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WirtschaftswunderThe term Wirtschaftswunder is used to describe the upturn experienced in the West German and Austrian economies after the Second World War. Germany The German Wirtschaftswunder was due to the massive amount of economic help provided by the Marshall Plan and through the currency reform of 1948 changing over from the Reichsmark to the D-Mark as legal tender. Apart from these factors, hard work and long hours at full capacity supplied by the thousands of Gastarbeiter provided the corner stone of the economic upturn. Up until the end of the 1950's West Germany had the second strongest economy in the world. Ludwig Erhard is often associated with the Wirtschaftswunder as he was the Ministry for the Economy in Adenauer's cabinet from 1949 until 1963. Austria As Austria was also included in the Marshall Plan it should be included in any consideration of the Wirtschaftswunder. Through the nationalisation of some industries (VOEST, AMAG) and yet more long working hours full economic capacity was reached. Using West Germany as a guide, the currency was stabilised when the Schilling was introduced in place of the Reichsmark. In journalistic circles it was called, aping the German Adenauer-Erhard-Kurs,the Raab-Kamitz-Kurs, named after the Kanzler Julius Raab and his Finance Minister Reinhard Kamitz. In the 1960's the first Gastarbeiter from Southern Italy and Greece arrived in the country, as more manual labour was required to maintain the economic upswing. The expression was coined in 1950 by The Times in order to describe the economic miracle occurring both Austria and Germany at that time.
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