relative importance o f booty and the quantities o f such materials obtained by Germ any can be seen in Table 63. The total value o f the raw materials obtained by Germ any was a lot less than the total value o f manufactured goods obtained and lower than the total value o f foodstuffs. I f booty alone is considered the total value o f manufac­ tured goods would still be higher as the value o f m ilitary equipment passing 1 See above, Table 41. * FD 3039/49, Section III, Sc. 98, Rm.f.R.u.Kp., ‘Statistische Schnellberichte zur Kriegs­ produktion, Jahresheft 1938/44*. * See above. Table 47.

CONCLUSION

281

to Germ any was as great as the total value o f raw m aterials whether purchased or taken as booty. From a financial aspect Germ any’s greatest advantage was the use o f the French communications network. By the end o f 1943, owing to the deteriora* tion o f the capital equipment, to A llied bombing, and to the surrender o f 4,300 locom otives to Germ any, French railways had only h alf the stock o f loco­ motives they had had at the beginning o f the war. The stock o f wagons was T a b l b 63 Non-ferrous M etals and M etal Ores Obtained by Germany from France to the End o f 1943?

Copper Lead Tin Nickel Zinc Alumina Aluminium Magnesium Scrap

As purchases and contracts

As booty and recuperations

Total

Totalto 31 July 1942t

tons

tons

%

tons

tons

121,800 18,500 5,500 4,000 46,000

49 34 44 66 5*

233,724 5>.786 9,753 5,843 ••

••

..

5,600 400 687,000

8 7 79

247,600 54,500 12,600 6,100 79,6oo 114,200 74.800 5.400 873,000

125,800 36,000 7,100 2,100 33,6oo 114,200 69,200 5,000 186,000

% 51 66 5« 34 42 100 9* 93 21

• •

(93,550» 4,193 ••

• FD 301/46, Mbh. in F., ‘Der Beitrag des französischen Raumes . . .*. f FD 301/45, Mbh. in F., ‘Leistungen der französischen Wirtschaft, usw.,. . I Alumina + aluminium on an aluminium basis.

scarcely greater than one h alf the pre-war stock for the same reasons. The transport o f m ilitary personnel, and o f goods with top-priority classification, goods, that is to say, destined for Germ any, took an increasing share o f the total train movements in France. The share rose from 66 per cent in Decem­ ber 1941 to 83 per cent in January 1944. France was allowed a greater share in the use o f her own internal waterway system, although even here the needs o f German construction undertakings intervened to the extent that in 1943 h alf the weight o f traffic carried on the internal waterways was also for German purposes. Frenchmen formed the biggest section o f the male foreign labour force in Germany. Over 630,000 left for Germ any between June 1942 and A pril 1944.1 Their number was exceeded by the French prisoners o f war in Germ any, who could also be classed as working for Germany. A t the same time a substantial part o f the French labour force in France was also working for Germany. The m ilitary administration estimated that, o f the male French labour force aged between 18 and 50,2,378,000, or 37 per cent o f the total, were directly working 1 See above, pp. 123 ff.

282

CONCLUSION

for Germ any either in Germ any or in France. O f this number 1,378,000 were em ployed in France. A further 1,387,000 in France were indirectly em ployed for Germ an purposes.1 Finally must be considered the extent to which Germ any was able to turn France into a trading satellite, and the advantage which this accrued to her. N o normal state o f trade exists, and to that extent there could be no deviation from that state for Franoe. Nevertheless, French im ports were reduced b y T a b l e 64

W eekly Transport Capacity on French Railways According to Priority Groupings* (1,000 tons lading) December 1941

July 1942

%

December 1942

July 1943

January 1944

Armed forces 'A* priority goods Capacity for the most part being used for German purposes Capacity for the most part being used for French purposes

320 1,040

16 50

460 1,080

% 21 49

510 1,160

% 25 58

590 780

% 29 39

560 880

% 33 52

1,360

66

•,540

70

1,670

83

1.370

68

1.440

85

710

34

680

30

330

17

650

32

Total

2,070

2,220

2,000

2,020

250 15 1.690

• FD 301/46, 'Der Beitrag des französischen Raumes . . . ’.

two-thirds in value during the w ar while her exports increased slightly. From supplying 3*7 per cent o f German im ports by value in 1938 France rose to supplying 18*3 per cent in 1944.1 Germ any had im ported foodstuffs from France in 1938 to the value o f 29,200,000 Reichsm arks; in 1943 the value o f such im ports was 537,200,000 Reichsmarks. In 1938 Germ an imports o f manu­ factured and semi-manufactured products from France had been worth 36,400,000 Reichsm arks; in 1943 their value was 732,800,000 Reichsmarks.* W ith no other European power was Germ any able to run an im port surplus o f such a size. France thus played a vital role in Germ any’s wartime trading system. W ith three allies, Rom ania, Italy, and Finland, Germ any maintained a substantial export surplus, the cost o f keeping them in the war. Even to some o f the occupied territories Germ any exported goods to a greater value than those she received in return. Such was the case with N orway, Croatia, and Slovakia. France, Belgium , and the Netherlands contributed m assively to Germ any’s supply, and on the most favourable possible terms for Germ any. Germ any’s own trading position was therefore also changed by the occupation o f France. 1 See above p. 123 ff.

* See Table 65.

» A . Mura, op. dt., p. 72.

CONCLUSION

283

The pre-war trend in which the countries o f south-eastern Europe had become the m ost important source o f German supply was broken, and their place was taken by France, with Belgium and the Netherlands in a subordinate role. In 1943 France became the most important supplier o f raw materials, foodstuffs, and manufactured goods to the German economy. German trade in 1942 (millions current Reichsmarks)

The German m ilitary success in 1940 brought about a change as farreaching and more sudden than that induced by Schacht’s ‘New Policy* in the 1930s. After the German occupation o f France the pattern o f west European trade as it now exists began to emerge. The eastern and south-eastern Euro­ pean countries, which had played an increasing role in Germ any's economy in the 1930s quickly declined in importance.

CONCLUSION

284

Enough has been written. W hatever the failures o f German policy in France, and whatever the degree to which Germ any failed to exploit the French econom y to the maximum possible lim it, her physical gain from the possession o f so large and so rich a territory was manifest. But what did the conquest cost Germ any? T

able

65

Germ an-French Trade as a Proportion o f Total German Trade? (million Reichsmarks) Total exports

Exports % to France

Import surplus from France

3*7

5,256*9

237*8

4*5

- 34*3

123*4

2*6

5.222*2

145*4

2*8

- 22*0

5,012*1

229*6

4*6

4,867*8

*3*3

0*3

216*3

1941 ist quarter 2nd quarter 3rd quarter 4th quarter Total

1469*0 1,821*0 1,79*0 1,839*0 6,925*0

124*0 186*0 204*0 238*0

8*4 10*2 ii*4 12*9 II'I

1,566« 1,767*0 1,714*0 1,795*0 6,840*5

360 660 89*0 124*0 3170

2*3 3*7 5*2 6*9 4*6

88*0 120*0 115*0 114*0 454*3

1942 ist quarter 2nd quarter 3rd quarter 4th quarter Total

1461*0 2,122*0 2,267*0 *,842*0

204*0 3250 382*0 493*0 1441*3

1,382*0 1.953*0 2,100*0 2,125*0 7.559*6

97*0 150« 157*0 142«

8,691*5

140 15*3 16*9 17*3 16*6

552*3

7*0 7*7 7*5 6*7 7*3

107*0 175-0 2250 35**0 889«

1943 ist quarter 2nd quarter 3rd quarter 4th quarter Total

2,180*0 2,505*0 1,772*0

365*0 390*0 330«

16*7 15*6 186

2,080*0 2496« 2,019-0

159*0 152*0 127*0

7*6 6*1 6*3

2060 248*0 203*0

8,258*4

1416*1

171

8,588«

559*9

6*5

856*2

Jan.-July 1944

4,931*9

903*8

18*3

44878

251*2

5*6

652*6

Year

Total imports

Imports from France

1938

5.449-3

203*5

1939

4.79*5

1940

771*3

%

* FD 301/46, Mbh. in F., ‘Der Beitrag des französischen Raumes . . .’, A. Münz, op. dt., p. 71. The quarterly totals are uncorrected figures and therefore do not exactly corre­ spond with the annual totals which are corrected. They are included to show the persistence of the trend revealed by the annual figures.

