Re: Do Reparations Work? (a devil's advocate inquiry)

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: : Vita brought up a good point.  She noted that Hitler was a product of his generation, a German generation that saw the impact that imposed reparations had on their country's economy and morale.  Regardless of what else may have made Hitler do the things he did, we cannot avoid the fact that HE saw what the Treaty of Versailles, especially on the part of France, did to Germany.  Therefore, in this case, we must say that the imposition of war reparations on Germany was one of the key reasons not only for the rise of Hitler, who played up all the bad things that happened to Germany as a result of the treaty, but also for the start of WWII.  I say this because the Treaty was out to punish Germany.  I think that this is important since someone also pointed out to Vita that there is a need to make a distinction between compensation and punishment.  What are we looking for when we say that reparations are to be made.  Are we righting a wrong (i.e. giving back what was taken) or are we out to punish.  The TOV apparently did both with disastrous results as France felt the fury of Die Furor not many years after the signing of the treaty.  Ironically, Hitler had France sign articles of surrender in the same location where the Germans had to sign article for THEIR surrender after WWI.  

: : So the question now is, do reparations work.  It seems that in this case, they did not.

: : 
: : Zapata.

: AH! Excellent point, Zapata. The Marshall Aid after WWII certainly ensured a much better outcome this time.

: Ilse


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