German Unity and Rearmament: For a German Citizens' Army:
BRAUER, MAX
GERMAN UNITY AND REARMAMENT For a German Citizens' Army By Max Brauer "There are dominant forces in a democracy, but no force is so dominant as to compel others to do its will. Democracy means...
...This would, of course, mean greater strength for the whole Western alliance in the event of aggression...
...ONLY NOW is West Germany beginning to discuss the problem of how the country's future military force is to be created and what its nature is to be...
...For even if Soviet troops should break through, their rear would be threatened by millions of trained militiamen, who could harry the enemy's communications lines far more effectively than ordinary guerrillas...
...The Army—hence power—was in the hands of the ruling classes...
...But the Allies were not overly concerned about developing democracy in Germany: and the Reichswehr, together with its annexes, the "black Reichswehr" and the semi-military Slahlhelm, was largely responsible for the destruction of the Weimar Republic...
...The results are now familiar to everyone...
...The Russians know, however, that a militia is not an instrument of aggression...
...But it is not enough to issue warnings about the dangers at a time when enabling legislation setting up the new army is already being prepared...
...But these instructors would not be in a position to turn the citizen-in-uniform into an instrument for their own political plans...
...The answer to Germany's security problem is to form a people's army or militia on the Swiss model...
...Any question as to whether a militia has military value in our technological age should be resolved by the example of Switzerland, which can call up 800,000 men within 24 hours...
...It is clearly essential to find an alternative to these twin evils of atomic war and surrender...
...at the same rime, to prevent final blocking of the road to reunification...
...And the so-called "officers' selection committees" cannot be counted on to pick officers who will remain faithful servants of democracy and will respect the citizen when they deal with the soldier...
...The Government has thus far left the problem entirely to the "experts," i.e., to soldiers...
...Nor can security within a country be provided by political groups: the so-called citizens' defense organizations, created and financed b\ various political parties under the Weimar Republic, should not be revived...
...This cannot be avoided if, as anticipated, the initial outfitting alone of the new army costs $10 billion...
...The existence of a militia will give the West German population a much greater feeling of security against attack from the East...
...Of course, the militia, like any army, would need a full-time "cadre" of instructors...
...It is also wrong to suppose that modern tanks, jet planes and atomic weapons have eliminated the need for large armies...
...The West German Government, of course, contends that there is nothing to fear from the present rearmament plan, because the new army, unlike German armies in the past, will be free of "Prussianism" and the tradition of blind obedience...
...before long, the same old militarists will take over...
...As Lewis Mumford has pointed out, atomic war would mean the destruction of civilization, while appeasement would also mean ruin...
...The post-Versailles Reichswehr was limited to 100,000 men by the Allies in order to make German aggression impossible...
...Easing of the military regime and permission to wear civilian clothes on leave will change nothing fundamental...
...Moreover, the United States and Canada sent troops to the front in two world wars which had had even less training than the Swiss militia...
...German rearmament as now projected will also pose a serious threat to the people's standard of living...
...Democracy means adjustment to the will and interests of others who are linked with us in a community of common destiny...
...and, most important of all, it may close the last doors to a possible negotiated peace between East and West...
...A militia is also the best solution from the foreign-policy standpoint...
...The citizen would remain a citizen, even during the short period when he was undergoing training...
...The wars in Korea and Indo-China made it plain that jet fighters and tanks alone cannot conquer a country...
...No one can have his way completely in a democracy.''—Reinhold Niebuhr...
...Without power, of course, no nation can exist...
...The British historian John Wheeler-Bennett is right in characterizing Germany's development under the Empire and Weimar in these words: "In Germany the Army had a state, but the state did not have the Army...
...every nation must be able to maintain law and order at home and defend itself against aggression from outside...
...and many of their present legitimate —as opposed to propaganda—fears will be quieted if this plan is adopted...
...There is no question that German rearmament, as embodied in the London and Paris Agreements, will end all hope of German reunification for a long time to come...
...Finally, implementation of the present rearmament plan will make the issue of German reunification more than ever a permanent irritant in international affairs...
...Moscow has announced that it will refuse to discuss German reunification once the London and Paris Agreements are ratified...
...These committees are certain to be an even greater failure than the old denazification boards...
...while the Socialist Opposition has also ignored the subject—evidently fearing that any discussion of details of the proposed army would suggest a weakening in their opposition to the whole project...
...the Russians are not likely to yield an inch of German soil once West Germany is rearmed...
...Those who have misgivings about the present plan must work out a positive program designed to minimize the political dangers arising within Germany as a result of rearmament and...
...The old German practice of "leaving military matters to military men" is apparently still very much alive...
...With a militia which could be called up on very short notice, Germany's democratic form of government could be safeguarded against any extremist assault, whether from the Right or from the Left...
...In the years before World War I, Germany maintained a large standing army...
...Obviously, then, what is needed is neither a new Reichswehr nor revival of the pre-World War I conscription...
...But these are empty promises...
...The form which this army is to take, however, is a matter of vital importance for the German people...
...I believe that the militia proposal outlined above would guarantee German security, both internal and external, while helping to ease tension between the world's two great power blocs...
Vol. 38 • March 1955 • No. 10
