This paper will treat only a small part of the subject promised by its title. A really correct evaluation of present-day Germany would demand, above all, a thorough economic and sociological analysis for which sufficient data are not available. Even establishing and naming events and facts is, in the present state of affairs, a matter of interpretation.

Further, it would be necessary especially to describe the forces engaged in reconstruction, in church work and administration, in governmental agencies and in the press, in parties and in trade unions, in universities and in public colleges. What is being accomplished by these elements cannot be judged until later, when they have reached a stage of crystallization. Here we shall discuss only the circumstances under which reconstruction is taking place.