This book puts the illegal economy of the German capital during and after World War II into context and provides a new interpretation of Germany's postwar history. The black market, it argues, served as a reference point for the beginnings of the two new German states.

Inhalt

1. Prologues
2. The Wartime Networks: The Martha Rebbien Case
3. Destruction, Disorientation and New Patterns of Order: Changes in the Black Market Landscape during the Transition from War to Postwar
4. Black Markets from the End of the War to the Currency Reform
5. Stories of a New Beginning: The Economy of the Streets between the Currency Reform and the 'Economic Miracle'
   Conclusion: Black Market Trading as a Radical Experience of a Free Market