Ferment in NATO Germany on Its Own
HOTTELET, RICHARD C.
Ferment in NATO—Two Articles Germany on Its Own By Richard C. Hottelet Bonn French Premier Guy Mollet's suggestion that the West set aside German reunification while it pursues disarmament has...
...On the contrary, Moscow has declared at every opportunity that German reunification is possible only when West Germany has recognized the "German Democratic Republic" as a sovereign state and is prepared to negotiate unity with East Berlin...
...The German people, in the actions of their Parliament and in their own unemotional behavior over this past dizzy year, have displayed a taste for sober politics...
...The SPD, and especially its military expert Fritz Erler, had performed yeoman service in committee in helping to assure a democratic spirit and strict Parliamentary control of the armed forces...
...On the national scene, the FDP split, and the majority followed its chairman, Thomas Dehler, out of the Bonn coalition into opposition...
...It is vital that the lies which link Germany to its Western partners not be weakened by suspicion and mental reservation...
...their displeasure was not lessened by Bonn's preparations shortly thereafter to cut taxes by just about $750 million...
...The London Times recently even editorialized: "On the long view, no mailer how troublesome immediate problems elsewhere may be, it is probable that the future of Germany will continue to decide the peace of the world...
...Against the backdrop of the confusion that prevailed in Bonn last December, he had his own way completely...
...The new demand of military service for volunteers only is calculated to cater both to the traditional pacifism within the SPD and to all those who prefer not to have their lives disturbed by conscription...
...they have not, however, in any sense condoned it, and they could be expected to make short shrift of any politician at home or any alliance abroad which proposed that they should...
...Hardly had Parliament in March passed the Soldatengesetz and the constitutional amendments needed to establish the armed forces when the Social Democrats unexpectedly took up the cry...
...On his recovery, the Chancellor moved at once to reassert his authority, but met with ghastly failure...
...One should not reprove the German Social Democrats for ignoring the fact that among the NATO powers only Iceland, Luxembourg and Canada (which has sufficient volunteers) do not have compulsory military service...
...It has been suggested that the French Premier was driven by internal difficulties to win public support with a rousing yet unsubstantial gesture...
...His followers, hardly without his knowledge, added the threat of an electoral law which would have imperiled the continued existence of the FDP...
...But the Soldatengesetz merely authorized the enrollment of volunteer cadres...
...It was the first successful revolt against the Chancellor since the Federal Republic was founded, and another sign that Adenauer's control of the situation was no longer unquestionable...
...It professes to see the only chance for reunification in Germany's withdrawal from NATO and the creation of a European security system supported by both East and West...
...it would invite catastrophe to suggest that they are no longer interested in doing so...
...Moscow has made it more than obvious that the Western nations are powerless to persuade, threaten or cajole the Soviet Union into leaving East Germany...
...In doing so, it has raised doubt and opposition among its tradition-minded followers...
...The SPD did not want to join NATO in the first place...
...Moscow has tried hard to demonstrate that Germany ran have national unity only by turning away from the West and coming to terms with Soviet power...
...Ferment in NATO—Two Articles Germany on Its Own By Richard C. Hottelet Bonn French Premier Guy Mollet's suggestion that the West set aside German reunification while it pursues disarmament has done more than rouse a storm of indignation in West Germany...
...At face value, Mollet's statement was wholly reasonable...
...Nor has Western policy knowingly changed...
...The Chancellor brusquely demanded complete recantation and a humiliating return to coalition loyalty...
...Younger politicians in Dusseldorf broke up their provincial coalition with the Christian Democrats and formed a new government with the Socialists...
...Western nations have no means at hand to force a peaceful solution...
...It is unfortunate enough that the...
...Elections have brought no wild swings, and catchwords like reunification and rearmament have perhaps less impact than in earlier years...
...Dissatisfaction with this hiatus combined with more selfish heckling to produce a feverish atmosphere...
...The changed picture soon had a direct bearing on Germany's relations with its allies...
...His purpose was to bring the Free Democratic party back into line...
...In support of its political and technical views, the SPD, backed by the trade unions, pointed to the shortage of manpower and suggested that an army of 500,000 conscripts would place a serious strain on the economy and block labor's goal of a 40-hour week...
...This year, the party has chosen to jettison much of its Marxist appearance, especially in the economic field, and address itself to the middle-class voter as a "respectable" party to the left of center...
...The presence of two such large forces and the attendant security measures would, they alleged, make reunification more difficult...
...Whatever Mollet's motives, many who welcomed his statement must be oblivious of the real danger which it conjures up...
...In the spring, the Chancellor suffered other personal blows, such as the bitter campaign against the head of his chancellery, Secretary of State Hans Globke, who once wrote a commentary on Hitler's anti-Jewish Nuremberg Laws...
...The failings of his near-patriarchal system of leadership became increasingly evident...
...Chancellor Adenauer's policy has rested on the conviction that Germany must associate itself indissolu-bly with the Western world...
...They linked rearmament and reunification, pleading that creation of a conscript army of 500,000 men in West Germany would precipitate conscription in East Germany...
...Backed into a corner, the FDP united in open rebellion...
...Adenauer sought a way out of this dead end in foreign policy by turning public attention to domestic issues...
...In this question, the Western powers found themselves dealing with the German Minister of Finance, Fritz Schaffer, one of the strongest men in the Cabinet...
