The historical correlation of self-government and local economy in modern Germany

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My essay printed in K. Kardach(ed.), Internationale Studien zur Geschichte von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (Frankfurt a. M. 2012) explained, that the Dohna family of East Prussia, whose countship appears in German records dating back to 1127, possessed an entailed estate (Fideikommiss) of almost 20,000 hectares at the end of the 19th century. This study investigates the Dohna family's fiscal reconstruction from the late Weimar Republic to the early Nazi years, with particular reference to the East Elbian Relief policies (Osthilfe) launched in 1930 for large-scale landowners. As W. C. McNeil points out, small farms of under fifty hectares made a profit between 1928 and 1930, but large estates were losing vast sums.This study focuses in particular on the effect of the 1920 law "Zwangsaufloesungsverordnung", which sought to abolish entailed estates in Prussia, on the Dohna family. The analysis is based on primary materials in the Berlin-Dahlem Archive (Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preussens).