user44591

@Dan, if we have established that "unterteilt" is, in fact, an adjective in this case, or equivalently a past participle functioning as an adjective, then there is no action implied by the clause, only a static condition, and I do not understand the declination of the preposition "in" here.

@Dan, regarding "unterteilt" as a past participle, in all of my reading I have not found a past participle to be properly located anywhere other than at the end of the sentence except when used as an adjective. Typical of my sources for this, I quote from this reference, "The past participle, known as the Partizip II, is a special conjugation of a verb used in the Perfekt (present perfect tense), Passiv (passive voice) and as an adjective." fluentu.com/blog/german/german-past-participle In the first 2 cases the participle always is placed at the end, as this reference illustrates

@Dan, thank you very much for the links. They are very helpful and full of new insights for me. However, I do not find "unterteilt" the adjective to be specifically listed anywhere to be associated with either a preposition or a case. Is there a more comprehensive list somewhere that includes "unterteilt" in this way?

@Dan, well, if a past participle can be anywhere other than at the end of the sentence that is news to me and I would appreciate any references you can provide to enlighten me further. I think the main question is, is the "unterteilt" in the sentence an adjective, or something else. If it is an adjective then I also have never heard that an adjective could determine the declination of an associated prepositional phrase. If it can I would therefore also appreciate references on that point.

@Dan, yes unterteilen and zerbrechen are both "verbs of action". But in the given sentence if "unterteilt" is an adjective, then the only verb in that clause is "war" which is not a verb of action.

Finally, the zerbrochen sentence is not similar because a verb of action is being used, not a verb of fact.

Sorry but your explanation does not make sense to me. First there seems to be disagreement as to what is the past participle of unterteilen. Reverso says it is untergeteilt and Verbix says it is unterteilt. But assuming that the past participle is unterteilt if that was what was being used then the word order is wrong, because it should be at the end of the sentence, not where it is. Its position in the sentence forces it to be the adjective. As the adjective it cannot dictate declination in an associated preposition.