The German transfer problem, 1920–33: a sovereign-debt perspective

Weimar Germany's economic plight has oftentimes been blamed on reparations in simplistic fashion. Alternative interpretations ignored reparations entirely, instead emphasizing gold standard constraints or wage increases in excess of productivity growth. This paper argues for a strong but subtle link between Germany's slump and these policies. Based on sovereign debt theory, it provides an incentive-based interpretation of the transfer problem, the compensation of reparations by counteracting capital inflows. I argue that the German transfer problem resulted from transfer protection under the Dawes Plan, which gave commercial credits seniority over reparations. This gave Germany a strategic incentive to drive out reparations through foreign borrowing. The Young Plan of 1929 implied a reversal of this seniority scheme, causing a sudden stop in the balance of payments that lasted to the late 1930s. The Young Plan could only have worked in the absence of an international recession; attempts to salvage it in 1931 were necessarily futile.     

The Wireless World at War, 1939–1945

F. H. HINSLEY. British Intelligence in the Second World War, abridged version.New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Pp. xiii, 628. $39.95 (US);

F. H. HINSLEY and ALAN STRIPP. Codebreakers. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Pp. 321. £17.95;

RALPH BENNETT. Behind the Battle: Intelligence in the War with Germany, 1939–1945. London: Sinclair Stevenson, 1994. Pp. xxiv, 328. £20.00;

CARL BOYD. Hitler's Japanese Confidant: General ōshima Hiroshi and Magic Intelligence, 1941–1945. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1993. Pp. xviii, 271. $25.00 (US);

DEREK HOWSE. Radar at Sea: Tlie Royal Navy in World War Two. London: Macmillan, 1993. Pp. xviii, 383. £25.00;

JOHN WINTON. Ultra in the Pacific: How Breaking Japanese Codes and Ciphers Affected Naval Operations against Japan. London: Leo Cooper, 1993. Pp. 247. £17.50     

Sport and Politics – Danish–German Sport Collaboration during World War II

After the enforced break due to the riots of the Admira soccer match in Copenhagen in June 1941, the Danish and German authorities were so concerned about the events of the Admira game being repeated that around 50 security officers were brought in for a boxing tournament in Copenhagen on 8 October 1941. However, Danish–German sporting relations got underway again, even with national team matches going on in Germany and matches with other Axis-power countries. Most notable was an international soccer match in Dresden in November. Gradually, as Germany began running into military difficulties, there was less and less interest, in the words of propaganda minister Goebbels, of seeing Germans losing to weaker nations.