T o measure the amount o f rearmament expenditure which went to the conquest o f France is obviously impossible. I f the whole o f Germ an m ilitary expenditure from 1934, when rearmament first made any serious financial im pact on the German econom y, until the conquest o f France had been achieved be considered as a cost o f Germ any’s plans for conquest, and the abortive plans for an invasion o f Britain are taken into account, but the con­ quests o f Austria and Luxem bourg are omitted as being relatively inexpensive,

CONCLUSION

285

German expenditure for the conquest o f Czechoslovakia, parts o f Poland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and for the briefly attempted conquest o f Britain, averaged 13,300,000,000 Reichsmarks for each territory.1 That is less than the payments received by Germany from France in 1943, including the balance on the clearing. In fact this estimate o f the cost o f conquest, leaving on one side for the moment the cost o f maintaining that conquest, is much too high. Only a part o f the armed forces were actually used in the conquest o f France. But that objection is a pettifogging one. Calculations o f m ilitary expenditure in this way are not very meaningful because o f the widely differing purposes to which ‘normal’ budgetary expenditure is applied. These differences m ay be brought out by a glance at the proportion o f ‘war expenditure’ as a proportion o f the total budget for other combatants in the war. In 1943 such expenditure accounted for 84 per cent o f the British budget, but only for 59 per cent o f the Russian budget.2 From such a comparison all that is learnt is that the ‘normal’ British and Russian budgets were used for very different purposes. How much o f civilian expenditure might go into the cost o f conquest? But there is a more serious objection yet. In the circumstances o f the Ger­ man and international economies in the pre-war years can any o f the German rearmament expenditure be regarded as a cost? W as it not rather a gain? The opportunity cost o f such a rearmament programme m ight be compared with that o f other employment-creating projects. In fact the m ajor part in increasing the level o f employment in Germ any in the first years o f the N ational Socialist regime was played by a traditional public works programme, the building o f a m odem system o f roads. But the economic doctrine o f German fascism demanded a rearmament programme. W ithin the limitations o f that doctrine it is impossible to argue that the rearmament programme was a cost to the econom y; outside those limitations it may also not have been a cost. It was a useful adjunct to the programme o f economic reinvigoration, to the stimulation o f industrial production, and to the creation o f employment. The extent to which after 1938 the much higher production o f armaments diverted the economy from the production o f consumer goods m ay also be discounted. I f consumer goods were sacrificed they were sacrificed to the increase in 1 There has always been great difficulty in deciding the exact quantity of German govern­ ment expenditure which could be defined as 'military expenditure’. This is not so much due to deliberate obfuscation of the statistics by the German government as to their refusal to make the arbitrary distinctions made in the budgets of their neighbours between expenditure for civil and military purposes. See K. D. Bracher, W. Sauer, and G. Schultz, Die national­ sozialistische Machtergreifung (Köln, i960), pp. 661 ff.; R. Erbe, Die nationalsozialistische Wirtschaftspolitik 1933-39 imLichte der modernen Theorie (Zürich, 1958), p. 34 and passim; and B. H. Klein, op. dt., pp. 4-27. The estimates for expenditure used here are those of B. A. Carroll, Designfor Total War, Arms and Economics in the Third Reich (The Hague, 1968). They are the most recent, and for one year they are confirmed by documentary evidence. * W. K. Hancock and M. M. Gowing, The British War Economy (London, 1949), P- 347! S. N. Procopovicz, Histoire économique de VVJIS.S. (Paris, 1942), p. 613.

286

CONCLUSION

Germ any’s productive capacity in certain basic industries such as steel, rubber, and oil. G iven Hitler’s strategic plan, expenditure on those industries was as much m ilitary expenditure as expenditure on battle cruisers. Preparation fo r w ar was alm ost entirely beneficial to the Germ an econom y in the 1930s. There remains, however, the loss o f men and equipment in effecting the conquest. It w ill be clear already that the loss o f equipment was annulled by the massive gains o f French equipment. But what o f the m en? Can any financial value be placed on their heads? This grisly accountancy was particularly popular in the United States after the First W orld W ar, since in that country no worth while claim s for destruction o f property could be made on the Germ ans. C lark considered the financial loss to Am erica o f her dead service­ men to be equal to the capitalization o f their future incomes less that part which would have been devoted to consumption. The difference is what the survivors now had to bear because o f the death o f the others.1 W hat a wealth o f econom ic prejudice speaks from such assumptions! Bogart attributed an average social value to soldiers o f different nationality, since at different stages o f econom ic development the level o f productivity is different. A dead Russian was less than h alf as big a loss as a dead Am erican.2 Verri held the profitability o f conquest to be largely determined by the relationship o f labour and resources which resulted once the conquest had been achieved.* The usual outcom e o f conquest was an insufficient supply o f labour and a consequent dim inution o f production. However dogged the paths o f Verri’s predecessors by the fear o f over-population, doubts were always present in their minds as to the value o f exporting population. The theory o f Lebensraum ought not to be attributed to seventeenth-century writers. N or did any express the view that conquest was valuable because it absolutely reduced the amount o f labour through loss o f life. But, in a decade o f heavy unemployment, are dead soldiers a financial loss to the econom y? Is not the death o f a soldier the cause o f a decrease in the national product only i f there is full employment and if conditions o f labour fo r the rest o f what would have been his working life do not change? Had the loss o f Germ an lives in the campaign in France not been made up by the much greater quantity o f workmen Germ any was able to draft into her dom estic labour force, that loss should still not be counted as a cost to the econom y. The im pact o f war on the rates o f labour productivity is so strong that the loss o f life should properly be considered as a part o f that wider problem. In the event Germ an casualties in France were very small by the side o f the number o f workers Germ any got in return. There remains only the cost o f running the conquered territory. The actual cost o f the army o f occupation is not known. It was not even known to the 1 J. M. Clark, The Cost of the World War to the American People (New Haven, 1931). 1 E. L. Bogart, Direct and Indirect Costs of the Great War (New York, 1920). * P. Verri, op. cit.

CONCLUSION

287

Com m ercial Policy Committee o f the Foreign M inistry nor to the Econom ic D elegation to the Arm istice Commission. Hemmen was simply presented with a total sum established by the Wehrmacht without any breakdown o f what that expenditure actually covered. On at least one occasion W iehl, the C h ief o f the Com m ercial Policy Comm ittee, tried to get the High Command o f the Armed Forces to give details about the enormous sums which they demanded, but he was unsuccessful.1 Perhaps they remembered the cautionary lesson o f the Italian Arm istice Delegation who found themselves without sufficient French funds to pay the costs o f their administrative offices in France. The average cost o f maintaining a member o f the French Arm y in the field for one day during the war was twenty-two francs.* The lim it at which the occupation costs were first fixed therefore would have paid for an army o f 18,000,000 men on active service. Hemmen could find no better explanation for the sum than that it was less than the French war budget would have been had the countries still been at war.3 The troops necessary for the continuation o f the war against Britain and all the m ilitary expenses directly or distantly connected with that purpose were am ply covered. But the occupation costs were used for still wider purposes than that. Black-m arket activities in France and elsewhere in Europe depended for their financing on the French payments. Indeed, the sum was considered under two heads, ‘pure occupation costs*, which included the maintenance o f the fighting men in N orth A frica and the fortification o f the French shores, and ‘expenditure alien to the occupation costs*, which could be the larger part o f the expenditure.4 In autumn 1942 expenditure was beginning to outrun receipts o f occupation payments. But o f the general monthly expenditure o f 700,000,000 Reichsmarks only 150,000,000 Reichsmarks were classified as ‘pure occupation costs’ .* This sum covered aspects o f m ilitary expenditure far wider than the mere upkeep o f the arm y o f occupation and the German administration. The true cost o f their upkeep was probably no higher than 75,000,000 Reichsmarks a month. A t that time Germ any was receiving 456,250,000 Reichsmarks a month in occupation levies. The profit obtained from France, crudely expressed by the occupation costs, was intended to be reinvested in the prosecution o f the next, and more im portant, stage o f the war. German policy was therefore short-term in its intentions as far as France was concerned. In the short-run the liberal idea o f conquest was proved quite wrong and its enemies vindicated. But the problem was also a long-run problem and in its wider aspects the liberal theorists would have found some justification. 1 Hemmen Papers, NG-4198, 'Vermerk über die HPA-Sitzung im A A vom 7. November. 19 4 *’ .

