Quite apart from the political significance of the foreign debts, the moment was fast approaching at which Hitler’s regime would have to face a difficult choice. On the one hand it could take desperate measures to increase exports, including a devaluation of the Reichsmark to make it more competitive with the pound and the dollar. If exports did not increase, they would face a stark choice between sustaining the bare minimum of imports necessary to the German recovery, or aborting the recovery to satisfy the demands of Germany’s foreign creditors.
