The Origins of Post-War German Politics (Rle: German Politics) by Barbara Marshall

Author:Barbara Marshall [Marshall, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History & Theory, Comparative Politics, Political Science, World, General
ISBN: 9781317558675
Google: S2rfBQAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 24049142
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1988-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

Decentralisation

If local politicians had at best 'mixed' feelings about the British proposals for local government reform, they were much more enthusiastic about the second set of proposals which was to complement the first: the decentralisation of the political system with more autonomy for the cities and country communities. Greater powers for the localities had been a long standing objective of local politicians; during the Weimar Republic their pressure group, the Deutsche Städtetag, had made strenuous albeit not very successful efforts to improve the situation. This reached a nadir during the Third Reich. Not only did the introduction of the Führerprinzip at local level reduce the communities to mere executive organs of higher authority, but during the war the most stringent central direction of the economy led to ever increasing central interference in local affairs. The British proposals which, if implemented, would have gone beyond what the cities had achieved under Weimar, were therefore met with great hopes by local politicians.

The general circumstances seemed to favour a complete reorganisation of the system. As the end of the war approached the cities were more and more cut off from communication with the outside world and had to cope, as best they could, with bomb damage, problems of law and order as well as the supply of basic necessities. Hanover's position was special in that it became the headquarters of the Military Government Region (25) and later, in August 1946, the capital of the newly created Land Niedersachsen. It therefore had a large number of soldiers and their families, civil servants and white collar workers whose needs under the existing post-war conditions could only be met if Hanover was given special status such as the Ruhr area or a city such as Hamburg.

For these various reasons local politicians were determined to fight for greater autonomy. Gustav Bratke with his long history of working for greater local self determination was a formidable advocate of the cities their pressure group, the 'Städtetag' was soon revived - and notably of Hanover's case. He clearly hoped that Military Government would be a most valuable ally in his cause.

The most immediate obstacle to local autonomy was the institution of the Regierungspresident (RPr), the lowest echelon of the state administration and in the past, having controlling power over local government. The retention of this office therefore became the battle ground of all concerned. In spite of their declared intention to decentralise the system, the British had unwittingly done much to reintroduce the old administrative order which at the end of the war had effectively disappeared. As noted above, they were reintroduced as a temporary co-ordinating body but on the ground in a city such as Hanover there was obvious contradiction between strengthening local government and the instituting of the office of Regierungspresident. Moreover, many of their functions overlapped such as the collection and distribution of food which the city had been ordered to carry out by Military Government; there were also problems of reconstruction, where Military Government instructed the city's building department to take on the business for the whole district.

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