"Politics of pragmatism" : the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau as a bridge between the state and private banks and businesses during West Germany's reconstruction period : 1948-1961

Although it was initiated by the Allies as a kind of compromise in an Anglo-American dispute over banking policy in occupied Germany, and was thus an Allied creation, the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) was soon to be called "a characteristic German institution". This was because of the composition of its supervisorp board, which fits the description of what Werner Abelshauser has called "the corporate state", and because of its used bp the government to support the reconstruction process from late 1948 onward. The KfW became the link between businesses and the state, not least because of the role and personality of Hermann Josef Abs. Not only did Abs contribute significantly to the German drafting of the KfW law, he also became the dominant figure within the bank. Within the bank, Abs was the driving force for a number of vital loan programmes to industry, while at the same time he acted as unofficial governmental advisor in Chancellor Adenauer's "kitchen cabinet" and helped to guide industrp through the reconstruction period via the two dozen or so supervisory board memberships and chairmanships he held. Because of his various roles and positions, Abs was the pivotal link between business and the state but while it can be argued that he acted for the greater good of the reconstruction, he never lost sight of the long-term interests of the private banking sector, in particular his "home bank", Deutsche Bank.