of surrender or the will of SHAEF in the event of no surrender ; ( 3 ) the establishment of law and order ; ( 4 ) the beginning of the total disarmament of Germany ; and ( 5 ) the redistribution of Allied forces into their national zones . 12
Eclipse proved influential in restoring peace and stability to the German people , with early missions occurring at the state and local levels . As the West invaded Germany , military government detachments were left behind to perform CA in urban and rural areas . Germany formally surrendered in Reims on 8 May . 13 As a result , the European CA Division ( ECAD ) administered military government detachments . Upon entering a town , CA officers posted the theater commander ’ s proclamation and implemented law and order ordinances to ensure cooperation with local residents . Many towns proved lawless , with a prevalence of looting , sexual assault , and other crimes . Most of the perpetrators were allied soldiers and displaced persons , so military government detachments and soldiers from tactical units had to protect the civilians . CA detachments proved invaluable in stabilizing rear areas by installing government officials , reinstituting police forces , overseeing utilities repair , and reconstituting local economies . 14
Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of military government in Germany was the Nazi question . At the Yalta Conference in 1945 , the Soviets , British , and Americans proclaimed their “ inflexible purpose to destroy German militarism and Nazism .” 15 On May 8th , 1945 , Germany formally surrendered to the Allies . With this defeat , the Allies zealously implemented denazification . All Germans considered for government positions had to complete a highly detailed questionnaire , later submitted to a de-Nazification board . The questionnaire served to identify the hard core Nazis from the average German who joined the party for a livelihood . Inadequately staffed and overwhelmed with questionnaires , the system soon broke down and was discontinued . 16 On the issue of employing former Nazis , the Allies allowed German officials to work so long as they completed a questionnaire and did not actively support the Nazi party . 17 This is because the Allies realized that being a former party member did not mean you shared the same mind as Hitler ; in fact , while some subscribed to the Nazi ideology , others joined the party to protect themselves and their family . Ironically , CA officers found it difficult to find competent civil leaders and policemen because the Nazis had selected the most competent people for these positions .
In utilizing and training local German personnel , the US occupation forces managed to address many of Germany ’ s immediate problems . Employing local Germans and prisoners of war for manual labor provided continuity , and with insufficient numbers of US CA officers , it also proved invaluable in handling
28 the demands of war-torn Germany . Large populations of people had fled bombed and run-downed cities . Thousands turned to undamaged areas seeking food and shelter . Preventing starvation became the first and foremost problem the American military government faced . 18 Per capita consumption had dropped from 1,550 calories per day to 1,000 . 19 With the assistance of the German people , the Military Government transported tons of seeds , established farm machinery repair shops , and renewed food protection facilities . SHAEF authorized the early release of thousands of enemy prisoners-of-war for farm labor . 20 These actions , along with the hundreds of thousands of tons of relief provided by the Army remedied the immediate food crisis . Without the assistance of German officials and people , the Army would have proven understaffed and overwhelmed by the challenge of feeding millions of Germans .
While both the Joint Chiefs of Staff directive 1067 ( JCS 1067 ) and the postwar Potsdam agreement stressed decentralization as an essential step in Germany ’ s rehabilitation , General ( GEN ) Lucius D . Clay had his own vision of post-war Germany . GEN Clay executed his plans for decentralization with little to no oversight . In particular , he believed that Germany needed to be “[ built ] from the bottom up ,” with local governments at the smallest possible level first , then proceeding to higher levels of administration . 21 This fell in line with the stated policy of military government , which did not seek to govern the German people , but to control and supervise them in governing themselves . 22
The earliest elections took place by the end of January 1946 in Gemeinden – townships with a population less than fifty thousand . In October 1946 , GEN Clay directed the German populace to write their own elections codes for local government with one explicit restriction : active Nazi Party members and anyone who joined the Party prior to May 1 , 1937 , including sympathizers and collaborators , were excluded , resulting in the reemergence of former dominant political parties , such as the Christian Social Union ( CSU ), The German Communist Party ( KPD ), and the Social Democratic Party ( SPD ). 23 As elections occurred without incidence throughout the US zone , Germans began electing state assemblies by the summer of 1946 . The results of the December 1946 elections for the Bavarian state parliament demonstrated how deeply entrenched federalism became in Bavarian political life . Large parties such as the SPD and CSU dominated , while smaller parties had insufficient numbers to meet the national threshold for representation . In fact , the Bavarian Constitution actually barred the KDP from holding any seats in the Bavarian government because it failed to gain ten percent of the votes in any one electoral district . 24
Bavaria provides a clear example of how bottom-up , decentralized politics shaped the outcome of elections and governance .