* DFCAA., i. 160. 3 Ibid., p. 166. 4 ‘Besatzungskostenfremden Ausgaben’. 5 Hemmen Papers, NG-4526, *Sitzung des Handelspolitischen Ausschusses vom 26. November 1942*.

288

CONCLUSION

The study o f individual industries and the relative failure o f Germ an policies o f exploitation suggests that that failure was due not only to the con­ tradictions o f German policy but also to the falling rates o f labour produc­ tivity in the French economy. It is the behaviour o f the French labour force during the war, and, indeed, the whole history o f the French resistance movement, which assert that the economics o f conquest cannot wholly be calculated in terms o f cash. The average daily output at the coal face in French coal-mines fell by 39 per cent between 1938 and 1944. Longer hours o f work and a bigger labour force kept the output o f coal in France slightly above the pre-war level for the same territorial area, but by 1943 these remedies were failing as productivity fell further. In that year also it became clear that the same fundamental prob­ lem was at the bottom o f Germ any’s failure to increase the output o f the ironore mines. In bauxite mines the output per employee at the close o f 1943 was roughly h alf the level o f 1939. There was far m ore absenteeism than in pre­ war years. O ccasionally acts o f deliberate sabotage were committed, but a constant unwillingness, which constituted a form o f passive sabotage more effective than more overt acts, prevailed. This state o f affairs was not confined to the extractive industries. In June 1942 it took four times as many working hours to manufacture a Fieseler-Storch aeroplane in the M oräne Saulnier works as it would have done to manufacture the same aeroplane in Germ any.1 The first Arado aircraft to be manufactured at Saint-Nazaire was sabotaged on 29 M ay 1942.1 It would be impossible to prove that the higher accident rates recorded in mines were due to the resistance o f the labour force. In part they were caused by the deterioration o f the equipment and the influx o f less skilled labour. But these higher accident rates were also recorded on the rail­ way system, and so were the higher rates o f absenteeism.2 Passive resistance o f this sort to the occupier cannot be measured. There were many good reasons why productivity should decrease whatever the mood o f the labour force. Deterioration both o f fixed capital and o f the level o f skill o f the workers had their effect. The chronic shortage o f raw materials and fuel meant constant interruptions to the production process. Coal-m ining opera­ tions, for example, were frequently suspended for lack o f pit-props. The workers in many industries had to submit to much longer hours and the work force itself was growing older, especially in mining industries. Finally, there was undernourishment. The reduction in food consumption in France during the war was more drastic than in other western occupied territories. The consumption o f every main category o f foodstuffs was reduced by more than one-third. In the Netherlands where the reductions were also very severe the ration remained 1 FD 671/46, Mbh. in F., Rü-I‘A’, ‘Lagebericht’, June 1942. * P. Durand, ‘La politique de l’emploi à la SNCF pendant la deuxième guerre mondiale*, in Revue d'histoire de la deuxième guerre mondiale, lvii (1965).

2«9

CONCLUSION

higher. The reductions in France began, o f course, before the occupation, and the French population suffered a longer spell o f low rations than the population o f either Belgium or the Netherlands. There were the further difficulties that the ration was not always obtainable and that much food had to be bought at very high prices on the black market. The working popula­ tion was less well fed even than the official rations suggest. T a blb 66 Food Rations in France and Percentage Drop By Comparison with Average Pre-war Consumption(• (grammes per week) Commodity

4th quarter 1941

4th quarter 1942

Bread Meat Fat Cheese Sugar! Potatoes

i ,925 2$0f 125 70 500 ••

2,100 1,925 180-125 190-120 100 to 70 70-55 50 50 500 500 4-6 kgs 4-6 kgs.

Drop in French ration in 1940 by comparison with pre-war (percentage) Bread 19 Meat 48 Fat 5«

4th quarter 1943

Further drop 1940-3/4 in comparison with pre-war (percentage)

Ration in 1943/4 in comparison with pre-war (percentage)

ii

TO 18 31

34

13

* H. Kistenmacher, op. dt., pp. 21-9. t 180-125 grammes in places with less than 8,000 inhabitants. I Grammes per month.

The effect o f these lowered rations on the population was very variable. Since the black market was so prevalent that was inevitable. N or did German agricultural policy persuade the peasants and smaller farmers to part with so large a part o f their surplus as they had sold before the war. The over-all crude death rate in France increased from 15*3 per thousand in 1939 to 19*1 in 1944.' The infant m ortality rate also increased. But because agricultural producers retained greater supplies for their own consumption and, even more, because access to black-m arket food supplies was easier and required less cash in the countryside, a marked difference emerged in the vital statistics o f the rural and urban populations. W hile in general the rural death rate increased the general 1 HNSEE., Mouvement économique etc., op. d t., p. 73> 8X14839

U

290

CONCLUSION

m ortality rate in some o f the more remote rural areas improved in the period 1941-3 by com parison with 1936-8. In the department o f Indre, for exam ple, it fell by 11 per cent, and in the departments o f Mayenne and Orne the fall was alm ost as great.1 In the heavily populated urban areas, where m ost o f the working population lived, the general m ortality rate rose steeply in those years, so that in the departments o f Seine and Seine-et-Oise it was 24 per cent and 23 per cent higher respectively than over the period 1936-8. In Bouches-duRhône the increase was 57 per cen t W hen allowance is made for all, there still remains the impression that the workers were not prepared to produce for a cause with which they disagreed. Certainly the German administration had no illusions on that matter. They complained that the French work-force was hostile to the attacks on the liberal fram ework in which they worked.2 The workers did not like the work­ book with which they were issued.2 N or did they like being studied to provide statistical inform ation. They had even tried to boycott a concert given at the Gnòm e et Rhône works) by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Reprisals against such behaviour only led to a further fall in output. Germ an policy itself contributed in the early stages o f the occupation to this state o f affairs. So limited were Germ an aims in respect o f the French econom y in 1940 that so long as the Vichy government provided the cash and did not impede Germ an actions in those sectors o f the economy where G er­ many had a vital interest it had a certain freedom o f action in its own labour policy, especially if that labour policy was designed to further the cause o f law and order. Accordingly in autumn 1940 the French government was allowed to follow a policy o f mopping-up unemployment by whatever means it could devise. The result was a period o f slack working and low productivity. B y 1942, when this was not at all in German interests, there was nothing the administra­ tion could do to break the habits o f slack working, reinforced as they now were by the steady hostility o f the population as a whole. The labour force was violently affected by the invasion. The advance o f the Germ an troops was accompanied by an enormous dispersion o f the popula­ tion attempting to avoid the enemy.4 This disturbance took place at the same time as the collapse o f production in those industries which had been particu­ larly involved in the French war effort. In certain areas o f France and also in certain sectors o f industry there was a dramatic fall in the number o f employed persons, while in other areas o f the country, particularly in the south-west and in the unoccupied zone, there was an equally dram atic increase in the numbers o f those seeking employment. The invasion came with the effect o f a 1 M. Cépède, op. dt., p. 406. * FD 671/46, Mbh. in F., Wehrwirtschafts- und Rüstungsstab Frankreich, ‘Lagebericht Mai 1942’, 2 June 1942. * Very similar to the‘livret’ against the imposition of which their predecessors had struggled in the nineteenth century. 4 J. Vidalenc, L'Exode de mai-juin 1940 (Paris, 1957).

