one cannot ignore the fact that the cumulative total of direct investment in Germany was dwarfed by the billions that were in default to American and European banks and bond holders. And on the crucial question of repatriating the capital they had invested or the profits they earned, direct investors were treated no better than the holders of Germany’s other foreign debts. They were all subject to the same exchange controls that made it possible to exchange Reichsmarks for foreign currency only at punitive discounts.
