Postwar reconstruction of Germany after world war two is a period when Germany was trying to recover from the destruction caused by the war that had been started by Adolf Hitler and had affected Germany as her city were destroyed and people killed in the war (Treverton, 158). It had left her bankrupt and economically disabled and therefore she needed to reconstruct herself in terms of the building of the city buildings and her economy.
During the Second World War, Germany was destroyed due to the bombing by her allies, which left 80 percent of her building completely destroyed. Her economy was not spared as her army was involved in the war into fronts (Hanson, 280). At the end of the war, the whole of Germany was destructed. There was scarcity of apartments and living space which made many of them live in emergency camps and she had to start her reconstruction process. With so many men killed in the war, the initial reconstruction work was done by the rubble women. Women between the age of fifteen and fifty years were the most involved in the constructions.
The initial reconstruction was to reconstruct the cities that had been destroyed during the way. This was in the 1945 where the planners and architects come to draw the new face of the German cities. Most of eastern and western Germany had been destroyed and that called for radical intervention. Due to the large number of men killed in the way, women were called to play a role in provision of labor. The planners were involved in planning the cities in styles that would be less susceptible to bomb attacks (Van, 167). The building was carried out fast in order to cover for the unavailable but necessary apartments. 570,000 residential apartments were been constructed in West Germany by 1960s and by 1970s the Eastern side had received the same construction success. The reconstruction was part of a larger long-term process of urban renewal, modernization and expansion in the industrial twentieth century (Treverton, 213). This is because most of what happened would still have happened even without the war since the cities were still growing and changing according to the necessities of the modernization. The construction was completed which integrated the looks of the older city and new architecture. This was through the extensive use of women and the voluntary labor termed as ‘honorary services’
The economic reconstruction was another important aspect that was to be considered in making the new face of Germany. However, her involvement in the war had left her poor in human capital and monetary capital (Pommerin, 225). As a result, other countries had to come and rescue her. Since most of the European countries were involved in the war, none was capable of liberating her from the economic quagmire. The United States of America secretary of state C. Marshall announced the willingness of America to start a European recovery program which was aimed at re-establishing the confidence of Europeans in the economic future of the countries and the whole of Europe (Pommerin, 234). These helped Germany in regaining her feet economically and she used the finances in the reconstruction process.
Works Cited
Hanson, Stephen E, and Willfried Spohn. Can Europe Work?: Germany and the Reconstruction of Postcommunist Societies. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995. Print.
History of World War Ii: Rising Above the Rubble!Tampa, Fla.: TravelVideoStore.com, 2009. Internet resource
Pommerin, Reiner. The American Impact on Postwar Germany. Providence, RI: Berghahn Books, 1997. Print.
Treverton, Gregory F. America, Germany, and the Future of Europe. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1992. Print.
Van, Hook J. C. Rebuilding Germany: The Creation of the Social Market Economy, 1945-1957. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Print.