CONCLUSION

291

bomb exploded in relatively placid waters. In September 1940 when the occupiers attempted a partial labour census the ripples were not yet stilled. The census applied to industrial firms with more than 100 employees and to firms in the service sector o f the econom y with more than 50. It did not T a b l e 67

Results o f the Partial Census o f Employment in the Occupied Area o f France, Septem ber 194&* Sector

Number of firms ind. in sample

Total employed in first 6 months of 1939 (monthly average)

Total employed in August 1940

August 1940 employment as percentage of first 6 months o f 1939

Mining Iron and steel Non-ferrous metals Chemicals Textiles and clothing Hides and skins Rubber Paper and cellulose Stone and earth Construction Wood Foodstuffs Other industries Gas and electricity supply Public transport Commercial undertakings Banking and Insurance Average

83 576 305 216

158456 353,179 107415 67,107

134486 123,675 44,296 31,952

85 35 41 48

603 "5 61 210 158 I64 II3 312 7

210,804 29,876 25,570 38,628 45,262 48,520 22,886 87,704 2,909

135.398 20,578 9.093 29419 20,674 24429 12,186 60,376 1,109

64 68 36 SO 46 SO 53 69 38

542 112

35475 46,507

30,229 22439

86 48

523

109,275

64.787

59

199

49459

35.185

71 55

• NA., T.71, Roll 101, 602972, Mbh. in F., Wi. 1/5, ‘Ergebnisse der Erhebung von September 1940 für das besetzte Gebiet Frankreichs’. apply to the two northern departments nor to the annexed areas. Even in the occupied zone, however, there was one department, Landes, where the labour force had increased since 1939. In several departments in eastern and northern France the number employed was less than h alf the m onthly average o f the first h alf o f 1939. There were also wide variations in the level o f employment in different industries. In m etallurgical and chemical industries the volum e o f employment was less than h alf its immediate pre-war level.

CONCLUSION

292

In the light o f these statistics the policy o f the Vichy government and the German adm inistration seems an attem pt to get back to some image o f nor* m ality at whatever cost. The return o f the refugees, encouraged by the G er­ mans, could not be accomplished without the creation o f a large number o f jobs. In August the number o f unemployed continued to increase especially in Paris and the other big towns.1 Prefects were empowered to order a shorter

T ablb 68 Estim ated Proportion o f Em ployed Persons in August 1940 by Comparison with M onthly Averages o f First S ix M onths o f 1939 by Department* Landes Vendée Basses-Pyrénées Deux-Sèvres Saône-et-Loire Gironde Vienne Ille-et-Vilaine Maine-et-Loire Orne Morbihan Finistère Mayenne Loire-Inférieure Allier Jura

(percentage) Charente Indre-et-Loire Vosges Sarthe Yonne Eure-et-Loir Nièvre Côte-d’Or Aube CharenteInférieure Manche Haute-Saône Seine-et-Mame Loir-et-Cher Eure

Seine-Inférieure 76 115 Oise 74 9« Doubs 7» 91 Seine 67 »7 Cher 86 63 62 Côtes-du-Nord 84 Loiret 61 84 Calvados 60 83 81 Meuse 59 Maine 80 Seine-et-Oise 79 59 Haute-Marne 78 57 Aisne 78 57 Meurthe-et78 5« Moselle 77 55 Somme 7« 54 • N .A., T.71, Roll 101, 602973/4-

52 47 46 4« 45 45 44 42 40 39 37 32 31 27 27

working day and the Secretary o f State for Finance was empowered to provide funds for public-works projects. According to Bouthillier the government spent 50,000,000,000 francs on financing public works.1 It was in these circumstances, as the situation deteriorated and there seemed as yet little hope o f Germ an policy bringing about an industrial recovery, that the Com m issariat for the Struggle against Unemployment was formed under François Lehideux. Its programme o f action was outlined in the law o f i i O ctober, published on 29 O ctober in the Journal O fficiel. It would under­ take a m odernization o f French transport and harbour installations, including some railway electrification. There would be a special programme for Paris, embracing an extension o f the underground railway and improvements in the sanitation o f the older quarters. Powers for this last plan were taken in the decree published on 22 November. The realization was less grand than the plan. The work o f the Com m issariat seems to have consisted largely o f forcing com pulsory short-time working on 1 BA., R 7 VIII 207, Mbh. In F., Wi.Abt., 'Wirtschaftsbericht für August 1940’, 4 Sept­ ember 1940.

1 Y. Bouthillier, op. dt., ii. 231.

CONCLUSION

293

to employers, no exceptions being allowed until after the winter, when the number o f unemployed had fallen to 350,000.* The speed with which this heavy unemployment was absorbed can only have been due to the growth o f widespread underemployment. In many cases this must have represented a patriotic gesture on the part o f entrepreneurs who, encouraged by the govern­ ment, were prepared to conspire with their employees against the common enemy. Once the unemployment crisis was over production in France settled down at a level more than 25 per cent below that o f pre-war. Already a labour shortage rather than an unemployment problem was on the horizon. But the pattern o f events is o f greater significance than as an unexplored problem o f French history. For it is only too likely that it is a universal pat­ tern rather than merely an aspect o f French patriotism. A fter the invasion o f Belgium there were over 500,000 unemployed not counting the refugees. B y December 1940 only 219,000 were unemployed. By spring 1941 Belgium was already feeling the nip o f a labour shortage.2The level o f production, however, was lower than in 1939. Falling productivity is alm ost certainly endemic to an occupied economy and one o f its causes is the reluctance o f the workers to work. Increasing productivity is endemic to a war economy. The economies o f the occupier and the occupied thus move in diam etrically opposite directions. The one becomes more capital-intensive as the demand for labour increase, the other more labour-intensive as the human spirit displays its capacity for resistance. In spite o f reduced food supply, o f housing shortages, o f longer hours o f work, o f increases in accidents as the work is speeded up, o f capital deprecia­ tion, and o f lower-grade substituted materials, the general long-run effect o f war economies has been to increase the productivity o f labour. A programme to manufacture armaments represents the same kind o f stimulation to the economy as a public-works programme, but the one is alm ost inevitably ac­ companied by a labour shortage, while the other is the result o f excess labour. The accelerated rate o f mechanization o f American agriculture in the C ivil W ar and in the First W orld W ar was the result o f an increase in the rates o f pay o f farm labour due to recruitment and higher rates o f pay in industry.1 Improvements in productivity in Britain in the First W orld W ar were closely associated with similar large movements o f labour.4 In Germ any during the Second W orld W ar, in spite o f the use o f foreign labour, the productivity o f labour in industry rose throughout the war. The United States Strategic Bombing Survey estimated the rise at about 12 per cent; W agenffihr’s own 1 Ibid., p. 363. K. Ringel, op. cit., p. 50 IT. 1 F. Baudhuin, op. cit., p. 299. » E. Altschuhl and F. Strauss, Technical Progress and Agricultural Depression, National Bureau of Economic Research, Bulletin no. 672 (New York, 1937) ; A. Tilden, The Legislation o f the C ivil War Period Considered as a Basis o f the Agricultural Revolution in the United States (Los Angeles, 1937). * A. L. Bowley, Some Economic Consequences o f the Great War (London, 1930), p. 171.

294

CONCLUSION

estimates made during the w ar suggest the increase might have been even greater.1 In Germ any, as in the economies o f the other im portant com batants during the war, the sectors o f industry where employment and output rose were the m ore capital-intensive sectors. Labour moved both voluntarily and under com pulsion from the more labour-intensive sectors o f the econom y into air­ craft m anufacture, m otor vehicle construction, armaments m anufacture, the m anufacture o f electrical equipment, and sim ilar industries. In all these industries, under the pressure o f desperate urgency, continual improvements in the m anufacturing process were introduced. There were, o f course, lim ita­ tions on this process. In older industries, such as coal-m ining, continuing increases in productivity were not possible, while the need for greater produc­ tion was always present. Nevertheless, the general movement o f labour out o f agriculture, building w ork, service industries, and older industries where improvements in productivity were now very sm all, such as textiles, was very m arked. Sim ilar movements o f labour can be observed in both Britain and the U nited States in the First and Second W orld W ars. France suffered from the contrary tendency. The departure o f labour from the agricultural sector o f the French econom y had been slowed down by the unstable industrial situation after 1933.* This tendency was only reinforced by the war. T o remain on the land was to be safer, better fed, and probably better remunerated. The number o f people em ployed in the central adm ini­ stration grew, not only because o f the new conceptions o f central government brought by the conquerors but also as part o f the government’s employment policies. The m achinery o f price control and com m odity control required a great increase in the number o f permanent and tem porary civil servants. There were also the ’chantiers de jeunesse’ to be provided fo r.3The influence o f the occupation on French industries was very haphazard and much depended on the source o f supply o f the basic raw materials. Electrical industries in France suffered particularly, as they were large consumers o f non-ferrous metals. In the m etal-working industries, where the growth o f productivity is particularly marked in the economies o f the com batants, productivity in France fell. B y 1944 the labour force, 130,000 strong in 1939, had diminished by about 15 per cent; output, however, was in general only 74 per cent o f pre­ war, although in some branches higher.4 In the wood-working industries, where Germ any made several efforts to bring about a measure o f industrial concentration in order to free labour, only 0*3 per cent o f the firms were actu­ ally closed, and perfume manufacturers managed to avoid the worst conse• USSBS., Special Papers No. 8, Report 134a; Deutsches Institut fOrWirtschaftsforschung,

Die deutsche Industrie im Kriege 1939-1945 (Berlin, 1954), pp. 79 ff. 2 J. Fourastié, 'La population active française pendant la seconde guerre mondiale', in

Revue d’histoire de ht deludente guerre mondiale, Iviii (196$). 1 Y. Bouthillier, op. dt., ii. 370.

