A K.R.O.'S RETROSPECT
By N. PELHAM WRIGHT
AYEAR as a "Kreis Resident Officer" in the Control Commission for Germany cannot fail to leave a reasonably clear picture of German life and thought in one's own particular area, and give a rough indication of conditions all over the /British Zone, and perhaps throughout Trizonia. Kreis Resident Officers (or " K.R.O.s") in Germany are perhaps to be compared with District Commissioners in our colonial territories, though I do not wish to infer by this that Germany's problems are analogous with those of, say, a tropical African dependency. The K.R.O.s are the direct representatives of the Military Governor in the Kreise- the districts into which all Germany is divided for administrative purposes. Some of the rural Kreise are of the size of small English counties, while the larger towns form independent Stadtkreise. All are grouped together into the so-called Regierungsbezirke, which are subservient to the governments of the provinces (or Lander). My late Kreis was a rural area about as large as the county of Hunting- don, lying in the wide northern plain that forms the bulk of the province of Lower Saxony (or Niedersachsen) ; its population today is 9o,000, of which 58,000 are local people and 32,000 are refugees from the East who have arrived since 1945.
That the Germans normally refer to the K.R.O. as the Kreiskom- 'mandant does not mean that this officer gives a great number of 'orders at this stage in the occupation. After four years he lays down the law only in respect of a few subjects, such as disarmament and the supervision of the political parties ; otherwise he takes the guise of adviser, missionary and reporter. But the Germans like such words as Kommandant, and the title has come to stay as long as the K.R.O.s continue to exist. A rural K.R.O.'s day is taken up with a diverse range of duties, including attending council and• committee meetings, interviewing politicians and burgomasters, receiving complaints (with most of which he is powerless to deal) from all sorts and conditions of people, inspecting accommodation and farms, supervising the local disarmament programme and game- and vermin-control, dealing with an all-too-voluminous corre- spondence with both British and Germans, and reporting the more Interesting results of his labours to higher authority, with recom- mendations as to how this evil should be removed or that anomaly eliminated. In the evening there is frequently a political meeting to be attended, or a discussion group which must be presided over, or at which a contribution must be made.
One of the greatest impediments to practically everything progressive (including good Anglo-German relations) in this par- ticular part of Germany is the Sturheit of the local inhabitants. Difficult to translate exactly, the word Sturheit appears to denote a quality embodying dourness, reserve, phlegm, taciturnity, con- servatism and the inability to speak frankly, think quickly or express oneself clearly. It is a trait unknown, for example, in the Rhineland, Bavaria or Saxony, and it is clear that, whatever its advantages may be, people with these attributes are discouraging material to work on when the target is. to introduce a new political structure and a new outlook towards life in general. Sturheit impedes progress to such an extent that most K.R.O.s in the region need about a year In which to obtain general acceptance, and much longer before they command enough confidence to propagate these aims without resistance.
And so it was that most people in my late Kreis remained reserved and mistrustful, even though many know now by experi- ence that they get a square deal from Military Government. When the need arose they were willing to ask favours and help from the K.R.O. against their compatriots, yet there was little gratitude for favours received, and little evidence of any desire to co-operate with Military Government in the difficult tasks confronting it. When their thoughts turned to matters outside the Kreis (which they did, and do infrequently, for developments in Berlin and the Ruhr are concepts as remote to them as Timbuktu or Patagonia are to most Englishmen), they were quick to resent such things as dismantling, the Ruhr statute or frontier rectification, and it was necessary to remind them sharply of the basic reasons for it all. and of the iniquities of the National Socialist regime, which, perhaps understandably, they are all very anxious to forget.
