Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Morgenthau Plan

Episode Date: January 9, 2023

In September 1944, despite over half a year remaining in World War II, the Allies began preparing for an eventual post-war world. One of the biggest questions being discussed was what to do with Germany. After two world wars with Germany in just a quarter century, no one wanted a third. One American official developed a plan which would basically destroy Germany as a modern country to prevent them from ever making war again. Learn more about the Morgenthau Plan and the attempt to destroy Germany on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/EverythingEverywhere Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In September 1944, despite over a half a year still remaining in World War II, the Allies began preparing for an eventual post-war world. One of the biggest questions being discussed was what to do with Germany. After two world wars with Germany in just a quarter century, no one wanted a third. One American official developed a plan which would basically destroy Germany as a modern country to prevent them from ever making war again. Learn more about the Morgenthau plan and the attempt to destroy Germany on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong?

ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. Several months after the invasion of Normandy, the writing was on the wall for Nazi Germany. While the war wasn't yet over, and there was still, a lot of fighting to be done, it was pretty obvious the direction the war was heading. The Allies who had been focused on winning the war now began to give a little attention

to what the post-war world was going to look like. Everyone was aware of the mistakes made after the First World War, which led to the Second World War. That wouldn't happen again because this time there wouldn't be a negotiated surrender. The Allies had always said unconditional surrender as their objective, and they were not going to deviate from that position. That implied an invasion of the German homeland and eventually occupation. of the country. But then what? What would happen to Germany? Would it remain a unified country?

What would happen to its economy? And most importantly to the Allies, would they be looking at a resurgent Germany again in just a few decades looking to start another war? These concerns might seem silly in hindsight, but they were not at all silly in the middle of the war. Entering to the story one Henry Morgenthaw, Jr. Morganthaw was the Secretary of the Treasury under Franklin Roosevelt. He took office in 34 and served for 11 years through the early days of the Truman administration. Morgenthau was also Jewish, the highest-ranking Jewish federal official in American history at that point, and for a brief period he was actually next in line for the presidency after Harry Truman took office and the Secretary of State, Edward Centinius Jr., resigned. As Secretary of the Treasury,

Morgan thought didn't have a direct responsibility for the conduct of the war. However, he did have a vested interest in the status of European Jews. While the Roosevelt in administration did a horrible job admitting European Jewish refugees, Morgenthau was most certainly not one of those responsible. He was a strong advocate for admitting European Jewish refugees to the United States. And needless to say, Morgenthau was not a fan of Nazi Germany. In 1944, as it increasingly seemed that there was a light at the end of the tunnel of the war, Morgenthau drafted a proposal for what should be done with Germany after the war. Needless to say, Morgenthau's ideas were extreme to say the least.

memo he drafted became known as the Morgenthau plan. While the memo isn't that long, and I could read it in its entirety, it would take up a good chunk of the entire episode. So I'm going to read some of the highlights to show what Morgenthau proposed. It's longer than normal for a quote, but important to understand exactly what happened. Quote. Point one, demilitarization of Germany. It should be the aim of the Allied forces to accomplish the complete demilitarization of Germany in the shortest period of time after surrender. This means completely disarmamenting. This means completely disarmamented. the German army and people, including the removal or destruction of all war material, the total destruction of the whole German armament industry, and the removal or destruction

of other key industries which are basic to military strength. Point two, the partitioning of Germany. Poland should get that part of East Prussia, which does not go to the USSR. France should get the Tsar and the adjacent territories bound by the Rhine and the Moselle rivers. An international zone should be created containing the rur and surrounding industrial areas. The remaining portion of Germany should be divided into two autonomous independent states. Point three, there shall be a customs union between the new South German state and Austria, which will be restored to her pre-1938 political borders. Point four, the Ruhr area.