* CCDR-, iii, A. 1 . 19.

CONCLUSION

295

quences o f almost all German actions threatening them with closure.1 M ost astonishing o f all, the number o f jewellers and makers o f small luxury articles increased. The shortage o f precious metals effectively closed down the most costly branches o f their trade, more effectively no doubt than German admini­ strative action, but the prevalent fear o f inflation and distaste for currency ensured that the number o f firms was still able to increase by 1944.* Whereas for most o f the participants in the war, and even many neutrals, the productive effort necessary meant an escape from the unemployment o f the previous decade and a period o f dynamic growth o f at least some sectors o f their economy, for France it meant a continuation o f the same dishearten­ ing trend o f the 1930s. Such may well be the inescapable fate o f any occupied economy. The falling rate o f productivity involved conqueror as well as conquered. It was the background to that inflation which was kept at bay only to strike with redoubled effect once the occupation had ended. It is the declining level o f productivity, rooted as it undoubtedly was in the resistance o f French society to the conquerors, that exposes the flimsy superficiality both o f the Vichy government’s proud boast that it saved the franc and o f the attempts by Speer and Bichelonne to create a ’rational’ New Order. The history o f German dealings in the international wolfram market is sufficient evidence o f the inflationary tendencies that threatened her isolated economic system. The precarious balance o f that system was no less threatened by the results o f occupation. Where the French worker contrived to keep a reasonable standard o f living during the war he did so at the expense o f productivity, and in so doing he struck a hard, if indirect, blow for liberal theory against the New Economic Order. But the vindication o f the liberal idea does not necessarily follow from these facts. The disputes about German economic policy, the uncertainties and the mistakes, have to be seen in relation to the historical context o f that policy. That conquest, in the long run is not profitable, is too satisfyingly moral a lesson to draw. Each conqueror has his philosophy o f conquest and can only act within the bounds o f that philosophy. Seen in historical perspective the National Socialist conquests were an attempt to solve the political and eco­ nomic problems o f Germany by solving those o f Europe on the same principles. The New Economic Order was ultimately essential if National Socialist Germany was not always to face overwhelming economic problems in a hostile world. The economic developments in Germany after the National Socialist revolution were meaningless in the long run if confined to one country; conquest was inherent in them. But the weaknesses in that philosophy o f con­ quest, the weaknesses responsible for its confusions and failures, were not universal weaknesses; rather they were unique to the development o f the National Socialist philosophy. 1 Ibid., A. 1. ai, A. 1. 25.

* Ibid., iv, A. 1. 28.

296

CONCLUSION

The National Socialist revolution, like the economic system to which it gave birth, was itself the creation o f a distinctive economic and historical process in Germany. Outside the frontiers o f Germany that revolution awoke chords o f sympathy in very few breasts. Those who were attracted by the idea o f the New Order deserve serious study by historians instead o f the contemptuous scorn they have received. A ll were at loggerheads with their own society and most were soon to be at loggerheads with their German conquerors. Thus, Victor Leemans, Secretary-General o f the M inistry o f Economic Affairs in Belgium and advocate o f the economic integration o f Belgium and Germany, came into frequent dispute with the German administration in his country. So too Bichelonne, who after constant disagreement with German policy in France, could still believe in September 1943 that a practical solution to the New Order had been found. The uniqueness o f the historical and economic development which created the revolution in Germany meant that it could only be imposed on Europe by force. Hitler was realist enough always to accept that position. Because o f that, neither the short-run profitability o f the National Socialist theory o f conquest nor its long-run difficulties should be taken as anything but unique historical facts. Rather should they lead us to reject the liberal idea o f con­ quest for its unreasoning universality than to justify it. The instrument by which the New Order was to be created was the Blitz­ krieg. Like every plan for war it had, in Clausewitz’s words, ‘the circumscrib­ ing nature o f a synthesis’.1 Its existence as a strategic plan placed severe restrictions on the development o f economic policy in the occupied territories. W hile the Blitzkrieg was at the height o f its success the French economy was required only to provide the cash to help finance other campaigns, and some o f the raw materials and equipment with which they were fought. For the rest France was left in almost total ignorance o f her future role. M any o f the developments in the French economy which effectively hampered its exploita­ tion by Germany had already taken place by the time Germany became interested in the wider economic value o f her conquest. Once the Blitzkrieg had failed Germany was brought face to face with the problem that there existed a fundamental opposition between the revolution and the practical means o f achieving it. That opposition had always been pre­ sent, for the revolution made little appeal to other European societies where it was not rooted in their own development. But it had been o f little impor­ tance to Germany, thanks to the success o f Hitler’s strategy. However, after the collapse o f that strategy the New Order could only be built by mobilizing the occupied economies, in particular that o f France, in such a way as to change the shape o f the New Order itself. The practical need o f fighting the war now came into conflict with the fascist movement and the National Socialist revolution, not only in Germany but in the occupied territories also. W as it 1 C. von Clausewitz, Vom Kriege, trans. J. J. Graham (London, 1962), p. 97.

CONCLUSION

297

worth building a New Order which would contain many o f the most hated features o f the old order? The war, and the measures necessary to win it, thus became a threat to the purity o f the revolution and to the new Europe it had been on the verge o f creating. In these circumstances the divided aims o f the National Socialist revolution itself became very apparent. The disputes about economic policy in France and Russia were also disputes about the ultimate aims o f the revolution in Germany. These divisions were smoked into the open by war’s burning brand. It is not surprising that Sauckel should have come to play so dominant a role in German occupation policy. The weakest point o f the fascist idea o f conquest was bound to be its relations with labour. The French workers struck at the insecure foundations o f the whole edifice; they could not be compelled to work more productively. Labour problems had eventually to dominate all other aspects o f the economic existence o f the occupied powers. Had there been general agreement on the aims o f the revolution, policy in France might still have been coherent once the Blitzkrieg had failed. But the collapse o f Hitler’s strategy posed again the question (and now with more serious intent) : ‘W hat kind o f new Europe ?’ And to that question the National Socialist Party had not one but several answers. Hitler’s answer remained the same. The little regard he showed for Laval or Quisling, for Degrelle or Sima, stemmed from his perfectly realistic appraisal o f the historical differences between his own society and France, Norway, Belgium, or Romania. His high regard for Mussolini was no mere idiosyncracy, he correctly saw in the Duce a representation o f many o f the historical forces which had also brought a fascist movement to power in Germany. The less realistic party members supposed their own revolution to be more imminent in other European societies. Such delusions produced Rosenberg’s plans for Russia, in Hitler’s opinion impracticable dreams. It is this capacity to realize accurately the enormity o f the situation that faced him in 1942 that shows Hitler the supreme realist; his life, and his death, show him the supreme fascist revolutionary.