In my Kreis few people seemed to have a clear view of history during the last sixteen years ; moreover, most people did not want to think of it. This escapism, perhaps, is understandable, yet it means that the attainment of that political maturity which, in the Germans, is so vitally important is still a long way off, and that Military Government must keep wide awake to prohibit, or limit, the activities of certain small splinter-parties, which, disapproving of the programmes or achievements of the larger established parties, turn to platforms which represent nothing less than nee-Fascism_ Yet self-government on firmly democratic lines is now a fait accompli. The councils of the Kreis, and of its numerous Gemeinden, whose deliberations it is one of the K.R.O.'s functions to supervise, operate efficiently and democratically, and the strongest criticism one can level at them is that inter-party opposition is on occasion too strong (particularly at that level) and engenders an intolerance between, for instance, the Social Democrats and the Christian Democratic Union, which would be out of the question in this country between Socialists and Conservatives. At one Gemeinde Council meeting I attended the Social Democrats left the council room en bloc and refused to co-operate in any way with the burgomaster, who was a Catholic Independent. The cause was trivial. In such cases the K.R.O. must arbitrate, and find some formula to enable the work of government to be carried on.
It must surely be significant that in nearly three years in Germany I met very few people who showed genuine remorse for Germany's contribution to the present state of the world and no one who admitted to having been a Nazi on ideological grounds. Nevertheless, almost without exception, the officials of my Kreis administration had been party members, now categorised as "minor offenders." They are there because it is almost impossible to find competent- trained officials untainted by National Socialism. The whole problem of denazification is an unpleasant and complex one, into which it is unnecessary to go here. Suffice it to say that I found no reflection of their former political views in the execution of their present duties ; they were apparently loyal to the regime, well- trained and reasonably efficient. Yet they seemed almost to a man incapable of realising that the crisis (or evolution) through which Germany is now passing demands a rather special effort from officialdom ; that it was in their power, if they chose to exert themselves slightly more than usual, to mitigate the difficulties of their fellow-men, and particularly those of the refugees, whose fate is even more in their hands than ours is in the hands of the British civil servant. Unfortunately, true to the strong tradition of German officialdom, most of them continue to regard the public as being there for them to govern, instead of considering themselves the public's servants.
Lack of space prevents more than a passing reference to other matters that justify criticism. The uncharitable attitude of many of the Lower Saxons towards the refugees—who, with the problem of their housing, constitute the most serious difficulty now besetting Western Germany—often infuriated me and convinced me that the local distribution of the milk of human kindness was very sparing. The intense traditional intolerance between Catholics and Protes- tants, aggravated by the presence of the refugees, is another factor which no Resident Officer can ignore, and which colours the political outlook, educational concepts and whole Weltanschauung of each community. Finally, there is the negative attitude of many of the farmers, who fail to deliver their quotas of foodstuffs ; Military Government cannot remain indifferent to this when Western Germany is being largely kept alive by food imports.
As those who know the German character would expect, K.R.O.s, however much actual power they may enjoy, are invariably treated with deference, respect and politeness by all Germans with whom they come in contact. In my case there was, beyond this, little spontaneous warmth ; one learns not to expect deep-seated cordiality, either because the barriers are not yet down, or merely because an occupation is, after all, an abnormal state of affairs in which the occupation and the occupied must of necessity lead cpntrasting lives, and in which it is difficult (and doubtless undesirable) for the reasons and 'aims of the odcupation to be entirely put out of mind. As long in British officialt" remain in Germany in any strength I believe these conditions must prevail, for if and when complete and utter identity of interests is achieved, presumably eair task there will be at an end.
Thanks to these experiences over the past year, I have left Germany more fully aware than before of some of those traits in The national character that have caused, directly or indirectly, so Much trouble in the world during the last hundred years. I realise that I have been judging the citizens of a convalescent country, in which most things are still abnormal. The above critical remarks apply to a small community in an area where the people's tempera- ment is hardly typical. Moreover, I have not lauded what is laudable—the thoroughness and industry of most people, their patience and courage in the face of adversity, the excellent new police (a tribute to British Public Safety Branch) and the sincere and inspired idealism of a small minority, who are determined that a new start must be made and anxious to contribute to a new future. Perhaps, if K.R.O.s are still necessary when life is more normal, some other K.R.O., from some other part of Germany, will find it possible to write less critically of the people he lives among. But I feel we still have a long way to go.
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