A finance minister scrapped price controls on a Sunday, without asking the occupiers first

On 20 June 1948, West Germany replaced its nearly worthless Reichsmark with the new Deutsche Mark, and economist Ludwig Erhard used the resulting confusion to also abolish most wartime price and rationing controls, overriding the Allied military authorities who still governed the country. Shop shelves left empty for years filled with goods within days, and industrial output rose by more than 50% in just the second half of 1948, igniting West Germany's postwar 'economic miracle.'

— Historical record of the West German currency reform, Wirtschaftswunder — West Germany, 20 June 1948