Seventy years ago George C. Marshall presented the plan that bore his name. 45 years ago the German Marshall Fund of the United States was founded.

The founding was an expression of the gratitude of the German people to the American people for their support in rebuilding Europe in the wake of the Second World War. This too was remembered at the conference of the German Marshall Fund of the United States in the Deutsches Historisches Museum (Germany History Museum) in Berlin.

Seventy years ago, on 5 June 1947, the then US Secretary of State George C. Marshall presented the European Recovery Program, better known today as the Marshall Plan.

Marshall Plan was a stroke of good fortune in our history

At the start of her welcome address Chancellor Angela Merkel reminded her audience of the powerful impact of this speech over the years and decades to follow. The goal of the then US Secretary of State was to prevent any repetition of the mistakes of the past.

"It was a plan that aimed to bring about lasting peace and prosperity," said Angela Merkel. The Marshall Plan, said the Chancellor, turning to former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, was thus firmly anchored in the national memory of the German people as "a stroke of great good fortune in our history".

Return to the international community

The Chancellor said that Marshall’s thinking and his plan were based on three visionary convictions.

Germany was to be given a chance to integrate into the western international community. This was by no means self-evident against the background of the rupture with civilisation that was the Holocaust, stressed Angela Merkel. We must bear in mind the world as it was in 1947 to realise the full enormity of his proposal.

The cooperation Marshall aimed to achieve was to be based firstly on the values of individual liberty, the rule of law, the protection of the dignity of every individual and a market-oriented order. "This common foundation was to prove to be the key to success," said Angela Merkel. It was and is the key to the success of the transatlantic partnership.

Prosperity and peace

Secondly, Marshall was an advocate of open markets. He wanted a productive upswing to bring stability, new prosperity and peace to Europe.

We can see the evidence today, she continued. Protectionism and isolation suffocate innovation. In the long term this brings disadvantages to all sides – also to those putting their faith in isolation, said Angela Merkel. And she continued, "I advocate open markets."

European integration

The third conviction of Marshall was that it was essential to overcome all enmity between European states by developing close economic and business contacts. Marshall is thus seen as paving the way for European integration. The European Union has brought the people of Europe decades of unprecedented peace and prosperity, stressed Angela Merkel. The EU is a guarantor of peace, liberty and prosperity and will remain so in future.

The German Marshall Fund of the United States is an independent American foundation which is dedicated to fostering transatlantic relations in politics, business and society.
The foundation was established in 1972 on the basis of a gift from the people of the Federal Republic of Germany to the people of the USA to thank them and in remembrance of the 1947 European Recovery Program – a programme to rebuild Europe after the Second World War that has gone down in history as the Marshall Plan.