Germany - Handle with Care

Series

Series Name

The March of Time 12th Year

Issue

Issue No.

6

Date Released

1947

Length of issue (in feet)

1650

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1Germany - Handle with Care

Story

Story No. within this Issue

1 / 1

Summary

The March of Time synopsis: This film shows the manner in which each zone of Germany is being controlled by the occupying powers. To see how the great mass of 66,000,000 Germans are living in abject misery. The Russian zone exists behind a curtain of secrecy. There private estates have been broken up and thousands of Germans work to provide food for themselves for the Russians. Industrial equipment has been moved piecemeal to Russia as war damage compensation. The French zone is shown to be in more frank opposition to the policy of economic unification and the strict treatment of the Germans relects the French well-founded and inherent distrust of Germany. We see how in the American zone, the United States military government is endeavouring to instil an interest in self-government by democracy and to rebuild Germany’s economy. It is, however, in the British zone that the problem of Germany’s economic rehabilitation centres. Seventy-five per cent of Ruhr industrial plant survived the war, but their operation depends on coal and less than half the production of a normal pre-war year was achieved in 1946. By late 1946 London and Washington had realised that some start must be made towards unifying Germany.
This is an interesting, outspoken and clear-sighted number in the series. M.E.C.

Researcher Comments

This story was included in Vol.13 No.6 of the US edition.

Keywords

Politics and government; Foreign relations; Occupied territories

Written sources

Monthly Film Bulletin   Vol.14 No.160 April 1947, p57.
The March of Time Promotional Material   Typed Notes, Used for synopsis