Frederick T. Birchall said today in a Berlin despatch to the New York Times that hopes that Germany’s economic situation would be eased by a flood of foreign money left here by visitors to the Olympic games are being shattered by pronouncements by authorities on the subject.
The Berlin Chamber of Commerce is warning members against undue optimism, Mr. Birchall said. He quoted the German Economist, generally regarded as Economics Minister Schacht’s mouthpiece, as stating that the games will produce an additional drain on Germany’s supply of foreign exchange since most visitors will live in Berlin on registered or travel marks sold to them at a discount by German’s foreign creditors.
The despatch continues:
“The only foreign exchange Germany receives will come from tickets to the games that are sold abroad and from a few countries that have made special arrangements providing that the travel of their nationals within Germany shall be paid for partly with their own money.
“The expenditures in travel marks will reduce Germany’s foreign indebtedness, but will not produce what Germany needs most at this time, foreign exchange. Contrarily, Germany will have to pay out foreign exchange to provide additional food from abroad for the visitors and to provide foreign raw materials for the manufacture of articles for which the visitors will pay in marks.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