A NOTE ON SOURCES Unpublished h b National Archives of the United States contain a great deal of valuable material for the economic history of the Second World War. Their catalogues are so familiar to other historians that I will not bore them with a list of the actual materials used in this book. Suffice it to say that I have referred to them in the conventional way giving the reference to collection, reel of microfilm, and the number of the specific film. As the original documentary collections looted from Germany at the end of the war are returned to the Bundesarchiv so does that archive become one of the most important of the relevant documentary collections, and rightly so. Where I have used materials in the Bundesarchiv I have referred to them by their key signature in the FindbUcher. Since one of the major parts of the Bundesarchiv’s collection is the socalled 'Speer Collection’, and since some parts of that 'collection* exist both in the Foreign Documents Centre of the Imperial War Museum in London and also in Washington, it may not come amiss to make some general remarks about the nature of that collection, as far as its history is yet known. Many of the working papers of the Speer Ministry, including the Minister’s own correspondence, were destroyed in the air raid on Berlin on the night of 22/3 November 1943. From that date onwards duplicate copies were kept of the most important papers and this fact is to some extent responsible for the confusion that has since been caused by these papas. When Speer himself surrendered at Flensburg in May 1945 he handed over to his captors a 'bulging briefcase* of documents. These are the statistical papers originally referred to by Chester Wilmot.1 At the same time he revealed the hiding-places of other documents belonging to his Ministry. These caches contained a set of the minutes of his conferences with Hitler, minutes of the meetings of Zentrale Planung, and other important miscellaneous papers. Many of the papers were filmed by the United States Strategic Bombing Survey. There are sets of these photostats in the Imperial War Museum which are complete, and incomplete sets in the National Archives. The National Archives, however, has a complete set of translations and also has deposited with it the papers of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey itself. Those documents not used by the United States Strategic Bombing Survey seem to have been scattered. In Britain many made their way to Whaddon Hall, where the captured Auswärtiges Amt archives were being microfilmed, and were microfilmed there. These are available in the Public Record Office and in the National Archives. The United States and British govern­ ments have long carried out a programme of microfilming the captured archives and returning the originals to Germany. Many of the captured collections in Britain were transferred to the keeping of the Air Historical Branch of the Air Ministry from where they have been moved to the Foreign Documents Centre of the Imperial War Museum. The collections in the Foreign Documents Centre, of course, contain mudi more than original or filmed Speer Ministry papers. But it is in respect of those papers that most confusion has arisen. The original memoranda of Speer’s conferences with

T

1 C. Wilmot, The Strugglefor Europe (London, 1952), p. 720.

NOTE ON SOURCES

299

Hitler are now in the Bundesarchiv. The Foreign Documents Centre has sets of photostats made from those originals. The Bundesarchiv seems to have original copies of most of Speer’s reports to Hitler and the Foreign Documents Centre to have photostats. But some of these photostats in the Foreign Documents Centre are of documents which seem to have been handed over at Flensburg by Speer, the originals of which are apparently not in the Bundesarchiv. There appear to be a number of original documents of the same origin in the Foreign Documents Centre which have never been filmed. The Bundesarchiv has most of the Minister’s surviving corre* spondence, which was not microfilmed after the war, but some is in the Foreign Documents Centre. In addition, the Foreign Documents Centre has some files of decrees and reports and the Ministerial chronicle for 1943. The chronicle for other years has not yet been found. A substantial series of the original minutes of Zentrale Planung also exists in the Foreign Documents Centre. Equally useful for this book, however, were the other captured records in the Foreign Documents Centre. I might single out the files of IVirtsehaftsabteilung Ufa of the German High Command in Paris, which seem to have been roughly divided between Washington and London. Those in Washington are available on microfilm. There are also in the Foreign Documents Centre records of the Reichswirtschafts­ ministerium, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium, the Reichsgruppe Industrie, the Reichs­ kommissarfür die besetzten Norwegischen Gebiete, the Rüstungsstab Dänemark, and various other German agencies together with many private industrial papers. The collection is still growing and now includes some valuable sets of war-crime trial documentsand the seventy volumes of the Handakten of Generalfeldmarschall Milch. I have referred to materials in the Foreign Documents Centre by the ‘FD* (Foreign Document) numbers originally allocated to them. These numbers refer only to the file itself. I have therefore given in every case the description and date of the document. I cannot pretend that this makes it easy for subsequent scholars to find that document, but I can think of no method which could make it easier. At least they may console themselves that it is easier for them than it was for me. The ’FD’ num­ bers are listed in the original catalogue prepared by Air Historical Branch 6 of the Air Ministry. Where I have used trial documents I have referred to them by their original Nürnberg reference. With all its disadvantages that at least means that the published excerpts in the official record of the trials can be related to the original document. The documents in the library of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace are referred to by a full description of the document.

Published Immediately after the liberation of France the French government undertook the publication of the documents relating to the discussions of the Franco-German Armistice Commission at Wiesbaden. These are published, in five volumes, as La Délégation Française auprès de la Commission Allemande d*Armistice, Recueil de documents publié par le gouvernement français (Paris, A. Costes éditeur, Imprimerie Nationale, 1947- ). While it is true that the Armistice Commission declined in importance, the documents published remain of great interest. Of inestimable value for the economic history of the war, lacking only that final authority of actual docu­ ments, are the nine volumes of Présidence du Conseil, Commission Consultative des Dommages et des Réparations, Dommages subis par la France et l'Union Française

du fait de la guerre et de l'occupation ennemie (1939-1945), Part imputable à

300

NOTE ON SOURCES

FAllemagne (Paris, Imprimerie Nationale, 1947-51). Of a certain interest are the three volumes, France During the German Occupation 1940-1944 (La Vie de la France sous 1'occupation ( 1940-1944)), A collection o f 292 statements on the government o f Maréchal Pétain and Pierre Laval (Stanford, The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, 1957). Their quality does not measure up to their size. The three volumes contain mainly misleading, self-justificatory statements. Of more general application, but still containing relevant material, are the Docu­ ments on German Foreign Policy 1918-1945, Series D (1937-1945) (London, H.M.S.O., 1949-64). The same is true for International Military Tribunal, Nürnberg,

Trial o f the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Docu­ ments in Evidence (Nürnberg, 1947-9). Two manuscripts written during the war and

containing much original material have since been published as books by later editors, G. Thomas, Grundlagen für eine Geschichte der deutschen Wehr- und Rüstungswirtschaft, Schriften des Bundesarchivs, 14, ed. W. Birkenfeld (Boppard am Rhein, 1966) and Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Die deutsche Industrie im Kriege 1939-1945 (Berlin, 1954). The second book is really the work of Dr. Rolf Wagenführ. Other collections of statistical and economic information deserve singling out. The Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques published some wartime statistical information in Le Mouvement économique en France de 1938 à 1948 (Paris, 1950). The 208 reports of the Office of Strategie Services, United States Strategie Bombing Survey contain some economic informa­ tion on almost every aspect of the war. Those who write the history of modem times must sometimes be embarrassed by the amount of published source-material. The appended list has no pretensions to completeness and merely serves as a supplement to sources cited in the footnotes to the book. Centre belge d’études et de documentation, Commission charbonnière, La Question charbonnière (n.53* 165 f f. 170, 274* 278, 281 in iron-ore mines, 214, 228, 231, 259 in wolfram mines, 248 labour laws, 166 ff. migratory, 259 movement of between sectors, 294 resistance to deportation, 123 ‘Service du travail obligatoire*, 121 skilled labour, 115, 232 strikes, 193, 207 training programme, 119, 173 Lammers, Hans-Heinrich, 165 Lfinderbeauftragten, 159, 178 Landes, 4, 291 Landwirtschaftsfahrer, 264 Laval, Pierre: aircraft industry, 84 and labour, 114 ff., 166 and Pétain, 60, 78 Hitler's opinion of, 41, 297 meeting with Speer, 149 Mines de Bor, 74 political ideas, 60 return to office, 112 Lead, 29,108 French production of, 35 Leather, 35* >33 Lebensraum, 24, 286 Le Creusot, 52 Leemans, Victor, 296 Lehideux, François, 292 Les établissements Bernard, 261 n. Les gazogènes Imbert, 100 Leucamp wolfram mine, 35, 245, 248 Ley, Robert, 162,176 Liberalism: the idea o f conquest in, 1 ff., 43,269,287, 295 German liberal thought, 148 Liefergemeinschaft der Eisenerzgruben in Lothringen und Meurthe-et-Moselle, 213, 229 Limoges, 245 Linen, 108, 133 List, Friedrich, 8 Lorraine, 15, 36,184, 202, 210 Louisiana, 4 Ludendorff, General Erich, 16 Luftwaffe, 235 Luxembourg, 47» 210 ff. Mabboux et Camell, 101 n. Machinery, 131, 178 Machine-tool industry, 125 in France, 37* 50, 77 high-speed cutting tools, 244

