In the last analysis Prussia is ruled by the Landräte.” Such was the opinion of Georg Gothein in 1910. His judgment, which was corroborated by other observers of the Prussian scene, reflects the singular influence of the Landrat in the government of Prussia, an influence which derived from his being both the Prussian official who governed the rural population for the state and the head of the self-government of the rural Kreis or county. His unique dual position gave him extraordinary opportunities for influence and initiative and for the co-ordinating and reconciling of state and local interests. Although low in the hierarchy of higher administrative officials, the more than 450 Landräte, charged with the actual administration of the countryside, were key figures in that formidable Hohenzollern institution, the Prussian bureaucracy, which may be said to have governed Prussia before 1918. In the last years of the Prussian monarchy the Landratsamt was renowned as the most powerful and the most desirable post in the Prussian administration, short of the top-ranking offices. It was the most coveted. It was also the most criticized.

Among the international community of scholars, journalists, and laymen who share an interest in the history of Nazi Germany, one of the most frequently discussed and persistently controversial subjects of that era is the Waffen SS. Attempts to define what the Waffen SS was lead invariably to questions about the extent to which the Waffen SS was or was not an integral part of the overall SS organization and the degree to which it was or was not involved in the criminal acts attributed to the Schutzstaffel.