8 MAY 1942, Page 12

THE BACKBONE OF GERMANY

S19,—A plea for the protection of the German bureaucracy after the defeat of the Nazis is so utterly incompatible with the principles for which this war is supposed to be fought, that it can be supported only by prodigious sophistry. Mr. Westphal is justified in regarding German bureaucracy as "the backbone of Germany," for it has always been one of the twin pillars supporting the rule of the most reactionary forces in German society. And it is these forces which spoke and acted for Germany in the past, and do so at present. Mr. Westphal does not try to defend the army or the Gestapo, as this would be perfectly useless in any case. But he pleads for a minimum of interference with the German "civil service" after the war, in order to prevent chaos and maintain public order. This may seem only reasonable to the English public, whose ideas of both "civil service" and " bureaucracy " are shaped by British conditions, and Mr. Westphal takes pains to explain that any other policy would disorganise the postal service and the running of the State railways. But it would be difficult to give a more misleading picture of the nature and functioning of the German bureau cratic system than is implied in this apologia. As a matter of fact, German bureaucracy is primarily not a technical instrument for convenience of the German people, but the backbone of -a political sy which is essentially incompatible with modern democracy.

In Germany the State runs not only the Post Office, but also railways and various other monopolies and runs them reasonably we or it did so at least at the time when it was possible to check working. This branch of public activity will have to be expanded af the war in Germany as elsewhere. But the German "State" bureaucracy have other and less salutary functions as well. They been established for the purpose of ruling the people (the canaille) f above in the interests of the dynasty, the Junkers and—since the fo tion of the Second Empire (1870—the big business interests. The hold of these powers on the administrative system made a sham of German Reichstag under Bismarck and his successors, and their unb rule during the Weimar Republic (again largely maintained through bureaucracy) frustrated every attempt to establish and maintain Germany a democratic system worth the name. Whatever may been the number of official Nazis among the higher civil servants bef the Third Empire, it is an incontestable fact that the Nazis strength the hands of the most reactionary bureaucrats by weeding out the f progressive elements 'which had been Introduced after 1918, and t is no doubt that the German bureaucrats loyally, and even enthusiasti supported the Nazi programme of world conquest. The significance the events of the last few months (and the interesting remarks in H speech of April 26th) cannot be assessed without encroaching und upon your space.

The establishment in Germany after the war of a democratic on Western models may be difficult or even impossible, and other me may be necessary in order to break the stranglehold of big busin generals and Junkers on the German people. But it cannot be str with sufficient emphasis that a protection of the bureaucracy under plea of maintaining law and order would wreck every hope of a reconstruction of German society, just as it helped to wreck the abo

revolution of 1918.—Yours faithfully, E. STRAUSS • Guildford, Surrey.