I’m writing a story and a possible plot point hinges on this. I hope this isn’t the wrong place to post this.
How did individuals send money to Europe in the 40’s?
I’m talking about the US but other countries could be part of it.
Also were Americans allowed to send money to Germany during WWII?
Thanks in advance.
I wasn’t around in the 40s but I believe the conventional method was to “wire” it, typically by Western Union. They started money transfers by telegraph before 1900.
Can’t even offer speculation on Germany in WWII.
Thank you! I tried to find something about this in lots of places but couldn’t.
Mail money order.
Maybe the character could even send the money hidden on a package to a neighbouring country and have someone smuggle the money to Germany. And… show us your novel! I am quite curious to read it 
For larger amounts of money, bank-to-bank transfers. This requires both parties to have bank accounts, and the payor to have details of the payee’s bank account.
Or, the payor could simply mail a US dollar cheque to the payee, who then takes to to his bank who, for a fee, will collect it for him, convert it to local currency and deposit it to his account. This takes time, but the payee’s credit is good his bank may let him have value for the cheque before it clears.
Or, for smaller amounts, the payor simply mails dollar bills in an envelope to the payee, who takes the dollar bills to a bank in his own country and exchanges them for local currency. This is pretty much how immigrants to the US would send regular modest payments to their aged and infirm parents in the home country.
Or a Bank Cheque, which is like a banknote, which is money, except that a bank cheque is a cheque written against a bank other than your national currency bank. A Note/Cheque may be for any amount: because it is signed by a bank, it is slightly easier and quicker to cash/convert.
Or a Letter or Credit (which is a contract), or a travelers cheque (which may be cashed at an agent, not requiring a bank).
These methods pre-date the development of the telegraph, which enabled wire-transfers between bank accounts and between agents, but they remain popular for some kinds of transactions.
A letter of credit isn’t a contract. A contract is a binding exchange of promises or performances between two specified parties.
Technically, you are sort-of correct. It is very difficult to fit the idea of ‘Letter of Credit’ into the legal theories about what the word ‘contract’ means. On the other hand, the reason why people try to shoe-horn it into the (largely meaningless) ‘theory’ of contract, is that it looks, feels, smells, and tastes like a contract.
For example, a letter of credit is “a binding exchange of promises or performances between two specified parties” - which is one simplistic description of contract.
amorali, as you can see, there is not just one answer to this and the method appropriate for your book will depend on the sophistication of your character and the type and amount of transaction. A tycoon wishing to forward a deposit to buy a country mansion will probably use a different method than a bank executing a security purchase and different than a cobbler sending money back home to family.
Just FYI: The original transatlantic telegraph cables were exactly that, they transmitted the dots & dashes of Morse code. Later on they transmitted much faster (for the time) data protocols sent & received by teletype machines. Amazingly (to me anyway) the very first transatlantic telephone line,TAT-1, wasn’t built until well after WWII (1956!)