arrest by American troops in the Villa Hügel. 1945 – During the Potsdam Conference, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin discuss an exchange of Ruhr coal from the British zone of occupation for food from the Soviet Zone. Simultaneously, reparations were determined in the form of industrial equipment from the Ruhr area. Stalin and Truman are agreed that the Ruhr should remain a part of Germany, against the wishes of France who wanted a special state status for the region. Second Half of the 20th century (from 1946) Industry in the district is restored after the war, but by the end of the 20th century the coal and steel industries have declined drastically 1946 – Founding of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia by the British military government, with the entire Ruhr region lying within its boundaries previously France had been pressing for the Ruhr to be detached from Germany (similar to the situation they were able to engineer in the Saarland). 1946–1947 – The hunger winter affects the population of the Ruhr area particularly hard. Thousands of town inhabitants undertake Hamsterfahrten (travel to farming regions to barter jewellery and other goods for food) to the farming regions of the uplands. 1948 – In January, in the towns of the Ruhr area, the number of strikes is growing and growing – in Essen alone 50,000 workers take action. The workers protest about shortages in the supply of food. Bavaria, especially, refuses to fulfill its obligations to the exchange of goods in the Bizone (i.e. the area covered by the British and American zones). 1948 – With the currency reform in June, goods started to become more plentiful again – however households with limited income, for example working-class families, had to bear the burden of the cost of the war via the resulting reduction of the value of money. 1949 – The Ruhrstatut of 28 April 1949 regulated the control of the coal and steel production by setting up the International Ruhr Authority to supervise these industries. When state sovereignty is taken on by the Federal Republic in May, industries relevant to the armament industry remain under international control. On 13 June Belgian soldiers went into action against German workers who erected barriers to block the demolition of Hydrierwerk. 1952 – The Dortmund Westfalenhalle is re-constructed in its present form, after the destruction of the first in the war. The official opening took