Edward A. Tenenbaum
{{short description|American economist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
Edward A. Tenenbaum (1921–1975) was an American economist, sometimes referred to in Germany as {{lang|de|"Vater der Deutschen Mark"}} (father of the Deutsche Mark).{{Cite book |last=Holtfrerich |first=Carl-Ludwig |title=Edward A. Tenenbaum and the Deutschmark: How an American Jew Became the Father of Germany's Postwar Economic Revival |date=2024 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-49281-2 |language=en}}
Biography
Tenenbaum was the son of Polish Jews who emigrated to America. In the late 1930s, he was a student at the International School of Geneva, Switzerland, where he befriended the portrait artist Milein Cosman.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ecolint.ch/news/news-archives-treasure-lost-and-found|title=News from the Archives: A Treasure Lost and Found|date=November 2019}} He subsequently graduated summa cum laude from Yale University in 1942. He was awarded the Warren Memorial High Scholarship prize{{Cite web |title=The Yale Daily News 4 July 1942 — Yale Daily News Historical Archive |url=https://ydnhistorical.library.yale.edu/?a=d&d=YDN19420704-01.2.21&srpos=59&e=-------en-20--41-byDA-txt-txIN-warren+memorial+prize------ |access-date=2023-07-23 |website=ydnhistorical.library.yale.edu}} for the Bachelor of the Arts candidate ranking highest in scholarship.
Tenenbaum was a US First Lieutenant and intelligence officer with the Publicity and Psychological Warfare unit of the Twelfth Army Group headquarters under General Omar N. Bradley. While in his early 20s,{{cite web |title=Ein junger US-Leutnant zog die Fäden |trans-title=A young U.S. lieutenant pulled the strings |url=https://www.welt.de/wams_print/article2105400/Ein_junger_US_Leutnant_zog_die_Faeden.html |website=Die Welt online |first=Stefan |last=Merx |language=de |access-date=2011-02-11 |date=2008-06-15}}{{cite web|publisher=Der Spiegel |title=Vater der D-Mark war ein junger, jüdischer Amerikaner, nicht Ludwig Erhard |trans-title=Father of the D-Mark was a young Jewish American, not Ludwig Erhard |date=2023-06-20 |access-date=2023-06-20 |first=Armin |last=Fuhrer |url=https://www.spiegel.de/geschichte/waehrungsreform-1948-wie-edward-a-tenenbaum-die-d-mark-erfand-a-7521a7af-bbf3-4e5e-901c-0c3dcd0f9d17}} {{in lang|de}} he and civilian Egon W. Fleck were the first two non-captive Allied personnel to enter Buchenwald concentration camp on April 11, 1945,{{cite book |title=The Buchenwald report |last=Hackett |first=David A. |page=5 |year=1995 |publisher=Westview Press |isbn=978-0-8133-1777-9 }} at 5:30 p.m.
After the war, Tenenbaum served as special assistant to Lucius D. Clay, finance adviser of the U.S. military-established government from 1945 to 1948 and as an economist with the Economic Cooperation Administration from 1948 to 1950. He is credited with rescuing the German Deutsche Mark while in this position. Former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt said about Tenenbaum, "He was the intellectual link between the American military government and the German experts."
He was later an economist with the International Monetary Fund from 1950 to 1951. Tenenbaum worked for the Mutual Security Agency as an economic adviser from 1951 to 1952. From 1952 to 1954, he was a finance adviser to the Greek government.[http://www.trumanlibrary.org/hstpaper/tenenbaumea.htm Edward A. Tenenbaum Papers] Truman Library & Museum, Independence, Missouri, USA. Retrieved February 11, 2011
References
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Category:United States Army officers
Category:20th-century American economists
Category:Yale University alumni
Category:International School of Geneva alumni
Category:American expatriates in Germany
Category:American expatriates in Switzerland
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