Battleangel

Or hindering it? James L. Payne reexamines what the bulk of scholars and the mainstream take for granted and what has come to dominate contemporary thought and justify imperial designs. Did the United States Create Democracy in Germany? And has democracy indeed ever been artificially, and hastily conjured?

A close look reveals that, from the standpoint of democratic nation building, the U.S. occupation of Germany is actually a lesson on what not to do!

At a time when great numbers of Germans were living in rubble, tents, and railway stations, the Americans had a comfortable lifestyle and it was created at the Germans expense. U.S. troops seized the best homes and hotels as their living quarters and pushed the German occupants onto the street. For each American family housed in a requisitioned dwelling, eight Germans were made homeless; in Frankfurt alone, Americans requisitioned 10,800 apartments and single-family dwellings.

Although little is known about the requirements for democracy, one important factor suggested by research and common sense is prosperity: destitute people are ready to listen to demagogues who promise bread at the expense of freedom. Therefore, anyone seeking to establish a democracy in a defeated country should make a maximum effort
to ensure the local inhabitants prosperity and well-being. Many Americans today suppose that we put Germany on its feet after the war, but the truth is more nearly the opposite. U.S. policy was intended to inflict economic privation.

The Allies also pursued a policy of dismantling factories, deliberately destroying hundreds of plants and throwing several hundred thousand employees out of work in the western zone.