[wolf78]

Both before and after the war my family was there in US State department roles.

As what? Communist spies? Progagandists for Stalin?

The thing is: Your emphasis might differ, but you simply can't argue the facts.

A. You claimed there were NO reparations. Yet there were SOME reparations. Whether they were appropriate, sufficient or just, that's a different story.

B. It's also true that France stuck with a policy of dismantling German factories at a time when the US and the UK already shifted towards Marshall plan thinking.

C. You say that the US RECONSTRUCTED Europe. Yet it's also a fact that simply giving money doesn't equal success. The UK got the Marshall Fund money as a gift, and look what happened: Before Thatcher England was in horrible shape economically.

D. Any economist will agree that trade opportunities, access to credit and patent treaties played a much more vital role than just money alone.

E. One should also not forget the psychological aspect of U.S. support during the Berlin blockade and the normalization of diplomatic relations with the West (UN membership etc.)

[Regulator]

Ha ha you’re hilarious Wolfie.

On the contrary, Grandad was good friends with Jan and Tomas Masryk which of course is one of the foundations of our family’s long opposition to Soviet Communism.

At the time Jan was murdered by the KGB (er, “fell” from the window), Grandad was busy running DP camps all over Northern Europe. Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians and even Germans from the DDR were sent West by him. He ended up married to an Estonian, who is step Grandma.

So stick your smarmy comment where the sun don’t shine.

PS: Mom actually got to see Der Fuhrer, part of the fun of being a kid in Prague then. Said he was a shrimpy guy with two SS guards who stood in front of him as he stood on a balcony. Real fearless leader, huh? Scared of a bunch of schoolkids.

Of course the Czechs did get Heydrich. Guess he was right to be concerned.

[the scotsman]

‘The UK got the Marshall Fund money as a gift, and look what happened: Before Thatcher England was in horrible shape economically.’

Rubbish. Britain had bad periods 1945-1979, but also periods of great growth.