Sixty years ago yesterday, when the Federal German Republic was established, the country was divided and only four years previously the Nazi nightmare had finally died with Hitler in his Berlin bunker. Much of the then new West Germany still lay in ruins, the once vibrant ethnic German minorities of “Mittel Europa” had been driven back into Germany and this was a country with a shameful past and a still uncertain future.
The extraordinary postwar economic recovery, funded by the US Marshal Plan gave West Germans back their pride. However, two generations grew up over which hung the specter of what their parents or grandparents did or at best allowed to be done in the name of Nazi bigotry. Even though since 1955, it has been a military member of NATO, Germany continues to quash the militarism that led to two devastating world wars last century. There is, for instance, currently strong popular opposition to German forces taking on a fighting role in Afghanistan. Germany is now the major economic power in Europe. The 1990 reunification with the former communist East has also made it again the most populous European state. But despite German pride, especially in sporting matters like football, the country seems to have subsumed its chauvinism into dedicated membership of the EU. It even surrendered the most potent token of its economic recovery, the mighty deutsche mark in favor of the new euro and risked the dissipation of its monetary strength by linking financially to serially incompetent finance ministries such as those of Greece and Italy.
In essence most Germans believe themselves and want the rest of the world to believe that it is now impossible to think of a Germany as anything other than a loyal and dedicated member of the EU. The lessons have been learned. The roots of the EU lie in the desperate desire of the six founding countries, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany to avoid the chance of ever going to war again. It, therefore, follows that as long as the EU prospers and moves toward its ultimate goal of political as well as economic unity, there will be no resurgence of German nationalism.
But there are still dangers. A generation is now coming of age in Germany who have experienced nothing but prosperity and only learned in school about the enormities of the Hitler years. There remains a worrying undercurrent of bigotry and racism in German society, boosted by jobless east Germans since reunification. Since Adolf von Thadden’s NPD party won regional elections some 30 years ago, neo-Nazi parties have continued to exist, though dismissed by mainstream politicians as a lunatic fringe. As Germany celebrates six decades of peace and prosperity, its people should rightly take pride in their achievements. But saying that they are all good Europeans now cannot obscure the awful reality that only 10 years before the new Germany was born, the highly civilized and cultured country that had given the world Bach and Beethoven, had also given it Hitler and his Nazis.
Car wheels on a greener road
Excerpts from an editorial in The Boston Globe yesterday:
President Obama’s national car mileage and emissions standards are a twist on his campaign rhetoric: There are no blue states or red states, just green states. His goal of 35 1/2 miles per gallon by 2016, announced earlier this week, was hailed by Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope, who said Obama “is putting the pedal to the floor” to slash oil dependency and fight global warming. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, the Republican blocked by the Bush administration from adopting his own tough mileage standards, said Obama’s rules “mean cleaner air for our children and grandchildren.” But what really got the old engine racing is that Pope and Schwarzenegger were seconded by once-obstinate Detroit automakers and Michigan politicians, who are on their knees for federal mercy in the region with the nation’s highest unemployment rate. Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm called the standards a “trifecta” of uniform rules, fuel savings, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Dave McCurdy, CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, sounding like a mass-transit advocate, pledged “to use every engineer we have and every investment dollar available to make our vision of sustainable mobility a reality.”
Now that Obama has a goal Detroit is willing to retool for, Congress has to make it reasonable for American drivers to do their part. Congress is debating a “cash-for-clunkers” concept that has boosted car sales in Germany, including, according to BusinessWeek, a tripling of fuel-efficient Fords sold this winter and spring.
Washington is not yet taking this seriously enough. The House is considering a bill where vouchers begin kicking in at $3,500 for cars that get only four more miles per gallon than the previous car — as low as 22 miles per gallon — and weighing up to 8,500 pounds. That will not get many SUVs off the road, and barely touches the 35 1/2 miles-per-gallon target.
