Thoughts on Reunification

To the Editors of The Crimson:

As a student from West Germany, I was deeply offended by Neil Cooper's editorial, "The Case Against Reunification" (Crimson, Nov. 22). While it lacks any understanding of the present situation in the Germanies, it creates the stereotypical image of the war-mongering and evil German.

1. The article starts with the completely wrong premise that all Germans have an intense desire to reunify and regain the strength Germany had in the past. I, for one, surely don't, and public opinion polls also show that the majority of West Germans are opposed to reunification. East Germans are also more concerned with changes within East Germany, including the right to free travel, than with reunification. The reunification debate is not a matter of discussion in the Germanies. The debate is largely held abroad. Therefore, the analogy comparing the appeasement policy in the 1930s to today's situation completely misses the mark. Nobody is pressuring the international community to do anything about reunification. Where there is no demand, there can be no appeasement.

2. Cooper fears an "intensely nationalistic Germany." Having lived in Germany for 19 years, and in the U.S. for four, I can safely say that German nationalism, compared to American nationalism, is miniscule, if not non-existent. In contrast to the America of 1989, we do not spend our time discussing flag-burning or standing up in high school to pledge allegiance to a piece of cloth. While the burning of foreign flags is illegal, every German can--and people do--burn as many German flags as he or she may wish.

Every foreigner who has spent any amount of time in West Germany always notices the complete lack of patriotism, especially among the young people. This is a definite rupture form the past.

The recent events were clearly not an outpouring of nationalism, but a celebration of freedom. The destruction of the wall was not seen as the sign of regaining German strength (after all, it is Mikhail Gorbachev, not Germany, who was largely responsible for the dramatic changes), but the reunion with relatives, old and new friends was celebrated. Contrast this, for example, to the Anschluss of Austria or the annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938, where people cheered at parading tanks and soldiers. I think the difference could hardly be more striking.

3. Cooper wonders "how we can know that the emotions and motivating forces behind the Third Reich are really dead." For one, most of the people who lived and shaped (and were shaped by) that time are now dead.

Moreover, where should the Germans of 1989 get these racist, anti-Semitic, and nationalistic feelings in the first place? After World War II, those who supported Hitler kept their mouths shut, for obvious reasons, and were hardly able to pass on their horrific heritage. In school, at home, and in the media, we grew up with images of the Holocaust, German war crimes, and the destructive power of ideology and nationalism. We spent years of painful confrontations with the older generation about their involvement in the Third Reich. Does Cooper think that that was all worth nothing?

In fact, I believe very strongly that Germany has confronted its history more sincerely and openly than many other nations. The horrendous deeds committed in the German name have forced Germans to break with the recent past. At no level is there a desire for repetition.

I am wondering if Cooper thinks that there is something in the genetic make-up of a German which makes him or her an evil person who is unable to learn from the past. Otherwise, he could hardly fear the resurgence of a Fourth Reich even if Germany were to reunify.

I really, do not like the idea of writing this letter in defense of the Germans as a people. In fact, there are a lot of things I strongly dislike about some Germans, just as I disagree with many other people. But since Cooper attacked the Germans as a people, and, by implication, me personally, I feel I had to respond and claim that the Germans as a whole are not essentially different from other people. Rather than making wholesale accusations, it would be more constructive to address specific issues arising from the rapid changes now taking place in Eastern Europe. Stephan Klasen '91