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TERMINOLOGY AND ABBREVIATIONS
The general reader may well be puzzled by German governmental terminology
and by abbreviations in common use in Occupied Germany.
German Terms
The Bundesrepublik Deutschland is the Federal Republic of Germany, made up
of the eleven states outside the Russian Zone of Occupation.
The Bundestag is the popularly elected lower house of the Federal Parliament.
The Bundesrat is the upper house of the Federal Parliament and consists of
members of the Land governments.
The Grundgesetz (Basic Law) is the Constitution for West Germany, the term
having been adopted by the Germans to emphasize the fact that it was provisional
and temporary pending the recovery of German sovereignty and the unification
of
East and West Germany.
A Land (plural Laender) is a state within the Federal Republic. There are
eleven
Laender in West Germany, as follows:
U. S. Zone of Occupation:  Bavaria (Bayern)
French Zone of Occupation:
British Zone of Occupation:
Wuerttemberg-Baden
Hesse (Hessen)
Bremen
Wuerttemberg-Hohenzollern
South Baden (Suedbaden)
Rhineland-Palatinate
(Rheinland-Pfalz)
North Rhine Westphalia
(Nordrhein-Westfalen)
Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen)
Schleswig-Holstein
Hamburg
A Landtag (plural Landtage) is the popularly elected assembly at the Land
level.
Few Laender have any second chamber.
A Kreis (plural Kreise) is roughly equivalent to a county.
A Landkreis (plural Landkreise) is a rural county; a Stadtkreis (plural Stadt-
kreise) is a city county.
A Gemeinde (Gemeinden) is a village.
A Stadt (plural Stadte) is a city.
Abbreviations
HICOM:
HICOG:
OMGUS:
PA or POLAFF:
IPG:
PUB or PUBAFF:
IS or ISD:
ECR:
OLC:
KRO:
The Allied High Commission for Germany.
Office of the U. S. High Commissioner for Germany.
Office of Military Government for Germany (U.S.)
- the predecessor of HICOG.
Office of Political Affairs, HICOG.
Division of Internal Political and Governmental Affairs,
Office of Political Affairs, HICOG.-
Office of Public Affairs, HICOG.
Information Services Division of PUB.
Education and Cultural Relations Division of PUB.
Office of a Land Commissioner established in each of the
eleven Laender in West Germany.
A Kreis Resident Officer representing HICOG at the local
level (in one or more of the Kreise).
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