The Allied dismantling of the West German coal and steel industries decided at the Potsdam Conference was virtually completed by 1950 ; equipment had then been removed from 706 manufacturing plants in the west and steel production capacity had been reduced by 6,700,000 tons . Although the industrially important Saarland with its rich coal fields was returned to West Germany in 1957 , it remained economically integrated in a customs union with France until 1959 and France extracted coal from the area until 1981
Potsdam Conference
Potsdam Conference
Wirtschaftswunder