 It was roughly contemporary with the "Wirtschaftswunder" in West Germany and part of the period of worldwide postwar economic expansion in the late 1940s and 1950s.During World War II, Belgium had been occupied by Nazi Germany and had seen a deterioration in its gross domestic product through war damage and the economic policies pursued by the occupiers, despite the efforts of figures like Alexandre Galopin who attempted to preserve Belgium's industrial capacity through compromise with the occupiers.From 1945, however, demand for Belgium's traditional industries (steel and coal, textiles, and railway machinery in particular) grew across Europe, boosting the recovery of the Belgian economy.