DEGRIGES
The DEGRIGES (
History
Background
Following the German invasion of Greece and the start of the occupation, the German authorities initially employed the Bank of Greece to extract material and financial assets, as well as to gather occupation costs. The latter were the highest among the various territories occupied by Nazi Germany.
The first measure taken was the altering of the
Establishment and operation of DEGRIGES
After all extant assets were exhausted, on 1 October 1942 the Deutsch-Griechische Warenausgleichsgesellschaft mbH (DEGRIGES) was established, headquartered in Berlin. The initiative lay with the
Otto Braun (the owner of the Transdanubia trade company) became the company's first director. A branch office was located in Berlin, led by Fred Goecker, vice-chairman of the German chamber of commerce in Greece, as well as another in Thessaloniki. Corresponding offices were opened in Patras and Volos. From 15 October 1942 it was controlled by Hermann Neubacher, the former mayor of Vienna and Reich plenipotentiary in the Balkans, and particularly "Reich Special Envoy for Economic and Financial Issues in Greece".[4] The company began operations on 28 November, and a few days later the Bank of Greece was forced to hand over its foreign exchange reserves to the German Reich in the form of a compulsory loan; by the end of the war, the loan amounted to 476 million Reichsmark.[5] Following the departure of most German troops from Greece in October 1944, on 8 December 1944 DEGRIGES was dissolved.[6]
Mission and impact
The company levied surcharges on all Greek export goods, which were used to 4/7 to lower prices for German importers, and to 3/7 to service the occupation costs.
Exports of goods from Greece were considerably reduced in price and prices for German goods imported to Greece were greatly increased. This brought exceptional advantages for the German economy, euphemistically termed "lockage profits" (Schleusungsgewinne). Through such policies of extreme price manipulation the company succeeded in overturning the considerable trade deficit between the two countries—despite the wholesale confiscation of Greek products and the imposition of occupation costs, the trade balance in 1942 was 71 million Reichsmark in favour of Greece, but suddenly reached 20 million Reichsmark in favour of Germany in 1943.[7]
German interest was mainly focused on raw materials, which were increasingly needed as the war went on; in addition, since machinery and tools had been shipped to Germany, few finished products could be produced locally.[7] Thus between May 1941 and November 1944, c. 28,000 tons of chromium were transported to Germany, covering about a quarter of the total requirements of the German war economy during the war.
The "success" of the company led to proposals for the establishment of similar companies in other countries, even in the allied Independent State of Croatia.[8] In spring 1944 the German–Albanian Commodity Equalization Office (Deutsch-Albanisches Warenausgleichsbüro) was established.[9] On the other hand, contemporary German sources reported that "The successes of Degriges are not unsatisfactory. They are, however, achieved at the price of a monopolization of foreign trade".[10] Rainer Eckert wrote in 1992: "To date, the German-Greek Commodity Equalization Company represents one of the most evolved forms of state-regulated foreign economic relations".[11]
References
- ^ p. 366
- ^ Klara van Eyll, Ulrike Duda, Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte: Deutsche Wirtschaftsarchive: Bestände von Unternehmen, p. 220, 1991
- ^ Heinz A. Richter, Komnēnos Pyromaglou: Griechenland zwischen Revolution und Konterrevolution (1936-1946), p. 198
- ^ Susanne Heim: Geschichte der Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft im Nationalsozialismus,p. 219
- ^ Stellungnahme der Deutschen Bundesregierung vom 11. Februar 2010 (PDF; 113 kB)
- ^ Ulrike Duda: Bestände von Unternehmen, Unternehmern, Kammern und Verbänden, p. 220 1992.
- ^ a b Martin Seckendorf: Zur Wirtschaftspolitik der deutschen Besatzer in Griechenland 1941-1944. Ausbeutung, die in die Katastrophe mündete. Archived 2014-11-02 at the Wayback Machine Edited version of a presentation held on 3 December 2005 at a symposium of the Athens University of Economics and Business over the reparations of Greek victims of the German occupation; hosted by the Berliner Gesellschaft für Faschismus- und Weltkriegsforschung e.V. Archived 2017-06-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Holm Sundhaussen: Wirtschaftsgeschichte Kroatiens im nationalsozialistischen Großraum, p. 221.
- ^ Wolfgang Schumann: Griff nach Südeuropa, p. 61. 1973.
- ^ Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, Vol. 58, Issue 1, p. 42. Universität Kiel. Institut für Weltwirtschaft – 1943
- ^ Rainer Eckert: Vom «Fall Marita» zur «wirtschaftlichen Sonderaktion» Die deutsche Besatzungspolitik in Griechenland vom 6. April 1941 bis zur Kriegswende im Februar/März 1943 p. 133, 1992.
Sources
- Martin Seckendorf: Ein einmaliger Raubzug. Die Wehrmacht in Griechenland 1941 - 1944, in: Vorbild Wehrmacht? Wehrmachtsverbrechen, Rechtsextremismus und Bundeswehr. Issued by Christian Gerlach, Reinhard Kühnl and Johannes Klotz. Papyrossa, Cologne 1998