‘Priority!’ On 26 July 1947, in connection with the implementation of the Marshall Plan, French cartoonist Claude Garnier illustrates France’s fears regarding an overly rapid economic reconstruction of post-war Germany. Queuing up to get on the ‘prosperity, revival and abundance’ bus, decorated with the stars of the US flag, France, represented as a young Marianne wearing a Phrygian cap, emphasises to the bus conductor that the countries that suffered German aggression during the Second World War should be given priority for the granting of Marshall Plan aid. On the other side of the bus, ‘Gretchen’, symbolising Germany — a young girl with braids, a Bavarian hat with a feather and military boots — shouldn’t expect preferential treatment and must wait her turn for US aid.