316

INDEX

Magnesium: contract with Junkers, 87,108 trade agreements with Germany, 72 Maize, 26 Malthus, Thomas Robert, 17 Manganese, 26, 29 Maquis, 154 Market-gardening, 259, 261 Marxism, i8 t, 201 Maurienne bauxite mines, 239 Mayenne, 290 Mazoute, 193 Meat, 2 6 ,10 8 ,131,19 7, 236, 265 Mein Kampf» 1« 18 Melon, Jean-François, 3-4,6 Mers el-Kébir, 38,43 Metallplan, 123 Meurthe-et-Moselle, 36 steel industry in, 171,218 ff. Mexico, 35 Michel, Elmar, 34, 108, 140, 130, 177 Michelin, 103 Milch, Eberhard, 122,163 Militärbefehlshaber im Belgien und Nord­ frankreich (High Command in Belgium and Northern France), 129, 167, 177, 189, 192,196 Militflrbefehlshaber im Frankreich (High Command in France), 34,36,66,77,18 9, 192-3,198,229,263-6,268,281 Militflrbefehlshaber im Frankreich Ver­ waltungsstab (Administrative Brandi), 34 Militflrbefehlshaber im Frankreich— Wirt­ schaftsabteilung (Economic Division), description of, 34, 69, 278 report, Sept. 1940, 69 statistics of, 130,134, 279 M ilitary administration o f invaded terri­ tories, 30 M ilitary equipment: seizure o f in France, 178,274,280 M ilk, 263-6 M ill, John, 7 n. Miners. 198, 203, 206,209, 232,232 Mines de Sosnowice, 99 Minette ore, 39,131, 210 ff. Ministère de l’Agriculture (Ministry o f Agriculture), 239 Ministère de la production industrielle (Ministry o f Industrial Production), 228-9 Ministry of Economic Warfare, 29, 244 Mission de la Restauration Paysanne (Mis­ sion o f peasant restoration), 260 Mitteleuropa, 17, 21, 24, 27, 29 de Molinari, Gustave, 10 ff, 16-17 Molybdenum, 29

mine at Ch&teau Lambert, too mine at Knaben, 246 Money in the French economy, 64 Monroe Doctrine, 24 Montbelleux wolfram mine, 243, 247-8,

225

Montchrétien, Antoine de, 3 Montdelesse wolfram mine, 243,232 Montmins wolfram mine, 100, 243-6 Montoire, 97,132 Moors, 4 Moräne Saulnier works, 288 Moselle, 39, 210b f. Mosley, Oswald, 18-19 Moulins, 32 Munitions factories, 14,128 ‘powder plan*, 128-9 Munz, Alfred, 270 Mussolini, Benito, 22, 297 Napoleon Bonaparte, 8-9 National Income: o f France, 273, 276 o f Germany, 271, 276 National Sodalist German Workers* Party: and conquest, 1,43 and economic development, 18, 23 ff., i l l , 146 economic polides, 4 4 ,112 ,179 ,2 12 National Socialist revolution, nature of, 149, i« 9. 295, 297 peasants, 260, 264 planning, 234 National socialist government, 43,68 Netherlands, 5 , 47, 50, 53. 55.98 , 139.18 2 , 192, 200, 254-5, 271, 282, 285, 288 New Caledonia, 35 N ickd, 27, 29, 244 French imports of, 35 Nidda, Krug von, 152 Nitrogen, 30, 262 Non-ferrous metals, 82,93, 245,280,294 Nord and Pas-de-Calais, 45, 52, 129, 186,

193

Nordostlinie, 45, 52-3 Norway, 50,185, 271, 282, 285, 297 Oats, 26, 29,10 8 ,131, 255 Oberdonau bauxite mines, 240 Occupation costs, 28-9, 52,65, 76,80,125, 130, 177. 267, 269b f., 279. 287 Occupation policy, 42 ff. Occupied zone, 52,67, 277,139 Office central de répartition des produits industriels, 69,134,277, 278 OU. 286 crade minerai, 26,29, 30

INDEX French production of, 35-3 shortage of, 199,261 synthetic, 29 Oil seeds, 267 Organization Otto, 249 Organization Todt, 194 Orone, 290 Ostland G.m.b.H. (Reichsland Landbewirt* schaftungs G.m.b.H.), 45, 80, 264 Oxen, 261 Panasqueira mines, 244 Paris, 15,292 Parti Polulaire Française, 41 Patenfinnen, 157 Peasants, 259-60, 268,289 Peat, 197 Pechelbronn, 34 Pétain, Marshall Philippe, and agriculture, 260 his view o f French economic society, 60 his view of the future Europe, 6s, 143 meeting with Hitler at Montoire, 73 Peter the Great, Tsar, 3 Pettofina, 97 Petty, Sir William, 3 Phosphates: French exports of, 91 in Alsace, 39, 262 in France, 33,91 in French North Africa, 91,132, 262 shipping of, 92 stocks of, 73 Piedmont, 16 Pig iron, 227 Pleiger, Paul, 183,192 Poland, 10 ,4 2,142,131,178 ,182,226,239 General-Government of, 42, 33, 79, 96, 271,285 Political parties, 11-12 Population, rural, 260 Portugal, 244,246,249,231 Posse, Hans, 31 Potatoes, 26, 39. 75. 9*. 255, *68 Powder, 30,130 powder plan, 128 ff. Power stations, 190,193 Prato, Giuseppe, 16 Price control, 36,114,169,263,267,272 Prisoners of war, 13, 130, 229, 232 ff., 241, 259, 260,264, 281 employed in German agriculture, 87 employed in German aircraft industry, 87 exchanged for workers, 114 status of, 122 Productivity in France, 63» 109, 137, 243, 262,288, 293

317

Labour productivity, 241,286,288 in bauxite industry, 242-3 in coal mines, 200 ff. in iron-ore mines, 214 ff., 230 ff. o f French workers in Gennany, 274-3 Prolor, 101 n. Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, 131, 271 ; (see also Czechoslovakia) aircraft industry in, 37 Public works, 292-3 Puy les Vignes wolfram mines, 243,248-9,232 Pyrénnèan ore, 213-14,216,223,229,241 Quesnay, François, 6 Quisling, Vidkun Abraham Lauritz, 41,297 Raabe, Paul, 213 Radio equipment, 82 Railways, 176,199, 241,281, 288, 292 coal, 190,193-4 goods wagons, 132, 241, 281 locomotives, 132, 230, 276, 281 passenger carriages, 132 Rassemblement National Populaire, 41 Rationing, 67, 68, 207, 288-9 Raw materials, 277,280,283 booty in Europe, 80 booty in France, 80-1,128 transportation of, 241, 249 utilization of, 141-2 Rearmament: in Germany, 30,284,283 Reichsamt für Kautschuk (Reichs Office for Rubber), 93 Reichsbank, 39 Reichsfinanzministerium (Reichs Finance Ministry), 269 Reichskohlenkommissar, see Pleiger, Paul Reichskredit kassenschein, 34-3,127 Reichsluftfahrtsministerium (German Air Ministry): in Paris, 83 inquiry into aluminum production, 87 Reichsmark: overvaluation of, 33 Reichsministerium für Bewaffnung und Munition (Reichs Ministry for Arma­ ments and Munitions), later Reich­ ministerium für Rüstungs und Kriegs­ produktion (Reichs Ministry for Armament and War Production), 109, 111,118 ,128 ,134 .138 ,251 Zentrale Planung (Centtal Planning Com­ mittee), 171 ff., 196,226 Reichsministerium für Rüstungs und Kriegs­ produktion, see Reichsministerium für Bewaffnung und Munition

