exchange holdings drained rapidly away.38 In January 1933 the national foreign exchange reserve had stood at over 800 million Reichsmarks. By the summer the Reichsbank’s holdings had been reduced by debt repayments to only 400 million, enough to cover no more than one month of minimal imports. 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
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