After Germany surrendered and the war in Europe was over, America began systematically dismantling West Germany's industrial capabilities. No aid was to be giv

After Germany surrendered and the war in Europe was over, America began systematically dismantling West Germany's industrial capabilities. No aid was to be given save the absolute minimum needed to prevent starvation, all the work of rebuilding Germany was to be left to the Germans. The Red Cross was forbidden to visit allied camps of German POWs to provide food or aid. It was even forbidden for Americans to send packages of food to Germans. Over the next two or three years these orders were one-by-one rescinded and reversed, mostly for national security reasons when the Soviet threat was acknowledged and Germany's role in countering that Soviet threat was understood. But even then, in the end only a small portion of the Marshall plan went to West Germany. Most of it went to the rest of western Europe.