...The disarmament conference in London, the Mollet interview, trips like those of the Scandinavian premiers to Moscow and of the Soviet leaders to Britain, and the aftermath of the 20th Party Congress have combined to suggest to the unwary that great changes may be in the making...
...The FDP, though a member of the Bonn coalition, had sought to establish itself as an independent political force by advocating that Germany, after the failure of Geneva, approach Moscow on its own to explore the chances of reunification...
...Flogging United States policy was, of course, surefire...
...In January, the Bavarian party, a hy-perthyroid regional group justifiably in fear of its future, came out against compulsory military service...
...Their constructive criticism and readiness to compromise seemed to hold the promise of bipartisan action on basic political problems...
...Departing from the valid assumption that the Russians have no intention of discussing, let alone granting, German reunification on any terms other than their own, Mollet merely suggested moving on to the next point of the Geneva agenda, disarmament...
...Germany has regained its sovereignty and must now assume the burdens and responsibilities that fall to it as a full-fledged member of NATO...
...The prevailing international climate has encouraged the Social Democrats to make this appeal and has made many more people receptive to it...
...The longing for peace is no weaker than before, and this can easily appear to be no time for Germany to plunge into a costly and strenuous arms program...
...With the next step approaching, the submission of a bill for compulsory military service, the SPD bolted...
...The most serious new challenge to Adenauer's position and to NATO's expectations followed shortly...
...There are already enough centrifugal forces at work in NATO...
...It was a refusal which the Western powers took amiss as evasion of a legitimate duty...
...Germany is the keystone of the Western alliance in Europe...
...He has justified this epically simple program to his people as the only road to stability, prosperity and unity...
...This criticism was not new and was perhaps even justified, but the circumstances of its revival indicated that the Chancellor's political opponents could now afford to move in closer to personal attack...
...One can assume that Mollet and the French Socialist party have not the slightest intention of selling out to Moscow...
...Experts like Erler added the opinion that the technical requirements of atomic warfare throw the military value of short-term conscripts into serious doubt, and that a smaller body of well-trained volunteers would provide much greater security...
...Here is the test of statesmanship which Western leaders now face...
...Schaffer, who rejoices in the reputation of national miser, turned down the Western request on two grounds: He pointed out that Germany had no legal obligation to pay support costs after May 4, 1956, and he asserted bluntly that Germany could not afford the roughly $750 million involved...
...The Socialists' new military policy marks an attempt to restore party unity and to appeal to the electorate in 1957...
...Their argument was that Germany would not be able to spend its full annual defense appropriation for at least another year, and that therefore the money should rightfully go to the forces which were on the scene in the common defense...
...Leaders of the Free Democratic party, who had been for conscription, now propose a volunteer army in addition to a "more active" German approach to the Kremlin on reunification...
...Not the least of the problems which bedevil the alliance stem from the unoriented leadership and tactical confusion which characterize German politics at the present time...
...Leaders in the Chancellor's own Christian Democratic camp are already eager to settle for 12 months' military service in order to get conscription at all...
...Changing the order of the Geneva priorities would result in the West's gaining neither the democratic reunification of Germany nor disarmament but losing Germany and Europe to Soviet influence...
...The West must retain its position as the champion of German unity...
...Stability and prosperity have been achieved, but the Soviet Union has been able to block even the reasonable prospect of unity...
...This is a time of transition in world affairs when it is not easy to remain true to unalterable principles without seeming rigid to those who demand visible evidence of progress...
...Reserves could be trained as militia...
...After 65 years on the record against professional armies and for universal service as the root of democracy in military affairs, the party's spokesmen suddenly demanded that the new Bundeswehr be a professional force...
...The SPD tried last year, with signal lack of success, to rally non-Socialist voters around the banner of democratic nationalism against rearmament and for reunification...
...In his absence, Bonn drifted and fretted...
...It has shockingly clarified the inner deterioration of the NATO alliance in the past year...
...Although reunification is l>\ no means an explosive issue today, it necessarily contains the seeds of chauvinism...
...At the same time, he ordered a program for the rationalization of the chronically ailing and often retarded agriculture...
...There is, as yet, not the least cause for alarm...
...Before any new momentum could be imparted to German politics, however, the Chancellor came down with a long and serious illness...
...The course of the last six months in Germany has brought little to reassure the West...
...As for the danger to democracy, that had been removed by the legal guarantees just passed by Parliament...
...Since Geneva, Chancellor Adenauer's foreign policy has not borne fruit...
...Looking ahead to the next election in September 1957, he went to work on a thorough reform of the incredibly complicated social-security and pension system...
...While the East is blocked, there are no dramatic victories to be won in the West, except for the somewhat anti-climactic Saar...
...Yet, the barren repetition of the Geneva formula has its own disadvantages...
...Underlying the relations between Germany and its allies is the lingering suspicion on each side that the other is capable of dealing with Moscow at its expense...
...At a NATO Council meeting in December, Britain, France and the United States asked Bonn to continue payment of support costs for their troops in Germany...
...The people have accepted the reality of Germany's division...
...On the other hand, suggestions, such as that of Mollet, that German reunification be postponed in favor of disarmament not only tend to shake German confidence in Western re-solve but encourage proclivities for independent operations...
Vol. 39 • April 1956 • No. 18
