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The New Political Parties of Germany*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2013
Extract
Recent reports on political events in Germany have frequently given the impression that the political parties organized there during the last few months are mass movements, based on the solid support of considerable numbers of citizens. Such a concept would, however, hardly fit the present picture. The lost war and its aftermath have left the German people stunned and discouraged. The presence of great armies of occupation and the obvious impotency of all native officials do not encourage political activities. Moreover, the German people have just passed through a period of twelve years during which every human endeavor—even of the most personal nature—was fraught with alleged or real political implications. A natural reaction set in, and even the word “politics,” once hallowed by generations of German intellectuals, is frequently met with revulsion. Only a few Germans understand that political life need not necessarily conform to the Nazi pattern. The vast majority, as far as can be ascertained, still see in “politics” only blatant, showy demonstrations, incessant harangues, and the complete negation of privacy. The memory of the Weimar Republic is dim, and where it exists an often exaggerated picture is retained of the multitude of parties and the squabbles in the Reichstag, but no memory of the fine and hopeful features of the ill-fated Republic. In this respect, the spirit of Goebbels is still very much alive. But, above all, the tremendous destruction, the insufficient diet, and the never-ending and never quite successful search for the most primitive means of existence leave the people exhausted and in the main without other interests. This state of apathy is furthered, too, by the well-known readiness, if not desire, of many Germans to submit to authority. Particularly when the occupation of their country was still new, most observers found the conviction among all classes of the population that the future of Germany was entirely an Allied matter and that the exclusion of Germans from all important decisions was a foregone conclusion. Few believed that political initiative by the Germans themselves would in any way ease the situation, and many considered that such action would end only in further confusion and consequently in a harder life for all. Since the unconditional surrender, this feeling of apathy has subsided only slowly and to but a slight extent. The majority of people went to the recent communal elections without much interest and in a spirit of obedience, rather than with the idea that they were performing an act of self-government.
- Type
- Foreign Government and Politics
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © American Political Science Association 1946
References
1 In Bavaria, the Catholic party was called “Bavarian People's party” (Bayerische Volkspartei—B. V. P.).
2 The “Freedom Action Bavaria” which operated in Munich during the closing hours of the Nazi régime cannot be called a resistance movement, and besides it has since fallen into oblivion.
3 Head of a Kreis (county).
4 Head of a Regierungsbezirk (government district).
5 Head of a province.
6 A considerable strengthening of the position of the native Länder governments can be seen in the recently organized Prime Ministers' Conference at Stuttgart. This permanent conference of the heads of government in the United States zone is probably the nucleus of a future government for the entire American zone.
7 The legend of the “innumerable parties” was spread for years by the Nazi propaganda machine and has become firmly embedded in the mind of most Germans, including even those who have very definite democratic convictions. Actually, the Weimar Republic did have a considerable number of parties, but only a few of them were of any importance.
8 Nevertheless, in the recent communal elections in the United States zone of occupation the Communists have definitely appeared as a minority.
9 Otto Grotewohl was the most hesitant among them
10 Reichsgesetzblatt (1933) I, p. 141; Neumann, Franz, Behemoth; The Strudure and Practice of National Socialism (Toronto, New York, London, 1942), pp. 51–53.Google Scholar
11 Actually only part of the former Rheinprovinz (now called North Rhine Province), since the Regierungsbezirke Trier and Koblenz were ceded to the French zone of occupation.
12 Then commanded by Colonel Charles E. Keegan.
13 Muhler has frequently shared the same speaker's platform with Communists and Socialists.
15 It is quite probable that the Military Government for Bavaria was equally ignorant of this agreement, but the point could not be definitely ascertained.
16 Dr. Otto Meissner, originally a Social Democrat, contrived the incredible political “stunt” of serving as secretary of state under three such radically different political leaders as Ebert, Hindenburg, and Hitler.
18 Admiral Canaris's organization was honeycombed with Hitler opponents and constituted one of the principal elements in the unsuccessful uprising of July 20, 1944.
17 Mueller never took the near-separatist line advocated by Schaeffer and Hoegner.
18 On the other hand, there are many actual or former Nazis in responsible positions today merely because for one reason or another they did not or could not join the Party. A frequent reason for not being able to join the Party was marriage to a non-“Aryan” or former membership in a Masonic lodge.
19 See the speech of Wilhelm Pieck, chairman of the Communist party of Germany. Time, Feb. 11, 1946, p. 34.
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