Page 20

that Prussia became a major power
and Berlin's eminence was established.
Frederick Wilhelm I, "The King of
Soldiers," and his son, Frederick the
Great, founded Prussian militarism
and built many fine palaces and other
notable structures in Berlin, including
the Opera House (now a bombed-out
shell).
The favorite city of the two Fred-
ericks was Potsdam, now in the
Soviet Zone, southwest of Berlin. Fred-
erick William made his famous corps
of giants, the Potsdam guards, a sym-
bol of the military spirit of this Berlin
suburb. Frederick the Great spent a
great amount of time glorifying Pots-
dam. He rebuilt the town hall and
built the New Palace and Sans Souci
Palace ("Palace Free of Care"). Father
and son were buried in the Garrison
Chapel, long a national German
shrine.
Potsdam has long been a center of
European diplomacy and a symbol of
the military glory of Prussia and of
the Hohenzollerns.
Here President von Hindenburg
handed over his government to Hitler
in 1933 while the chimes of the Garri-
son Church, (also now wrecked),
which rang out the victories of the
German armies, tolled the death knell
of German freedom. Here in the Sans
Souci Palace the heads of state met
in 1945 to lay down the Potsdam
Agreement for governing Germany.
For two centuries the fortunes of
Berlin have been the fortunes of Ger-
many. With the fall of Berlin in
1945 the remainder of Germany bowed
in defeat to the victorous Allies.
Religious Broadcasts Shifted
A reorganization of the program
of religious broadcasts from Radio
Munich has been completed. Under
the new arrangement the Roman
Catholic and the Evangelical-Lutheran
churches are granted equal radio
time, a one-hour block from 10 A.M.
to 11 A.M. every Sunday. Alternating
time is given to the smaller denomi-
nations on Sunday mornings, and a
Jewish broadcast takes place on
Fridays from 7:45 P.M. to 8 P.M.
In addition, outstanding religious
events will be broadcast on special
occasions.
(Continued from Page 10)
Decentralizaton
Council, were the heads of the
several bizonal administrative depart-
ments. They directed the operations
of their respective departments, con-
sisting of the following: Trade and
Industry; Food Agriculture and For-
estry; Finance; Transport; Posts and
Telecommunications; and Personnel.
The principle of decentralization is
adhered to by Military Government
and "states rights" are as fully pro-
tected as possible under present cir-
cumstances. Special stress is laid on
the use of state governments as
regional organs of administration for
such important bizonal programs as
economics, and food and agriculture.
The establishment of separate field
offices for the bizonal agencies in
the states is not contemplated.
Furthermore, the legislative powers
assigned to the Economic Council
were specifically enumerated and
limited. Legislation promulgated by
the Economic Council was in the
nature of framework laws which out-
line the objectives, major policies,
and over-all standards to be observed
intheadministration of the particular
programs, leaving to the states the
actual implementation of the laws.
Only with respect to transportation
and posts and communications have
unified central administrations been
created over which the Laender have
no power.
The reorganization of May 29, 1947,
has  thus  extended  the  respon-
sibilities of the German agencies and
consolidated both the German and
the MG administrations.
Under a reorganization of the Ger-
man bizonal organization, effective
on February 9, 1948, the membership
of the Economic Council was doubled;
a new chamber of 16 members, to
be known as the Laenderrat, was
established, and the Executive Com-
mittee was revised to consists of a
chairman, without portfolio and five
heads of departments who would be
political appointees.
In addition, it was decided to
establish a German High Court for
the combined economic area and a
bank for the transaction of bizonal
financial business.
The powers of the Economic Coun-
cil, in certain respects, will be in-
creased, particularly in the field of
finance. The additional 52 members
of the Council will be elected by
the state legislatures under the same
procedure as was used formerly-one
for each 750,000 of population.
THE POLICY of Military Govern-
ment with respect to govern-
ment   agencies  and   private  as-
sociations has been clearly defined
since the beginning of the occupation.
One of the basic principles of de-
mocracy is free association and con-
sequently associations of all kinds,
economic as well as professional, are
permitted provided they adopt demo-
cratic  principles  of  organization.
Membership must be voluntary and
not discriminatory.
No private associations, including
trade associations, chambers of com-
merce, industry, handicraft, or agri-
culture guilds, professional societies,
and other economic associations, may
be accorded the status of a public
law corporation, nor be permitted
to exercise governmental functions.
While such associations are per-
fectly free to promote the interests
of their members, their relations with
governmental agencies may be of an
advisory character only.
In particular, they are not permitted
to assign production or delivery
quotas, to allocate materials or fuels,
to regulate distribution, sales, prices,
rates, or charges. All such matters
are considered govermental functions
and must be exercised by govern-
mental agencies.
This US policy, as laid down in
Military Government Regulations,
Title 13, has been opposed by Ger-
man-vested interests as well as by
governmental functionaries, and in
frequent cases has been violated.
Military Government is at present
investigating  private  associations
with respect to their organization
and functions and their relation to
governmental agencies. The enforce-
ment of this policy is one of the
vital requirements for the democra-
tization of German economic in-
stitutions and political life.
INFORMATION BULLETIN
20
MARCH 23, 1948