3i 8

INDEX

Reichsnährstand (Reichs Food Estate), 260 Reichswirtschaftskammer, 274 Reichswirtschaftsministerium (Reichs Eco­ nomic Ministry), 46, 65, 102, 106, 109, 192 Renaissance, 20 Renault factories, 194 Renunciation: in fascist thought, 18 ff. Requisitions, 79-80, 247 Resistance in France, 173, 229, 251-2, 261, 288 Rhein-Ruhr Werke, 90 Rhône-Poulenc, 105 Ribbentrop, Joachim von, 40,46,49, 56-7 Röchling, Hermann, 35, 89, 197, 228, 233 Romania, 19,29,73- 4, 9* .9 8 ,177.256,282,

297

Roscher, Wilhelm, 8 Rosenberg, Alfred, 297 Rouen, 15 *Rü-Betriebe*, 157,167, 179 Rubber, 286 French imports o f (from Germany), 93 French production of, 34, 35 French stocks of, 93 natural, 26, 27, 29 synthetic, 29, 30 Ruhr, 192, 200, 214, 218, 225 Rundstedt, General Gerd von, 141 Russia, 3, 17# 20, 27,32,49.269,285, 297 agriculture, 254-5 German attack on, 25 manganese production in, 29 occupation of, 42 production o f in European area, 26-7 resistance in, 173 Russian Prisoners o f war, 203 Russian workers in Germany, 274 Rye, 26, 39 ‘S-Betriebe’, 158, 160, 162, 165 fr., 232 Saarland, 182 ff., 214, 218 Sabotage, 154, 191, 207, 228, 288 Saint-Étienne coal mining basin, 184 St. Hilaire shale-oil field, 34 St. Léonard de Noblat, 245 Saint-Nazaire, 288 Salzgitter ores, 212, 226 Sauckel, Fritz, 109, 112 ff., 138, 145. 229 idea o f fascism, 158,162,164, 297 legislation on prices and wages, 168 Saur, Otto, 174 Say, Jean-Baptiste, 7, 9, 16 Schacht, Hjalmar, 283 Schäffie, Albert Eberhard Friedrich, 17 Schmid, Jonathan, 51, 54

Schumpeter, Joseph Alois, 12 Schutzstaffel (S.S.), 166,170, 177 Scott, Sir William, 13 Scrap iron, 157, 227 Secondary education in France, 62 Seine, 290 Seine-et-Oise, 290 Services, 276, 294 Seyss-lnquart, Arthur von, 25 Share capital transfen, 95-9 Shipbuilding Industry, 162 Siberia, 28, 254 Silesia, 10 Silk, 35 Sima, Horia, 297 Skoda Werke, 177 Slovakia, 78,174, 282 Smith, Adam, 20, 268 Société anonyme des matières colorantes et produits chimiques de Saint-Denis, 101 n. Société anonyme pour l’industrie chimique Mulhouse-Doraach, lo i n. Société de l’Ouenza, 90 Société des matières colorantes de CroixWasquehal, 101 n. Société des produits chimiques et matières colorantes de Mulhouse, 101 n. Société d’études minières, 100 S.F.N.D. (Société française de navigation danubienne), 98 S.N .C.F., see Railways Société pour l’industrie chimique à Bâle, 101 n. Soda industry, 133 Sonderring für Leichtmetalle (Special Ring for Light Metals), 87, 236 Sovereignty, of occupying powers, 13 f. Spain, 4. 35. 232, 244-5, 249. 251, 255, 259 Speer, Albert: aircraft production, 86-7 blitzkrieg, 78 cartels, 147 dispute with Sauckel, 149 ff. foreign labour, 274 French economy, 145-6, 236, 247, 277 labour conscription, 121 policies of, h i , 138 Standard of living, 58 Steaua Romana, 97 Steel, 28 ff., 156, 171, 190, 210 ff., 226 ff., 244.286 Stinnes, Hugo, 27 Straw, 108, 131 Streccius, General Alfred, 54 Streng, Heinz von, 79 Struckart, Wilhelm, 40,45

INDEX Stülpnagel, General Carl-Heinrich von, 48,

51.113.177

Stülpnagel, General Otto von, 56,66, 113 Decree o f 20 May 1940,80 Sugar, 26, 75,92 Sugar beet, 25s Sulphur, 105 Sweden, 27,182,185, 211 ff., 280 Switzerland, 49 Szalasi, Ferenc, 20 Taxation, 270 avoidance o f in France, 63, 265 export tax in France, 70 wartime taxation in France, 62,272 Ter Meer, Fritz, 104 Textiles, 39, 70, 82,94, 193, 294 Thomas, General Georg, 30, 80,106 Thomson-Houston (Paris), 96 Tin, 108, 248 Todt, Fritz, 30,66, 78, 87 Tractors, 233-6, 261 Trade, see Franco-German Trade Trade negotiations, 72 Trading agreement, 39 Transport equipment, 171 seizure of in France, 81, 276 Transportation, 171, 176, 178, 192, 196, 199,222-3, 230, 241. 249, 259, 267, 276, 292 Tubes de Sosnowice, 99 Tungsten, 244, 248-9 Tungstic oxide, 248 Turkey, 28, 35 Tyre industry: in France, 93 Unemployment, 286, 290, 293, 293 Union Nationale des Syndicats Agricoles, 263 United States o f America, 46, 49, 60, 83, 286, 293-4 United States Strategie Bombing Survey, 2H , 271-3, 293 Unoccupied Zone, 36 ff., 277-8,290 Ural Mountains, 23 Ustasa, 18 ‘V-Betriebe’, 137,167 Vanderlint, Jacob, 4-3 Vaulry wolfram mine, 243,248 Vegetables, 108 Verbindungsmänner der Reichsstellen (liaison officers), 140 Vereinigte Aluminium Werke, 87-8,233 Verri, Pietro, 5,286 Versailles, Treaty of, 14,28

319

Vichy, 243 Vichy Government: agriculture, 239-60, 263-3 bauxite, 88, 237 comités d’organisation, 67-8 decline of power, 112 economic outlook, 47 employment policy, 290 expenditure, 272 financial policy, 62-3, 293 opposition to, 207 ore deposits, 248, 260 political manœuvres, 78 secret negotiations of, 76 Vierjahresplan (Four-year Plan): Rohstoffsstab (Raw Material Staff), 71 second plan, 29, 47. 49. 57. 66, 71, 212, 226,227, 235 Voltaire, Jean Francois Marie Aroçet de,

5 n. Waffenstillstands kommission, see Armistice Commission Wagemann-Institut, 271-2 Wagenführ, Rolf, 293 Wages in France, 6 3 ,114 ,13 4 ,16 2 ,16 7 Wagner, Robert, 39 Wakefield, Edward Gibbon, 9 W ar: Boer, 15 First World W ar, 13 ff., 270 in France, 61-2 Franco-Prussian, 11-13 Napoleonic War, 13-14 o f Spanish Succession, 16 Warenstellen (comités de répartition), 69, 72,106,140,136,138, 213, 228 Waterway system, in France, 281 Wehrmacht, 161,234, 287 bauxite for, 237 coal for, 194,198 Wehrwirtschafts-und RUstungsamt, W inSchafts und Rüstungstab Frankreich (Economy and Armaments Office France o f the War Economy and Armaments Staff), 30, 66, 67,78,138 Weinmann, Manfred, 236 Westrick, Dr. Kurt, 87, 233 Weygand, General Maxime, 84 Wheat, 26, 30,108,131,197,233 Wiehl, Emil Karl Josef, 287 W ifo Accounts, 39 William 1, King, 12 Wine, 39. »o8,131, 235. 267 Wirtschaftsgruppe Eisenschaffende In­ dustrie (Economic Group o f the Iron­ manufacturing Industry), 218

320

INDEX

Wolfram, 29,100, 244 ff., 280, 293 French production of, 33 price of, 249 stockpiles of, 243, 247 'Wolfram staff*, 249, 232 Wood, shortage of in coal mines, 206, 208, 229

Wool, 26,94,108 exports to Germany, 93,133 production of in France, 33 Workbook, 290

Yugoslavia: agriculture, 29-30, 35-6i . 73. *55 Zentralauftragstelle (Central Office), 63-6,73,106 aircraft contracts, 83-6 aluminium contracts, 88 reports of, 278 statistics of, 134 Zinc, 27, 29, 35 Zincs de Silésie, 99

Contracts