Page 151 - The Making of the German Post-war Economy

124 THE MAKING OF THE GERMAN POST-WAR ECONOMY

and the still insufficient provision of the population with food and basic
goods, a general cooperation was expected between the political parties in
order to improve the economic conditions. Similarly, the populace in
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West Germany, who actually learnt from the press about the appointment
of this first German post-war parliament, did not understand the political
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power struggle about posts under the prevailing circumstances and
wished for commonsense cooperation in the intended democratic institution
for the sake of the public’s needs. The people were disappointed by the
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unrealistic and embarrassing course of action of the Economic Council
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and wondered whether the delegates themselves had experienced hunger
and hardship. A sense of hopelessness and impending disaster had
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arisen. Thus from the outset the Economic Council was unpopular and
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the public did not feel themselves to be moving into a better era.
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This negative public reception, which possibly affected the next
elections, at first reinforced the already prevalent disenchantment with
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politics: according to an OMGUS survey, 64 per cent of the respondents
in the American zone preferred to leave politics to others rather than to
concern themselves personally with it, and only 38 per cent perceived any
great interest in politics among their contemporaries. In order to
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counteract both the disenchantment with politics and public criticism, the
Economic Council decided to make its plenary meetings open to the
public, held regular press conferences for journalists to report about its
actions, and edited specific publications providing information to
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journalists and the general public alike. These decrees, such as the Gesetz-
und Verordnungsblatt des Wirtschaftsrats des Vereinigten Wirtschaftsgebietes, the
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Öffentlicher Anzeiger für das Vereinigte Wirtschaftsgebiet, edited by the Rechtsamt
of the VWG, and Wirtschaftsverwaltung edited by the Administration for
Economics, barely reached the public’s attention, however, and the
general public hardly became aware of what was happening behind the
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scenes. In fact, the Economic Council itself was relatively unknown: in
October 1947 only about a third (31 per cent) of the AMZON public had
heard about the bizonal institution, which by that time had been in
operation for some months. This in turn invited speculations about the
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unclear work of the bizonal administration. Despite various appeals to
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overcome internal disputes for the sake of concerted action and
presentation, the public relations of the Economic Council remained as
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deficient and dissonant as its image. To many, the public and the media
alike, the institution in Frankfurt was still perceived as unregenerate, and
even as incapable of making decisions – an impression fuelled by the fact
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that the parliamentary parties dwelled on political rather than public
interests, and hence only six laws were passed in the first six months of
the Economic Council’s existence. Politics overall was discredited, and
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