History - the early post-war occupation policy in Germany

I'm posting this because a. its fascinating, b. informative, c. sobering, d. an object lesson in the difference between horrendous & enlightened (humane, progressive, constructive) policy.

Not sure many know (I didn't) that for the first two years post-war, 1946-1947, the US pursued a policy of deindustrialization & economic disintegration in Germany, which had it been allowed to continue, would have led to mass starvation in the many millions, DELIBERATELY !

Most of us likely assume that the ultimately enlightened policies which informed the Marshall plan, leading to the renaissance of a vibrant democratic market-driven Germany and Western Europe, in general, was the first resort. It was not. First, a truly monstrous ahistorical & benighted retributive policy had to be overthrown, promulgated by Robert Morganthau, FDR's Treasury Secretary, who soon became a sort of eminence grise in the 30s & 40s - he was rather quickly shit canned by Truman, but his influence lived on for a few years - it took Humanists Like George Marshall, SoS Vinson, and Gen. Lucius Clay to set things aright.

Spurred on, quite likely, by the almost immediate jolt presented by Soviet usurpation of Eastern Europe, the (should always have been) obvious need for a robust free Western Europe as bulwark against the movement westward - a very real threat, esp. in Italy & Greece - and a throttled Germany.

It is surprising to me that a man the caliber of FDR, generally positive & visionary & progressive, would have put in with the miserable, short-sighted and clearly unsustainable vision of Morganthau. It seems like a bit of rabid insanity at the highest levels. But then FDR died, Morganthau was cashiered, and things slowing turned around, thankfully, so the misery didn't continue much longer than it had to, given its initial impetus & support among similarly miserably inclined occupation authorities.

Morganthau was, in many ways, a voice of conscience regarding the persecution of the Jews during the war (himself a Jew), sort of a voice in the wilderness, who met with much obstruction, mainly from people like SoS Cordell Hull. But his post-war 'plan' is truly a blot on his judgement and humanity.

This is an abstract of a book on the subject, which provides a nice overview of the situation, as it transpired :

https://robert-faurisson.com/history/the-morgenthau-plan-for-deliberate-deindustrialization-and-starvation-of-germany-especially-document-jcs-1067/