Occupation costs

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Occupation costs are the financial expenses that arise from the stationing of occupation troops in an occupied state territory . After the Hague Regulations , which regulates, among other things dealing with occupied territories, an occupying power in the occupied territory is allowed charges to cover the costs rise for occupation forces and administration. These costs can be collected directly from the occupied area or invoiced at a later date.

First World War

After the First World War , Germany had to bear the occupation costs of the allied victorious powers . In 1922 the Allied states in Paris set the level of the occupation costs to be paid by the German Reich for the Allied forces stationed in the western border areas. With retroactive effect from May 1, 1921, the occupation costs in the amount of 350 million gold marks were covered by the German contributions in kind. As of May 1922, occupation costs had to be paid annually 220 million gold marks.

Second World War

During the Second World War , too , the occupied countries were burdened with the costs of occupation, which resulted in enormous costs due to the occupation that was sometimes for years. In the areas occupied by the Wehrmacht , the occupation costs were often set arbitrarily and exceeded the actual needs of the occupation troops. In Norway , which is relatively poor in population, for example, the state revenue in the last peace budget amounted to 610 million Norwegian kroner . The annual financial requirements of the German occupation exceeded three times this amount and totaled NOK 11 billion by the end of the war. Overall, occupation costs of 84 billion Reichsmarks were collected in the countries occupied by Germany during the war . That corresponded to over a third of the total public revenue of 230 billion Reichsmarks, which were collected in the German Reich itself from taxes, customs duties, etc. during the entire war.

Occupation costs of Germany after the Second World War

The occupation costs that the Allies levied in Germany after the Second World War varied depending on the occupation zone . In 1946, occupation costs in the Soviet zone devoured around 49% of the gross national product . Even after the founding of the GDR (October 7, 1949), they were still 13% until 1953 and were then reduced to a maximum of 5%.

The Basic Law stipulates that the occupation costs in the West German occupation zones and the war costs that had previously been borne by the federal states will be borne by the federal government after the establishment of the Federal Republic of Germany ( Art. 120 GG).

In the early Federal Republic there was public criticism of the occupation costs. Thus, at the end of 1950 , the Illustrierte Stern reported on the waste of occupation money (i.e. money that came from German tax revenues). The magazine was then banned from appearing for a week. In 1950 the occupation costs to be paid by the state treasury of the young Federal Republic were already around 4.5 billion DM , which at that time corresponded to an annual cost of 95.46 DM per head of the West German population. With the entry into force of the Germany Treaty on May 5, 1955, the occupation was ended and the Federal Republic largely sovereign . This also eliminated the occupation costs.

Cost of stationing NATO troops

Occupation costs have ceased to exist in the Federal Republic of Germany since the end of the Allied occupation in 1955. However, there are costs for the contractually agreed stationing of allied troops to protect the NATO area. Since these include former occupation powers, these expenses are sometimes confused with occupation costs in the true sense.

At the same time, the Federal Republic of Germany became a member of NATO, but could hardly contribute to this military alliance with its own troops because the Bundeswehr was still being established. Instead, the Federal Republic initially made financial contributions to NATO, which stationed troops in West Germany against the Warsaw Pact . A sense of entitlement inherited from the occupation ("occupier mentality") of the former occupying powers, especially the US armed forces , contributed to the gradual reduction of the German financial contribution to NATO until the end of the 1950s. The later "contributions to the costs of stationing Allied troops in the Federal Republic" or "mutual aid measures" according to Article 3 of the North Atlantic Pact were no longer legally or in terms of magnitude comparable with occupation costs . The US Army then received US $ 300 million a year from the Federal Republic of Germany . This nominally constant sum lost in value due to inflation : in Germany consumer prices rose from 100 (1950) to 108 (1954), 113 (1956) and 122 (1960); in the United States the numbers were quite similar (1960 = 127).

In 2013, the federal budget for expenses in connection with the stay or withdrawal of foreign armed forces still showed 56.1 million euros . After the end of the Cold War , this hardly included any payments to the stationed troops. Construction work, personnel and ongoing operations at the sites assigned to them are borne by the sending states themselves. The costs for the Federal Republic essentially consist of bridging aid for former civil employees and the settlement of damage such as maneuvers . Compensation payments for the residual value of their investments in locations that have since been returned go directly to the sending state.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Art. 49 HLKO; see. Robert Bohn: Reichskommissariat Norway. "National Socialist Reorganization" and War Economy. Oldenbourg, Munich 2000, p. 303 f. (Contributions to military history 54).
  2. ↑ Marcel Boldorf: New Ways to Research the Economic History of Europe under National Socialist Hegemony. In: Christoph Buchheim u. Marcel Boldorf: European economies under German hegemony 1938–1945. Oldenbourg, Munich 2012, p. 14 f.
  3. ^ Dietmar Petzina : Social situation of the German workers and problem of labor deployment during the Second World War. In: Wacław Długoborski (ed.): Second World War and social change. Göttingen 1981, p. 81.
  4. ^ Hans-Ulrich Wehler : German history of society 1949–1990. CH Beck, Munich 2008, p. 91.
  5. ^ Henri Nannen : My star hour , article on the star anniversary in 1988, accessed on March 26, 2013.
  6. ↑ Karl Georg Pfleiderer : Report to the Bundestag Committee for Foreign Affairs ], quoted in. with Hanns Jürgen Küsters (Ed.): Unpublished documents. Metzner, Frankfurt am Main 1998 (Documents on Germany Policy II / 3), p. 603, note 5 .
  7. ↑ Together with the Germany Treaty, a "Troop Agreement" (about the foreign armed forces in Germany), a "Financial Agreement" (about Germany's contribution to their maintenance / costs) and a transfer agreement (on issues arising from war and occupation) were concluded.
  8. ↑ Werner Abelshauser : Economy and armaments in the fifties. In: Werner Abelshauser, Walter Schwengler (eds.): Beginnings of West German Security Policy 1945–56 , Vol. 4: Economy and Armaments, Sovereignty and Security. Oldenbourg, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-486-56068-9 , pp. 1–186, here p. 112 f.
  9. ↑ Boggs, Eisenhower Library: FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1958-1960 VOLUME III, NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY; ARMS CONTROL AND DISARMAMENT, DOCUMENT 129: Memorandum of Discussion at the 469th Meeting of the National Security Council S. December 8, 1960, accessed July 24, 2011 .
  10. ↑ Figures from: Otmar Emminger : D-Mark, Dollar, Currency Crises - a former Bundesbank President recalls , DVA, 1986, p. 75.
  11. ^ German Bundestag : Foreign Armed Forces in Germany (PDF; 309 kB), April 14, 2011.
  12. ↑ Federal Ministry of Finance : Federal Budget 2013: Epl 0802 ( Memento of the original dated August 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundeshaushalt-info.de