14 - U.S. Military Occupation, Grass Roots Democracy, and Local German Government

Summary

The democratization of Germany, one of the chief goals of the U.S. Military Government (MG), was to begin on the level of local government. In the early postwar period, this was the only level of German bureaucracy that remained in any way intact. Moreover, local government was the only sphere in which the local MG detachments had the authority to appoint German officials to lead the administrations. The American occupation authorities realized that “city government had been the one point where there existed a strong tradition of self-government in Germany.” Hence one might assume that the American occupation authorities would have welcomed and supported grass roots democratic initiatives. This was not, however, the case.

The revival of local German self-government meant an introduction of democracy only “insofar as the persons who were appointed to office were [supposed to be] democratic.” According to the U.S. occupation authorities, the prerequisite for a revival of “democratic political life even on the lowest level” was the democratization of local government and the formation of democratic political parties. The U.S. occupying forces, however, postponed German democratic political revival until August 27, 1945, when they first permitted political activity and allowed the formation of political parties on the local level in their zone. Before then, a ban on all political activity was in effect, and U.S. MG's primary objective had been to restore public order and to revive municipal administration.