In January 1933, Germany still owed 19 billion Reichsmarks to foreign creditors, of which 10.3 billion were long-term bonds and 4.1 billion were short-term loans covered by the Standstill Agreement.97 At least 8.3 billion Reichsmarks were owed to the United States, by far the largest creditor. This debt burden, contracted since 1924, threatened Germany’s standard of living no less seriously than the reparations that had now been removed from the table.
