HC Deb 19 March 1941 vol 370 cc137-9
5. Mr. Thorne

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any information as to the annual amount of money that the Governments of countries who are under the military control of Germany have to pay to that country?

Mr. Butler

The Reply to this Question is necessarily long and includes a number of figures. I will, with the hon. Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Following is the reply:

The burden imposed on the occupied territories can be reckoned only partly in terms of money paid by the Governments of the occupied countries to the German Government. The greater part of the burden consists essentially of various obligations exacted in kind. In the first place, the territories have to contribute directly to the cost of the army of occupation; this charge includes generous pay for the troops. The following are the estimated annual costs of occupation in the Western occupied territories, the sterling equivalents being based on the rates of exchange prior to the occupation. The figures must be treated with reserve in the case of Holland.

Total (in Millions). Total (in £Millions). £ per head of population.
Norway 1,200 crowns 68 25
Denmark 540,, 26 8
Belgium 9,000 francs 75 8
Holland 405 guilders 54 6
France 14,600 francs 827 20

It will thus be seen that the German occupation is estimated to be costing the Western occupied territories annually a sum in the neighbourhood of £1,050,000,000. In addition Germany receives certain amounts, estimates of which are not yet available, from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Rumania and Bulgaria. Relatively, Norway suffers the heaviest burden per head of population, which amounts to over one-third of her pre-war national income. It may also be noted that the maximum annual demand from Germany ever contemplated under the Young Plan was £125,000,000, which, even taking into account the change in the sterling price of gold since that date, amounts to less than one-third of the present French payment.

The second form of burden arising out of the German occupation is that the occupied territories are obliged to send to Germany more goods than they receive from her in return. This surplus of exports is paid for in blocked marks from which no benefit is, or is likely to be, derived. Under this heading may be reckoned the value of goods requisitioned in the country by the German authorities and sent to Germany, including articles belonging to individuals, such as gold and jewellery. This second type of burden is considerably less now than it was in 1940 owing to the fact that the territories have to a large extent been denuded of readily exportable surpluses. Even so, the total annual loss to the Western occupied territories may still be estimated at about £100,000,000 a year.

The estimated total burden is thus in the neighbourhood of £1,150,000,000 a year, and this does not take into account the many indirect losses caused to the territories concerned by the German occupation, for which no estimates are available.