MEETING OF BEZIRK COUNCIL CHAIRMEN IN EAST BERLIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A003100310003-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 21, 2005
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: December 17, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL IMIEI.,i. Gq E AGEI`I REPORT
INFORMATION REPORT cD W.
East Germany
DATE DISTR..
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Meeting of Bezlr
NO, OF PAGES
5
East Berlin
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SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
This IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
On 26 October 1953 a :meeting of Bezirk Council ?shairmen convened. i:n East
Perlin. The meeting had been called by Werner EggerathTs Office of
Control and Coordination for Governmental Organization. Minister
President Otto Grotewchl addressed the astsembly in place of Eggerath,
who, Grotewohl explained, was unable to attend because he was ill and
was undergoing a cure.
2. The main items on the agenda included:
a. Questions of personnel policy in the East German governmental organs,.
b. Fulfillment of national reconstruction plans in the Kreise..
c. Adherence to the principles of democratic law in the implem-en-
tation of the hew Course.
d. Questions of procurement and supply.
3. Funk (fnu) 1 spoke or personnel questions in the East German governmental
organization. Funk stated that in spite of the New Course the personnel
policies of the government were still based upon the Decree of the
Council of Ministers of 28 August 1952, which states:
a. In every governmental body (Organ) the director is responsible
for. personnel matters
b. The composition of the governmenta:. service must correspond
to that of the progressive population, whereby the working
class must have the leading role,
e. Women and young people must rece ve special. training fitting
them to assume leading functions,
d? In the :election of personnel gr,~a; vigilance must be observed to
protect the security of the governsiental organs.
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e. Academically trained personnel must be increasingly drawn into
the state apparatus, and all educational means must be utilized.
to raise the professional and political level of all employees.,
f.. The nomenclature urirciple is to be enforced,:
C. Broad use must be .7.ade of criticism and self criticism,
44 Furl:; : tated that nowt functionaries accept this governmental. decree
but that many fail to abide by it. AL an- example for the failure to carry
out this decree, :ink mentioned that in April 1953 the Council of
Ministers decreed that the Departments for Purchase and Procurement in
the Eezirk Councils were to be staffed- with qualified personnel. A
subsequent check by the Coordination Gffice and by the State Secretariat
for Internal ,ff'r-irs showed. that this decree still had not been carried
outer
5. Punk. complained further that the Kreis and Eezirk chairmen still did not
regard personnel matters a::: their primary concern and passed these
matters on to the personnel sections. Some chairmen asked why the cadre
sections should exist if they (the chairmen) were to be responsible for
personnel iatters.
6. Ls a result of the failure of the responsible authorities tr ta:e p,r-
,sornel matters seriously, there were grave errors in past personnel
handling. Incomplete personnel questionnaires for new employees in c?overn-=
mental organs were being accepted, and no attempts were made to fill
in the missing points Often there was no attempt to check into the
veracity of statements. made on such questionnaires.
Funk placed the. blame for this unsatisfactory state of affairs upon the
Eezirk chairmen, some of whom still were of the opinion that control in
personnel matters should come either from the Eezirk Cadre Section, from
the Main Department for Cadre of-the State Secretariat for Internal Af-
fairs, or from the Coordination Office. Funk stated that this vas not
the case, that the individual Eezirk chairmen themselves were directly
responsible for personnel matters.
S. Regarding the social composition of state employees, Funk complained that
there still were insufficient new employees being recruited fr?m the ranks
of workers a1.d farmers.. The same complaint was raised in regard to vomen
and young people Funk stated that of 376 leading functionaries in the
Bezirk Councils, including- department heads, only 24 were women..
Funk also complained th4:.t not sufficient attention was being paid by the
Eezirk Council chairmen to the selection of candidates for training in
administrative matters:; As an example of the lack of care in this regard,
he cited a recent course for mayors for which 1,757 applications were
received and for which only 1,400 candidates appeared.
1011 Another example is the selection of participants in the current one-year
-course for the training, of particularly leading functionaries. In spite
of the extension of the deadline by which applications were to be sub-
mitted by four weeks, only 296 of 400 places were filled.
110 Grotewohl agreed with bunk that there were serious shortcomings in the
personnel work of the chairmen of the Eezirk Councils; however. he stated
that all the blame did not lie with them. The personnel policies have
been so bad primarily because the guidance given by the P.inistry of the
Interior and particularly Eggerath,s Cocrdinating Office had been so
faulty. He declared that if personnel. Mork within the governmental organs
is to be improved. the change must come at the top levels of the
administration, ie. in the Office of Ccntrol and Coordination for
Governmental Organizations
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Grotewohl stated further that the work of the Eggerath Goor?' -.nation
Office suffered from the following:
a A lack of cle.:? ty ^oncerning the basic ques;icrs of training
qualified personnel...
Ia-. A_ lack of- p lsr;nir and coordination of training courses for
potential governmental employee:
The lack of a systematic plan for developmental training of
governmer.tai c3ficiais.
{ .. Grote., ohl coriplained that he had experience: this chaotic p er;sonna.?
situation in his oi,;n Mork For years he has been atte:r.r tin; tc set :'p
ar office staffed b.-j- hirhl; qualifioU personnel awh.; h could keep hia
i.or:::t cl and assist hi;z in c. rryin.^- cut various of his duties `Two
e ..rs t~ to he requested. candidates tc fil7 the positions 1r.. this OT's1;?e
ut ur:til the ':resent day he had received not one recor=endati;.n,
e' V er from the ^eziri c cr from, the Xrei:.e.
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Grotev elil also critic.. 4zed the publication Demokra'i.sckEer r:lt t,v.a,,
s: l h is full of errors and which fails to "'Iv e sy$to a-'Lc c acce
~rld direct:ion to pers?::nne n?ork:.
The social make-up of the employees of the eovernmenzt?; organs .is
~lsc criticized by Grote.;chi _ He stated that there r. ere too few
'taorkers and far: ers in these positions. In the third quarter of
? G X r x(,'.7; c?
for zp.i.e, the c~c;r ~?