We all know something about WW II in Europe and one of the things we know was Germany was defeated. But what was life after the war ended? In the US, it was the start of an economic growth with great optimism as the economy switched from a war one to peace time. The GIs came home, started families and the government sent many to college and university and made home ownership easier with veterans housing. The government had great foresight. In Europe, where the war was centred, the story is much different. The war was a different war and much of the landscape and infrastructure was bombed and destroyed. A book about the subject is called Savage Continent by Keith Lowe published by St. Martin’s Press,NY, 2012. In the book, the result of the Nazi Party being poor administrators of Europe, the people of Europe faced very hard times. In the last years of the war, the German people were on rations as food was running out or hard to get. When the war ended the situation became even a larger concern. There is a term called Scorched Earth which means burn the crops and kill the animals, this allows easier control of the land. It also means a few years have to go by before the land produces crops again. Many armies in the war practiced the Scorched Earth policy.

When the war was over, people began to move back to their former lives, if they existed. In many cases they simply did not exist anymore. When the war was on, there were people that seemed to accept the German army easier than others. It could be argued they were doing it for the greater good of the people around them, after the war those that did not accept were part of the vengeance of the public. In all the countries, after the war those in power or those who accepted the enemy their lives were turned upside down in peace time. One aspect was cutting the hair off of women. An issue  that was poorly answered is what to do about the children that were born of German fathers? In addition, when the war ended, the army were the bad guys who were trying to shoot you, the war ends – it is easy to say they are not longer the bad guys but what do you do with them? Prisoner of war camps existed and the former soldiers needed to be feed and clothed in a similar fashion as the local people who are free. How did Europe treat them? from the book, not well.

In many urban areas, the bombing was constant and cities needed to be rebuilt, but who was to do it? As everyone knows with construction projects, they take time to design and implement. Who is in charge in the meantime? It is very hard to go back to the time before the war when they simply do not exist.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, these companies have a history of surviving through many different economic cycles which makes them valuable. Besides surviving they are profitable enough to pay dividends to the shareholders. They all have bought and sold companies and subsidiaries along the way. When a company sells its subsidiary which is a good decision of the company and others take up the cause, perhaps to even run it better.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions