Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 59

Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, and the Ukraine where ethnic Germans
lived. It even included lands to the east, which were the prehistoric homes
of the ancestral tribes. 13
Once war broke out in 1939, protection of nature evaporated. Factories,
railroads, and fortifications were built on sensitive land. Mines stripped
coal without regard to damage. Youth groups became recruiting channels
for the army. Top leaders like Darré, who favored nature and peasant
farming, were dismissed from their positions of power. During the war,
American and Royal Air Force bombing destroyed the cities, railways,
and autobahns. Ground combat destroyed the rest.
After the defeat of the Nazis in 1945, the country was in ruins. People
were near starvation and needed to find housing in the bombed-out cities.
Protecting nature and controlling pollution were impossible luxuries. The
victorious Allies divided the country into three western zones controlled
by the Americans, British, and French, and an eastern zone controlled by
the Soviets. By 1949 the western zones became the Federal Republic of
Germany. Its Basic Law—that is, constitution—ended control of nature at
the national level, giving authority back to the states. The new republic was
federal, with 10 states, a form similar to the United States. As a substitute
for the end of authority at the national level, the German Conservation
Ring was organized as a private umbrella group. Eventually, it grew to a
hundred groups representing two million individuals. The League for Bird
Protection found its membership cut in half at the end of the war. In the
following years it recovered gradually, under the leadership of Herman
Hahnle, son of the founder. By 1965 it had 57,000 members, more than its
prewar high. In 1962 it decided one of its projects should be to promote
Rachel Carson's topic, Silent Spring . 14
Government : Germany is a parliamentary democracy. The head of the
government is the chancellor, equivalent to the prime minister in other
countries. He or she is elected by the Bundistag, the lower house. There is
also a president with little power other than ceremonial. The chancellor
heads a cabinet with 14 ministers whom he or she appoints. This includes a
minister for the environment, nature conservation, and nuclear safety. The
cabinet ministers come from all parts of the ruling party and sometimes
another party when it is necessary to build a coalition. A chancellor selects
cabinet members to give support from all sectors, and without support he
or she may be removed from office in a vote of no confidence. The ministers
are politicians who are elected members of the Bundistag. They administer
the bureaucracies composed of permanent civil servants.