APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110020-1
systems, a paucity of raw materials, a lack of heavy industry, and an inadequate agricultural base. Heavy reparations, including the dismantling and shipping of entire industrial enterprises to the U.S.S.R., completed the gloomy picture. While the West German economy, given the impetus of the Marshall Plan, took off and soared, the East German economy for years remained grounded. The factors were many, and certainly not the least of them was the dire labor shortage caused by the flight of 2.3 million persons prior to the building of the Berlin Wall. Whereas in the West the wall signified the division of Germany, for the GDR it meant the start of a new economic life. With escape no longer a possibility, the people had no choice but to serve East Germany. The result was what the East Germans choose to call their very own Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle). It clearly is a source of price, even to those East Germans unsympathetic to the regime.
The manner in which the regime directed the buildup of the economy was indicative of its ambition to give East Germany a claim to a sovereign existence. Prior to 1945 this sector of Germany had been somewhat sparsely industrialized—its chief production being in light industry: chemicals, optics, and precision instruments. The regime proceeded with a vengeance to build a broad industrial base in the interest of virtual self-sufficiency.
Unfortunately for the East Germans, their economic aspirations frequently remained just that, as Soviet needs took priority over their own. By Moscow's lights, East Germany's role was to be that of a servant of the Soviet economy. It would be a machine shop turning out high-quality products for the U.S.S.R. and would provide a ready market, at inflated prices, for Soviet raw materials. The East Germans over the years have swallowed hard and accepted Soviet demands, but not without acts of protest, the most spectacular of which was the suicide in December 1965 of Erich Apel, head
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110020-1
