Recent Changes in German Governmental Organization

Extract

Within the last few years, changes have been carried out in the public administration of Germany which will affect the military government to be established during and after Germany's defeat. Their general trend has been to subordinate state (i.e., Reich, regional, and local) administration to the Party, which has been vested with more and more power. This is of particular interest in the light of the present “total mobilization,” in which the Party plays a dominant part. To some extent, the changes discussed in this note show a definite trend toward decentralization, although there has been no actual delegation of powers to smaller units, since all power remained in the hands of the Party—this being, of course, the reason why the Nazis could afford to “decentralize.” On the local level, the reforms aimed at tying together the loosening bonds between the régime and the people. Only the most recent emergency measures of “total mobilization” are touched on in this note.

1. Gauarbeitsaemter. When the Reichsanstalt was created in 1927–28, the Reich was organized in 13 economic regions, each having one regional labor office (Landesarbeitsamt). The idea was to establish large economic districts containing various industries so that a crisis in one industry could be absorbed by the labor market of another within the same district, thus creating “ausgleichsfaehige Bezirke.”