Industrial Plans For Germany - Occupation Costs

Occupation Costs

The costs of the occupation were charged to the Germans, about $2.4 billion per year. Of course, these occupation costs also meant that Germany did not need to pay for its own defense. One estimate for the year 1948 placed this cost to the German economy, through requisitions of goods, materials and direct payments, to be 46 percent of local tax receipts. The Germans were charged for such costs as "one ton of water bugs to feed a U.S. general’s pet fish, a bedspread of Korean goatskin, thirty thousand bras".