ABSTRACT
It is widely held that one of our principal war aims is the destruction of Prussianism and the dismemberment (or “splitting up ” as it is popularly called) of the Reich. This view demands a thorough understanding of the structure and needs of German society if its application is to have enduring results. For German scholars themselves have been contending with precisely this problem for many years, and especially since the formation of the Weimar Republic. The Reich is dominated in area, population, and policy, by Prussia. The boundaries of the German states and the Prussian provinces often show no relation to modern social and economic associations. From these two basic facts arises the need for a form of federalism in the Reich based upon the existing homogeneous units of human associations. This is the essence of what is called Regionalism and German thinkers have striven hard to solve it. The problem was in the forefront of the programme of the National Assembly of the Weimar Republic in 1919, but its deliberations came almost to nought, except for stimulating much research in the inter-war period, as well as giving rise to many fantastic schemes of territorial reorganization put out by both public and private authorities. The Nazis, through their totalitarian powers, have made important steps on these lines. The idea of the dismemberment of the Reich on a federal principle is nothing new. It is something for which German statesmen have been striving for many years, and which the Nazis in their peculiar way are carrying into effect, at the expense, however, of all semblance of genuine democratic government. This aspect of the matter should figure large and loud in our propaganda, for the United Nations’ war aim closely tallies with the aims of old standing of many German scholars and statesmen.
