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Toward Reichsreform—The Reichsgaue

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Alfred V. Boerner
Alfred V. Boerner
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
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Extract

Until recently, despite repeated intimations from official sources that a definitive Reichsreform was in preparation, little has actually been accomplished in the direction of reorganizing administrative areas in Germany. A few consolidations of territory have been effected, a Greater Hamburg created, and the Prussian provinces4 and districts (Bezirke) made units of intermediate national administration. But thus far the traditional forces of German separatism and the opposition of powerful local party bosses have prevented the redistricting of Germany along more rational economic and geographic lines.

Type
Foreign Government and Politics
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 33 , Issue 5 , October 1939 , pp. 853 - 859
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1939

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References

1 Dr. Wilhelm Frick, Reichsminister of the Interior, has been one of the most ardent proponents of reorganization, and has on occasion revealed his plans in the matter. Cf. Der Neubau des Dritten Reichs (Berlin, 1935)Google Scholar, a speech before a group of army officers on Nov. 14, 1934, when Frick indicated that a subdivision of the Reich into twenty administrative districts was in prospect for 1935. In an address in Hamburg on Jan. 12, 1939, published in Deutsche Verwaltung, Vol. 16 (1939), pp. 33–40Google Scholar, Frick again referred to the coming reform. See also Arnold Kottgen, “Die deutsche Gauselbstverwaltung,” ibid., pp. 193–202; State Secretary Hans Pfundtner's address of Jan. 31, 1939, Reichsverwaltungsblatt, Vol. 60 (1939), pp. 85–92Google Scholar; Ulrich Scheuner, “Die Organisation der Verwaltung,” ibid., pp. 262–269; and State Secretary Stuckart, Wilhelm, “Grundprobleme der Verwaltungsreform,” Jahrbuch für Kommunalwissenschaft, 1938, II, p. 188Google Scholar.

2 For discussions of Reichsreform under the National Socialists, see the articles by Roger Wells and Albert Lepawsky in the Apr., 1936, issue of this Review, and Becker, Erich, “Die Rechtsstellung der Länder in der Gegenwart,” Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatsurissenschaft, Vol. 97 (1936–1937), pp. 462–498Google Scholar.

3 Cf. Gerhard Krebs, “A Step Toward Reichsreform in Germany,” in the June, 1938, issue of this Review; Pfundtner, op. cit.; and Ipsen, , Von Gross-Hamburg zur Hansestadt Hamburg (Hamburg, 1938)Google Scholar.

4 Cf. Lippky, Reinhold, Der Preussische Oberpräsident (Danzig, 1935)Google Scholar, on the status of the Prussian provinces.

5 On the transformation of the Prussian districts, see Sommerfeld, Gerhard, Das Amt des preussischen Regierungspräsidenten (Dortmund, 1934)Google Scholar.

6 Cf. the outline of German administrative organization in Medicus, Franz, Reichsverwaltung und Landesverwaltung, Die Verwaltungs-Akademie, Vol. 2, no. 23 (Berlin, 1937)Google Scholar.

7 The “Ostmarkgesetz” and the “Sudetengaugesetz” of April 14, 1939. Reichsgesetzblatt (cited RGBl.), I, pp. 777, 780Google Scholar.

8 “Wiedervereinigungsgesetz” of March 13, 1938, Bundesgesetzblatt, no. 75, 1938 (RGBl. I, p. 237Google Scholar).

9 Cf. the two ordinances of March 15, 1938, RGBl. I, pp. 248, 249Google Scholar.

10 On the position and powers of the national governors, see Medicus, Fritz in Pfundtner-Neubert, , Das neue deutsche Reichsrecht, Vol. I h) 3, pp. 1–3Google Scholar, and Redenz, Theodor, Die staatsrechtliche Stellung des Reichsstatthalters (Würzburg, 1936)Google Scholar.

11 Cf. the Wiedervereinigungsgesetz, Art. II, the decree of Mar. 16, 1938, RGBl. I, p. 249Google Scholar, and the note by Werner Hoche in Pfundtner-Neubert, op. cit., Vol. I h) 1, p. 6. Wilhelm Keppler was named Beauftragter and made a special state secretary in the Foreign Office on March 20, 1938.

12 Pfundtner-Neubert, op. cit., Vol. I h) 3, pp. 7–22, lists 141 such decrees issued up to Feb. 15, 1939. Cf. also Stuckart, , “Die Eingliederung des Landes Oesterreich in den deutschen Rechts- und Verwaltungsraum,” Deutsches Recht, Vol. 8 (1938), pp. 139–145Google Scholar; and Dr. Hueber, “Die Rechtsangleichung in der Ostmark,” ibid., pp. 483–486.

