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    "localId": "225249159",
    "label": "Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Reports and Estimates Report, Number 52-48, Political Trends in Western Germany",
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    "title": "Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Reports and Estimates Report, Number 52-48, Political Trends in Western Germany",
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        "President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration)",
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        {
            "day": 22,
            "logicalDate": "1948-07-22",
            "month": 7,
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    "ocrText": "POLITICAL TRENDS IN WESTERN GERMANY\nWestern German adherence to relatively moderate political groups, such as the\nSocial Democratic Party (SPD) and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), apart\nfrom certain basic internal factors, has been weakened by the East-West tensions in\nGermany resulting from the policy conflicts of the US and the USSR. Many Germans\nare interpreting the US stand against Communism as tacit permission for Germany to\nexchange its present moderate political ideology for one of extreme nationalism involv-\ning the rehabilitation of elements in Germany formerly identified with the Nazi regime.\nResults of recent elections have indicated at least the beginnings of a renascent Ger-\nman political nationalism.\nShould this trend from Left to Right develop to an appreciable degree, current\npolitical alignments in Western Germany will undergo considerable modification in\nrelative strength and influence. In order to retain control over their followers, German\npolitical leaders will be compelled to adopt a more extreme stand on questions of\noccupation policy and Germany's international position. German politicians of all\nparties, reacting to the current US need for German cooperation in the European re-\ncovery program and for German resistance to Soviet overtures toward a unification of\nGermany upon Communist terms, have already increased their demands for as much\nfreedom of action as is consistent with continued US protection against the USSR.\nUnless satisfactory concessions are obtained, the Germans may feel that nothing further\nis to be gained from democracy and may become more receptive to Soviet plans.\nGerman dissatisfaction with the occupation and the weak German governmental\nadministrations is long-standing and has become increasingly vocal. In view of cur-\nrent conditions in Germany, German political and industrial leaders have shown con-\nsiderable doubt as to the possibility of a successful implementation of the European\nrecovery program. These leaders are not eager for the establishment of a Western\nGerman government by the Allies unless it be endowed with almost plenary powers,\nand they would prefer an occupation statute clearly restricting and delineating the ex-\ntent of Allied jurisdiction over German civil affairs. German leaders are hostile to the\ncontinuance of the Joint Export-Import Agency, which they allege is stifling German\nforeign trade by its bureaucratic methods. They are severely critical of the plans of\nthe Western Powers to internationalize the Ruhr, without corresponding internation-\nalization of adjacent industrial areas and are opposed to further dismantlings of\nheavy industry and the imposition of a fixed production level for German industry.\nIn general, Germans are apathetic toward political programs favored by the Western\nPowers, and are resentful of Allied denazification policies and Western Power efforts\nto democratize the populace and liberalize the old educational system.\nThe discrediting of occupational policies, as they are executed through either the\nBipartite Board or the Land and Bizonal administrations, is now an important means\nby which German politicians appeal to the electorate. The effectiveness of such po-\nlitical appeals today is likely to be in direct ratio to the extent to which the Western\n2"
}