Wirtschaftswunder
Postwar German boom
Wirtschaftswunder is German for "economic miracle," referring specifically to West Germany's rapid reconstruction and growth after World War II.
The term occasionally appears in English discussions of postwar European recovery or as a model for dramatic economic turnaround: South Korea's development has been called an Asian Wirtschaftswunder.
Rebuilding after destruction
- recoveryRegaining what was lost
- boomLoud deep sound
- prosperityGood fortune, success
- growthIncrease in size
industrialization · exports · manufacturing · Marshall Plan · currency reform · Deutsche Mark · full employment · productivity
Supernatural occurrence beyond explanation
- transformationThorough change in form
- rapidMoving with haste
- unprecedentedNever having occurred before
- export-ledPropelled by overseas sales
free market · regulation · welfare state · labor relations · corporatism · consensus · stability · blueprint
After hostilities end
- 1950sDecade after WWII
- 1960sDecade after the fifties
- West GermanyPostwar democratic German state
- Cold WarProlonged East-West standoff
denazification · partition · rubble · rebuilding · Bonn · division · reunification · zero hour
Intermediate socioeconomic group
- consumerismPreoccupation with acquiring goods
- affluenceAbundance of money
- VolkswagenGerman automobile corporation
- refrigeratorFood-cooling household appliance
television · vacation · homeownership · labor shortage · immigration · standard of living · leisure · suburbs
reconstruction
Rebuilding after destruction
- recoveryRegaining what was lost
- boomLoud deep sound
- prosperityGood fortune, success
growth · industrialization · exports · manufacturing · Marshall Plan · currency reform · Deutsche Mark · full employment · productivity · modernization
miracle
Supernatural occurrence beyond explanation
- transformationThorough change in form
- rapidMoving with haste
- unprecedentedNever having occurred before
export-led · free market · regulation · welfare state · labor relations · corporatism · consensus · stability · blueprint · emulation
postwar
After hostilities end
- 1950sDecade after WWII
- 1960sDecade after the fifties
- West GermanyPostwar democratic German state
Cold War · denazification · partition · rubble · rebuilding · Bonn · division · reunification · zero hour · sovereignty
middle class
Intermediate socioeconomic group
- consumerismPreoccupation with acquiring goods
- affluenceAbundance of money
- VolkswagenGerman automobile corporation
refrigerator · television · vacation · homeownership · labor shortage · immigration · standard of living · leisure · suburbs · department stores
- GermanyBerlin, Munich, Hamburg, Germany, German
- German EconomyBMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Siemens, Bosch
- postwarrebuilding, demobilization, peace treaties, treaty signing, war reparations
- Postwar EuropeBerlin Wall, Marshall Plan, Iron Curtain, iron curtain, NATO
- postwar GermanyWest Germany, East Germany, divided Germany, Iron Curtain, Federal Republic
- West GermanyBonn, Federal Republic, Bundestag, Bundesrat, Deutsche Mark
Wirtschaftswundereconomic collapse
Catastrophic failure of finances
depression · economic stagnation · recession · economic decline · economic crisis
wonder, wonderful, wonderfully, wonders, wonderment, wunderbar, wonderworker