A GERMAN DILEMMA
Snyder, Theodore
A GERMAN DILEMMA THEODORE SNYDER Lusting after the trade in armaments Das ist nicht des deutschen Grosse, Obzusiegen mit dem Schwert It is not the German greatness, To triumph with the...
...However, Helmut Schmidt may be pushed, as a matter of political survival, to put aside considerations of morality and to turn a blind eye to Schiller's warning in moving further toward an accommodation with the warlords of the Third World...
...Other West Germany military wares which have found considerable favor in foreign defense ministries are mine detectors, motor torpedo boats, field howitzers, and the Daimler-Benz heavy-duty, diesel trucks...
...For the most part, these countries are in desperate need of capital goods and human capital investment...
...Following this lead, the chorus has swelled as others in the business world, trade union leaders, and members of the Bundestag have added their approval...
...Theodore SNYDER is an associate professor of economics at Leicester Junior College in Massachusetts, with a long-standing interest in and contact with German affairs...
...To Joachim Zahn, head of Daimler-Benz, the answer is manifestly clear: "We must defend our export markets tooth and nail...
...A similar situation has developed in the case of the deadly, tank-mounted Roland II anti-aircraft missile system produced by Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm in collaboration with Aerospatiale of France...
...In the same year, the USSR exported somewhere around $5.5 billion worth, followed by France with $3 billion, Great Britain with $1.5 billion and Italy with $240 million...
...For example, Krauss-Maffei's 48-ton Leopard II tank of which 5,600 have been sold to Western buyers has attracted the rabid attention of Prince Gholam Pahlevi, commander of Iran's armored forces, and, consequently, that of his brother, the Shah...
...Friedrich von Schiller Year after year, the United States leads the world in arms exports...
...Dieter Balkenhausen, writing in the Deutsche Zeitung of 2 April 1976, succinctly brings into focus the third element of this unfolding tragedy: "Longingly" is the only word that comes to mind when describing how the Germans have hoped for an economic upswing in the past two years . . . anxious questions bear witness to the yearnings of a nation once obsessed with economic growth...
...It seems a national crisis of conscience is taking shape...
...In the months following, a not-so-subtle change in their terms of trade with the Third World occurred...
...Thus, the priorities of national development fall behind those of "national security"- anti-guerrilla forces, air force fly-bys, armored forces, a spiffy palace guard and other military trivialities which both capitalist and Communist "merchants of death" push without let-up...
...Outside of the traditional sources of opposition to arms exports-the churches and the universities-discordant voices seem to be in a distinct minority...
...Much of the military goods and services exported by these and other arms producers is destined for so-called "developing nations" in Africa, Asia and Latin America...
...First, when the Germans equipped the Bundeswehr and their NATO allies with certain weapons superior from the standpoints of tactical effectiveness, operating costs and reliability, their ancient reputation as premier weaponeers was extended into the postwar period...
...In 1969, the Iranians attempted to purchase 1000 of these predators, but failed...
...The specter of a raw-materials squeeze on the Germans overhang many, if not most, foreign trade negotiations...
...It follows logically that the SPD, having already suffered a loss of the voters' affections as evidenced by the Baden-Wuertemberg defeat, will not be anxious to incur further losses in upcoming elections this year...
...Gunter Geschke, writing in the Deutsches Allgemeines Sonntagsblatt of 14 March 1976, reports: In a speech to Bundeswehr officers at the beginning of 1975, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt explained that there was no harm in side-stepping the government's basic policy of supplying arms only to NATO allies in certain individual cases, and this had, in fact, been standard practice...
...The finished tank-the Leopardino-will be exported to its ultimate user as an Italian product...
...Soon, more-subtle diplomatic pressures were added to the crude commercial ploys, and the Federal Republic was forced into a tighter corner...
...This Faustian dilemma has been brought on by three politico-economic developments of fairly recent origin...
...Since then, this provision of the Basic Law, as their pre-reunification constitution is called, has been upheld scrupulously by successive German governments, both Christian Democrat and Social Democrat alike...
...In 1949, impelled by the mandates of history, the Federal Republic created a legal problem for potential German arms exporters with Paragraph 26 of their Constitution: "Activities which could or which are intended to disrupt the peaceful coexistence of nations, especially those with a view to aggression against other nations, are unconstitutional...
...The rapidly expanding trade with China and the USSR holds both danger and promise beyond its present level...
...In the winter of 1973-74, the second condition-an ominous vulnerability-was thrust upon the consciousness of the petroleum-starved, mineral-short West Germans...
...Not to be denied, the Shah plans to set up a Leopard factory in Iran with the help of the Federal Republic...
...In 1974-the latest year for which fairly reliable data are available-we exported an estimated $8.3 billion worth of military hardware...
...A GERMAN DILEMMA THEODORE SNYDER Lusting after the trade in armaments Das ist nicht des deutschen Grosse, Obzusiegen mit dem Schwert It is not the German greatness, To triumph with the sword...
...Again in Die Zeit a headline, "Has export slump killed second economic miracle...
...This facet of international trade creates a situation fraught with social tragedy and economic irony...
...Ernst Wolf Momrnsen, manager of the Krupp Company and former State Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, supported his friend, Chancellor Schmidt's speech with a recommendation that we should adopt a "slightly more liberal" approach to this issue...
...German tank-builders now plan to circumvent Paragraph 26 with a multinational arrangement in which the basic Leopard with its 1500 horsepower Mercedes-Benz diesel engine will be shipped to Italy as an unfinished good...
...The same may be said for expanded trade with the Third World if arms are part of a package deal...
...Germans are painfully appreciative of Herr Zahn's dictum...
...This measure may not be necessary in the light of later revelations...
...Americans, whose exports make up less than ten percent of GNP, can not be expected to appreciate fully the attitudes of a people whose exports have run as high as 21 percent of gross national product in recent years, and for whom one out of six jobs is directly dependent on export markets...
...Hermann Schmidt, the current State Secretary in Georg Leber's Defense Ministry, spoke out in favor of a "greater degree of flexibility...
...Export or die," echos Die Zeit...
...Ten thousand of these trucks were scheduled for delivery to Iraq in 1975...
...Once south of the Alps, it will be joined by its German turret and electronics, and its British 105 mm...
...However, in recent months, voices have been raised in Germany and elsewhere urging a modification to this "unrealistic position...
...Franco-German cooperation also has produced the "Hot" and "Milan" antitank rockets, and the popular fighter, "Alpha Jet...
...However, many Third World governments-as well as their people-suffer from political instability and/or leaders with macho mentalities...
...Far back of the frontrunners in this macabre race with only $100 million worth of arms exports in 1974 to NATO allies is an old hand in the arms trade of yesteryear-Germany...
...According to surveys by West Germany's four largest pollsters, "There seems to be a close connection between economic developments and the regard people have for the politician responsible," reports Gisbert Kuhn in the Kieler Nachsrichten of 14 April 1976...
...This represents 81/2 percent of our total exports that year...
...They are punishable by law...
...Indeed, with some trade union economists predicting that "it would take as much as ten years to achieve the kind of full employment that was customary in Germany several years ago," it is a certainty the Social Democrats are considering a number of extraordinary alternatives in the hopes of gaining another economic miracle...
...Major contracts for civilian goods and services now were offered the Germans by resource-rich countries contingent upon the supply of much-coveted military goods and services...
...Blame the foreigner," suggests Michael Jung-blut in an accompanying article of 6 June 1975...
...Nevertheless, these few voices seem to have caused many otherwise-blissful Germans to ppnder the somber lessons of their nation's past...
Vol. 103 • August 1976 • No. 18
