Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - The German Problem
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Zone, from the first of January, 1947, had been
back in German hands. According to a regulation
which was put into effect that day, the occupation
powers would henceforth function only as consulting
authorities. The experiment had not proved
successful. It is true that the English in building up the
new administrative organization in Germany, had
tried to introduce the most valuable institutions born
of the development of democratic countries. Sweden
has in some ways served as an example too. But the
new system does not suit the Germans. In order to be
efficient, they evidently must be directed. They must
feel themselves led by definite orders. They failed
to reach any degree of efficiency, and the
unfortunate results have been openly criticised. Germans
do not show any respect for those who occupy their
country. They are irritated because they let
themselves be defeated in the Second World War by such
inadequate machinery as the English.
”We let our chance go by”, a high-ranking English
military officer said to me. ”We have been guilty of
two great mistakes. The first is that, on the whole,
we have been sending inferior people to Germany.
The second is that we handed over the civil
administration to the German authorities. Regarding
internal administration, we have now only advisory
authority. Instead we should have acted in the
following way: Immediately after the occupation we
should have declared very decidedly that it was now
we, the English, who were in command and who
were going to command until a new spirit developed
in Germany. In return, we should have promised to
send to Germany the best men of our country as
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