Here lies the heart of the German industrial power, the cauldron of wars. This area should not only be stripped of all presently existing industries, but so weakened and controlled that it cannot in the foreseeable future become an industrial area. Within a short period, if possible not longer than six months after the cessation of hostilities, all industrial plants and equipment not destroyed by military action shall either be completely dismantled and removed from the area or completely destroyed. All equipment shall be removed from the mines, and the mines shall be thoroughly wrecked. All people within the area should be made to understand that this area will not again be allowed

to become an industrial area. Accordingly, all people and their families within the area having special skills or technical training should be encouraged to migrate permanently from the area and should be as widely dispersed as possible. The area should be made an international zone to be governed by an international security organization to be established by the United Nations. Restitution and reparation. Reparations in the form of recurrent payments and deliveries should not be demanded. Restitution and reparation shall be affected by the transfer of existing German resources and territories. By restitution of property looted by the Germans in territories occupied by them, by transfer of German territory and German private rights

and industrial properties situated in such territory to invaded countries and the international organization under the program of partition, by the removal and distribution amongst devastated countries of industrial plants and equipment situated within the international zone, and the North and South German states delimited in the section on partition, by forced German labor outside Germany and by confiscation of all German assets of any character whatsoever outside of Germany. End quote. As you see, this would have been a radical destruction of Germany as a state. Much of their land would be split up between their neighbors, and the remaining land would be further subdivided into two new countries, and further territory would be under the control of the

United Nations. The rur, the industrial heartland of Germany, would be completely deindustrialized and reverted back to an agricultural state. Factories would either be dismantled and shipped to allied countries or demolished, as would all of the mines, such as the productive coal mines in Essen. Even forced German labor in allied countries was on the table. Germany would basically be destroyed and kept down to ensure that it never rose again. Morgan thought even cheekily said that there would be no reparations, which might have been the problem with the Treaty of Versailles,

which is true, but their alternative was even worse. The reason why Morgenthau, along with his close collaborator in the Treasury Department, Harry Dexter White, wrote the memorandum, was because of a previous memo floated by the State Department. The State Department proposed doing just the opposite. They wanted to get Germany back on its feet quickly so they could begin paying reparations as soon as possible. Morgenthau was appalled because he saw this as giving Germany the ability to rearm and threaten Europe again within a decade. because Morgenthau was Secretary of the Treasury, he really didn't have any business inserting himself in a foreign policy. However, he was so alarmed, he told the Secretary of State,

Cordell Hall, quote, I appreciate the fact that this isn't my responsibility, but I'm doing this as an American citizen, and I'm going to continue to do so, and I'm going to stick my nose into it until I know it is all right, end quote. Morgan Thaw lobbied and inserted himself into the planning for a post-war Germany on a committee consisting of himself, Secretary of State Hall, and the Secretary of War Henry Stimson. Hall was furious at Morgenthau's intrusion into foreign affairs. He actually lost sleep and was admitted to the hospital, and he eventually resigned in November 1944, officially for health reasons,

but most people at the time attributed it to the Morgenthau business. Roosevelt expressed his opinion about how to treat Germany in a letter he wrote to Queen Willamina of the Netherlands, when he wrote, quote, There are two schools of thought, those that would be altruistic in regards to the Germans, hoping by loving kindness to make them Christians again, and those who would adopt a much tougher attitude. Most decidedly, I belong to the latter school, for though I am not bloodthirsty, I want the Germans to know that this time at least, they have definitely lost the war.

End quote. Morgenthau presented his plan at the Quebec conference where Winston Churchill was in attendance. Churchill was not a fan of the proposal, saying that, quote, England would be chained to a dead body. They didn't agree on anything at the Quebec conference, but they did agree that Morgenthau would continue to work with Churchill's personal assistant, Lord Cherwell. Morgenthau found an ally, because Churwell hated the Germans as much as Morgenthau did. Churchill eventually signed off on the plan, but it isn't known if he was persuaded or if he had his arm twisted by $6 billion worth of additional economic aid from the United States. Despite Churchill giving personal support, the plan never became official policy in Britain. The Morgenthau plan was reported on in the September 21st, 1944 edition of the New York Times.

And exactly as Cordell Hall predicted, it was used to great effect as German propaganda. The German minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, heavily promoted the American plan. With the Americans avowing the complete dismantlement of Germany, it gave them a renewed reason to fight. The head of the American military, General George Marshall, complained to Morgenthau that the German resistance had increased significantly. He said to Morgenthau the plan was worth 30 divisions to the Germans. An Office of Strategic Service memo from December 11, 1944, they were the precursor to the CIA, reported, quote, To take a recent example, the Morgenthau plan gave Dr. Gerbils the best possible chance.

