“The main difference between now and then is that the U.S. government did not see Germany as a cash cow. They didn’t want to antagonize people. The belief was that if you come in and start pillaging the place, you interfere with the recovery of Europe as a whole.” This approach, Eisenberg points out, was not born of altruism. “The Soviet Union was like a loaded gun. The economy was in crisis, there was a substantial German left, and they [the West] had to win the allegiance of the German people fast. They really saw themselves battling for the soul of Germany.”
