If you look at the German Mark at its time. It was the anchor for a lot of currencies. Basically the currencies of the continent followed the Deutsche Mark and

If you look at the German Mark at its time. It was the anchor for a lot of currencies. Basically the currencies of the continent followed the Deutsche Mark and much the currency policy was made by Germans in the Deutsche Bundesbank in Frankfurt. Many of the currencies were members of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Exchange_Rate_Mechanism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Exchange_Rate_Mechanis... With the Euro, the currency policy is now made by a European institution by Europeans, in Frankfurt at the ECB. Trading is easier because of a larger market easily accessible: the EU, the Eurozone, Eastern Europe, ... Before that it was slightly more difficult, but still the industry did very at exports. > That plan has hugely backfired, boosting the struggling german economy after the very costly reunification in the beginning of the 20th century. The economy has been boosted because Germany got after the fall of the wall a huge new market: Eastern Europe. Right next to its door. In the EU, in the Eurozone. Since a lot of German exports are to the Eurozone or to countries which have currencies following the Euro, much of that is not depending on a favorable exchange rate.