Page 34 - The Making of the German Post-war Economy

INTRODUCTION 7

extensive public opinion polls conducted by the United States’ Office of
Military Government for Germany (OMGUS) as well as opinion surveys
by German public opinion research institutions, namely the Institut für
Demoskopie (IfD) (Institute for Public Opinion Poll) and the institute for
the Erforschung der öffentlichen Meinung, Marktforschung, Nachrichten,
Informationen und Dienstleistungen (EMNID) (Ascertainment of Opinion,
Market Research, News, Information and Services). Taking into account
the arguable methodological shortcomings of public opinion polling
regarding empirical validity, this study includes petitions and resolutions
by German organisations and individuals sent to the Economic Council
and its delegates. Furthermore, the numerous articles and reports on
economic affairs in licensed daily newspapers are vital sources for
indicating the resonance of political decisions. Next to official intra-party
discussion papers and minutes of the respective caucuses in the Economic
Council as well as reports by various local governments on the perceived
public sentiment regarding economic issues, the public debate
accompanying the then economic policy is often reflected in political
actors’ private memoirs, diaries and notes. While the general public’s
attitude towards economic liberalisation and its consequences occasionally
found its expression in strikes and protests, it eventually became manifest
in the results of democratic elections on a local, regional and federal level.
In its claim for a thorough and scholarly assessment, this research not only
incorporates new archival material and primary sources but also methods
not applied before. The archival sources and academic literature on this
subject are more by necessity than by deliberate focus primarily German in
source. Furthermore material in other languages is scarce, as this topic
does not appear to have invited much study by British and other non-
German scholars.
Historical awareness is not an inherent value but rather a necessary
intellectual corrective. By examining both the constitutive involvement of
German parties in post-war reconstruction and the role of the public
during the process of economic liberalisation, this research seeks to
complete the study of the little explored interplay and mutual
interdependence between politics and the public at that time. A better
historical understanding of this reciprocal process also reveals the actors
and factors which proved to be formative in the implementation and
eventual validation of the Social Market Economy as the principal socio-
political and economic model for the Federal Republic of Germany.