He was able to prove to his countrymen in black and white that the enemy planned the enslavement of Germany. The conviction that Germans had nothing to expect from defeat but oppression and exploitation still prevails, and that accounts for the fact that the Germans continue to fight. It's not a question of a regime, but of the homeland itself. And to save that, every German is bound to obey the call, whether he be Nazi or member of the opposition. End quote. Moreover, because Morgenthau was Jewish, Gerbels was able to use the plan to reinforce the Nazi's anti-Semitic propaganda. As you probably realize, the Morgenthau plan was never adopted.

So what happened? First, there was a great deal of public backlash to the plan. Before he died in 1945, Roosevelt publicly disavowed it, saying, quote, about this pastoral agricultural Germany, that's just nonsense. I have not approved anything like that. I am sure I have not. I have no recollection of this at all, end quote. When FDR died on April 12, 1945, everything changed.

Initially, it looked like Morgan Thaw's ideas might have been implemented. On May 10th, Truman signed the Joint Chiefs of Staffs. Directive 1067 on the occupation of Germany, which said, quote, take no steps looking towards the economic rehabilitation of Germany or designed to maintain or strengthen the German economy, end quote. Morgenthau was a static at the directive, and there were several of his acolytes from the Treasury Department, which were sent to Germany to help administer the economy. However, this was short-lived.

In July, it was replaced by JCS Directive 1779, which reversed 1067, and said, quote, an orderly prosperous Europe requires the economic contributions of a stable and productive Germany. The person behind the new directive was Truman's new Secretary of State, and opponent of the Morgenthau plan, George Marshall. Morganthaw demanded to attend the Potsdam Conference with President Truman, where post-war Europe was to be planned, and threatened to resign if he couldn't go. Truman called his bluff, and he resigned on July 22nd. However, he didn't give up his advocacy for the dismantlement of Germany. In October 1945, he published a book titled, Germany is Our Problem. An FDR had actually given his permission for the publication of the book the night before he died.

With the war over and everything out in the public, there was still support for the Morgenthau plan, and it was still in play. General Eisenhower actually gave a thousand copies of the book to American officers stationed in Germany. Armament plants that produced weapons were destroyed. However, it became obvious that there was no way Germany could feed itself. Adopting the Morgenthau plan would result in the dead. deaths of millions of people. A study headed by former U.S. President Herbert Hoover reported in 1947, quote, there are several illusions in all this war potential attitude. There is the illusion that the new Germany left after the annexations can be reduced to a pastoral state.

It cannot be done unless we exterminate or move 25 million people out of it. This would approximately reduce Germany to the density of the population of France, end quote. However, the biggest thing, which was the final nail in the coffin of the Morgenthau plan, was the start of the Cold War. As it became obvious that the real threat was going to come from the Soviet Union and not to revive Germany, it also became obvious that a prosperous Germany was going to be necessary to help stop Soviet expansion. Germany was economically interlinked with the rest of Europe and simply couldn't be dismantled without seriously damaging every other country on the continent. In April 1948, the Marshall Plan was adopted, which explicitly sought to rebuild

Germany, and the Morgenthau plan was consigned to the dustbin of history. As it turned out, Germany did re-industrialize and never became a threat again. It turned out the Germans were just as tired of war as everyone else was. Moreover, a prosperous Germany became one of the central forces behind the establishment of the European Union. It's shocking how close the Morgenthau plan actually came to being implemented. While the desire of Morgenthau and other wartime leaders to severely punish Germany was understandable. If it had actually been implemented, it would have been a disaster.

The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. I have a couple of reviews today. The first review comes from listener shouldn't be this hard over at Apple Podcasts in the United Kingdom. They write, Excellent. Such a wide range of interesting topics all delivered in an easy to listen to voice. Gary avoids the trap so many fall into of making their podcast too long. I've only just discovered this podcast, so I'm still playing catch-up with all the back issues. It's great. You should really give it a try. The second review comes from Reclaw B in Australia. They write, thank you. Your snippets of life and information are so much appreciated. Keep up the great work. Thanks, Reclaw, and this shouldn't

be this hard. It's nice to see the Commonwealth representing. Hopefully, we'll see more chapters of the Completionist Club opening up in both your countries very soon. Remember, if you leave a review or send me a Instagram, you two can have it read on the show.