13 Ordinance of Hitler of April 23, 1938, RGBl. I, p. 407Google Scholar.

14 Cf. Dr.Wider, , “Das sechste Jahr der nationalsozialistischen Revolution,” Reichsverwaltungsblatt, Vol. 60 (1939), p. 6Google Scholar. Two small communes in Tirol and Vorarlberg were also transferred to the Bayerische Ostmark.

15 RGBl. I, p. 1333Google Scholar.

16 Ordinance of October 1, 1938, RGBl. I, p. 1331Google Scholar. The powers of the national commissioner were not to be effective until the withdrawal of the special powers conferred upon the commander of the German army, which took place Oct. 20.

17 The decrees providing for this extension are collected to the end of March, 1939, in Hoche, Werner, Die Gesetzgebung Adolf Hitlers, Vol. 28, pp. 868–884Google Scholar; Vol. 29, pp. 786–942; and Vol. 31, pp. 752–885.

18 RGBl. I, p. 1348Google Scholar.

19 Cf. Wider, op. cit., pp. 23–24. Pending the completion of an administrative building in Eger, one area was administered from Karlsbad.

20 Ordinance of November, 1938, Verordnungsblatt der Reichsleitung der NSDAP., Folge 180, I 5/38.

21 Law of Mar. 25, 1939, RGBl. I, p. 745Google Scholar.

22 RGBl. I, p. 777Google Scholar.

23 These estimates are based upon figures given in Ehrensberger, Ministerialrat, “Der Aufbau der Verwaltung nach dem Ostmarkgesetz und dem Sudetengaugesetz,” Reichsverwaltungsblatt, Vol. 60 (1939), p. 343Google Scholar, and Huber, Ernst Rudolf, “Der Reichsgau,” Zeitschrift der Akademie fūr Deutsches Recht, Vol. 6 (1939), p. 364Google Scholar. The range of the party Gaue in the Reich (excluding the purely urban Gaue) is from Kurmark, with 12,100 square miles, to Köln-Aachen, with 2,800. In population (as of 1935) they vary from Saxony, with 5,198,690, to Mainfranken, with 715,562, inhabitants. Cf. Organisationsbuch der NSDAP (München, 1937, 3te Auflage), p. 84Google Scholar.

24 By an order of Hitler of Apr. 14, 1939, RGBl. I, p. 783Google Scholar, assignment has already been made of the offices of the Forestry, Labor, and Insurance Administrations, the Trustees of Labor, and the Landesbauernschaften.

25 These decrees may be nullified by the Reich ministers. They are not “Reichsrecht,” but “Reichsgaurecht.” Cf. Weber, Werner, “Reichsrecht-Landesrecht-Reichsgaurecht,” Zeitschrift der Akademie für Deutsches Recht, Vol. 6 (1939), pp. 367–371Google Scholar.

26 Section 3 of the decree of June 10, 1939, RGBl. I, p. 995Google Scholar.

27 Ibid.

28 Ibid.

29 Ibid.

30 Ibid., section 5.

31 Ibid., sections 6 and 7.

32 General codes are in prospect for these units. Cf. the decree of June 10, 1939, section 8.

33 Ibid., sections 9 and 12. Dr. Seyss-Inquart, the former national governor for Austria, has since been given the status of a Reichsminister.

34 Sudetengaugesetz of Apr. 14, 1939, RGBl. I, p. 780Google Scholar.

35 I.e., under the law of March 25, 1939. The administrative organization of the Sudetenland appears to have been undertaken from the beginning with a view to the eventual formation of a Reichsgau. Cf. Ehrensberger, op. cit., p. 344.

36 Including the general deputy of the national governor, there are thus four Regierungspräsidenten in the Sudetengau. These officers differ from their Prussian colleagues in that they are immediately responsible only to the national governor. Cf. Stuckart, , “Neubau des Reichs,” Deutsches Recht, Vol. 6 (1939), p. 823Google Scholar.

37 Ibid. Cf. also Ehrensberger, op. cit.; Huber, op. cit.; Mannlicher, Egbert, “Die neuen Reichsgaue in der Ostmark und im Sudetenland,” Zeitschrift der Akademie für Deutsches Recht, Vol. 6 (1939), pp. 337–339Google Scholar; and Dr.Roesner, , “Das deutsche Sudetenland in Zahlen,” Deutsche Justiz, Vol. 100 (1938), pp. 1730–1731Google Scholar.

38 Stuckart, op. cit., p. 823.

39 “Entwicklung und Aufbau der öffentlichen Verwaltung in der Ostmark und in den sudetendeutschen Gebieten,” Deutsche Verwaltung, Vol. 16 (1939), p. 322Google Scholar.

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