Historical dictionary of Weimar Republik

CIVIL SERVICE

Civil Service: translation

A considerable section of Germany's middle class (seeMit-telstand) consisted of civil servants (Beamten). Since the great mass of this group performed "politically neutral tasks such as teaching, tax collection, postal and railroad operations, municipal services, and the filling of Protestant* pulpits, it is difficult to reconcile its ambivalence (indeed hostility) to the Re-public. But like its landowners and officers, Germany's bureaucracy revered the monarchy; indeed, many landowners wereBeamtenand manyBeamtenhad served as officers under the Kaiser. As with military commissions, a civil-service appointment was a lifetime pledge. Even the Weimar Constitution* (Article 129) accorded special esteem to the "inviolable" and "well-acquired rights" ofBeamten.Since such officials deemed themselves professional servants rather than ministerial subordinates (political appointees), they lacked connection to the new crop of ministers who governed after November 1918. Yet they might have come to accept the Republic had it given evidence of success; instead, they increasingly judged it a threat to both their living standard and their social standing.
The lower civil-service ranks, never sufficiently paid, were forced into intol-erable living standards in the wake of World War I. Poor salaries had often been supplemented in the Kaiserreich with interest paid on private wealth. But the inflation* ravaged the value of set salaries while eliminating many private fortunes. Moreover, wartime investments into government bonds were lost. The Kaiserreich often "paid"Beamtenfor years of loyal service with titles and decorations, which were almost as important as salary. The respect bestowed by granting an honorific "von" was the Kaiser's simplest means of consoling un-derpaidBeamten. The Republic suspended endowment of all such honors. Then, after years of inaction or cutbacks (1923-1924), the Reichstag* passed an ex-cessive salary increase (21-25 percent) in 1927 for federal bureaucrats, a step inducing similar increases at state and municipal levels (both requiring federal subsidies). Unfortunately, with the 1929 economic crash, the new salaries could not be maintained; Heinrich Brüning's* deflationary reductions led manyBeam-tento fear, with predictable results, that they would slip into the lower middle class (untere Mittelstand). In his memoirs Otto Braun* recorded that the "ex-cessive salary increase [of 1927] scarcely won any civil servants to democracy, but the salary cuts which later proved necessary drove countless officials into the National Socialists camp.
REFERENCES:Balfour,Withstanding Hitler; Brecht,Political Education; Dahrendorf,Society and Democracy; Michael Hughes, "Private Equity, Social Inequity ; Jacob,German Administration; Jarausch, "Crisis of German Professions"; Röhl, "Higher Civil Servants.

  1. civil service—civil service bersetzung civil service ffentlicher Dienst m Staatsdienst m ffentliche Verwaltung f Berufsbeamtentum n Beamtenlaufbahn f...Englisch-Deutsch Worterbuch gesetz
  2. civil service—civil service translation civil servicestrong civil service noun strongthe civil servicestrong the government departments of a country and the people who work for them ...Financial and business terms
  3. civil service—государственная службааппарат международных организаций...Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь
  4. civil service—государственная гражданская служба...Англо-русский деловой словарь
  5. civil service—государственная служба аппарат не меняется при смене правительства см. тж. Civil Service Department civil servant...Англо-русский лингвострановедческий словарь Великобритания
  6. civil service—Civil Service государственная гражданская служба...Англо-русский словарь Мюллера
  7. civil service—государственная гражданская служба аппарат международных организаций...Англо-русский словарь общей лексики
  8. civil service—.strong государственная служба .strong аппарат международных организаций. strong государственная служба strong аппарат международных организаций....Англо-русский словарь по социологии
  9. civil service—государственная служба гражданская служба...Англо-русский словарь политической терминологии
  10. civil service—государственная служба...Англо-русский словарь редакция bed
  11. civil service—государственная гражданская служба...Англо-русский словарь финансовых терминов
  12. civil service—гражданская служба государственная служба...Англо-русский словарь экономических терминов
  13. civil service—strong государственная службаstrong аппарат международных организаций....Англо-русский социологический словарь
  14. civil service—гос. упр. гражданская [государственная\] служба система обеспечивающая административную поддержку деятельности государства а также сама работа в государственных органах в...Англо-русский экономический словарь
  15. civil service—государственная гражданская служба чиновничий аппарат министерств...Англо-русский юридический словарь
  16. civil service—державна цивльна служба чиновницький апарат мнстерства...Англо-украинский юридический словарь
  17. civil service—державна цивльна служба чиновницький апарат мнстерства...Англо-український юридичний словник
  18. civil service—[svlsvs]. государственная служба. аппарат международных организаций...Новый большой англо-русский словарь
  19. civil service—civil service [svlsvs] . государственная служба . аппарат международных организаций...Новый большой англо-русский словарь II
  20. civil service—svlsvs . государственная служба . аппарат международных организаций...Новый большой англо-русский словарь под общим руководством акад. Ю.Д. Апресяна