Allies Wary as Bonn Plays Host to Gorbachev

BONN — West Germany will receive a man today who is arguably one of the most popular figures in this country: Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev. And his four-day visit will be watched closely, even apprehensively, by West Germany’s allies, who fear his ability to mesmerize the West--particularly the West Germans.

What are the allies worried about? Hasn’t West Germany proved itself, through good times and bad, as a loyal, valuable and dedicated member of the Atlantic Alliance?

A Coming of Age

The answer cuts to the bone of a question gnawing at some of West Germany’s friends--and at some West Germans as well. It concerns the political role West Germany is to play in Europe now that this country, which recently observed its 40th anniversary, has come of age.

The question has taken on added significance because of the unraveling of the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe, an area with close historical links to Germany.

There should be little to worry about: West Germany today is prosperous, comfortable, reasonably secure and pleased with itself for recovering from the wreckage of World War II. Its standard of living and social benefits are among the world’s highest.

In late spring, the sidewalk cafes and beer gardens of West German cities are crowded with people, and the autobahns are alive with powerful cars. Still, to some observers, there is a faint unease, a sense of disquiet.

“In some ways,” a foreign commentator remarked recently, “Germany without Angst is like France without wine.”

Some outsiders argue that German Angst, or anxiety, can be traced to two foreign policy factors:

-- A desire to play a more important role in the making of post-Cold War Europe.

-- A deep, almost mystical but unstated yearning for the reunification of the divided country.

The Dwarf Has Grown

The first of these is considered ironic by many Germans. For years they were accused by their allies of being an economic giant and a political dwarf, but now that the dwarf has grown, Western nations are not sure they are happy with it.

The second also has ironic overtones. Reunification was written into the West German constitution 40 years ago and is accepted by the allies as part of West German policy. But privately, the allies, especially Britain and France, are opposed to it, as is the Soviet Union and its satellites.

A Western diplomat once remarked: “I love Germany so much that I’m happy there are two of them.”

The two perceived West German aims come together in a worst-case scenario on the German question formulated by commentators in the United States and Britain. It goes like this:

Gorbachev offers the possibility of reunification in return for a neutralized Germany that would form close economic ties with Eastern Europe, leaving the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Community in the lurch. A powerful, energetic, resourceful nation of 80 million people would be created in the heart of Europe--a Fourth Reich--with unforeseen but presumably woeful consequences.

How does this grim specter square with the way West Germans see themselves and their future?

Out-of-Date Stereotypes

Almost every West German in a position of authority condemns this forecast as unrealistic, based on out-of-date stereotypes of the people and the nation. Chancellor Helmut Kohl told President Bush that although he deplored a divided Germany, reunification was not a current political issue.

In reaffirming German-American ties, Kohl declared: “Is all this now in jeopardy because the Germans are allegedly looking eastward, lost in romantic dreams, alienating themselves from the West? This at any rate seems to be the impression gained by some observers in the United States.

“This is a distortion, not a true reflection of reality. The Federal Republic lies at the heart of Europe, on the demarcation line between East and West. Is it not therefore the most natural thing in the world for us Germans, a divided nation, to take a very special interest in developments in Central, Eastern and southeastern Europe?”

Kohl emphasized his country’s close ties with NATO and the European Community and added: “Our American friends can rest assured that the Federal Republic’s firm anchorage in the Western community is irrevocable. We do not vacillate between two worlds.”

Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher was recently asked what Bonn would do if Gorbachev played the so-called German card, and he replied: “For us there can be no neutrality. We are an inseparable part of the West and will remain so.”

Some observers attribute U.S. fears of a West German shift to the East to the coalitions of Social Democrats and environmentalist Greens that have won regional elections, including one in West Berlin.

And with the Cold War fading, younger West Germans question the need for large numbers of foreign troops on their soil, for low-level NATO aircraft training flights and for extensive military maneuvers over roads and fields.

Academics like historian Arnulf Baring worry aloud about a new incipient nationalism, a search for a greater role. In his recent controversial book “Our New Megalomania,” Baring warns that a German desire to play a larger part on the world scene could be dangerous.

“We no longer have the power to plunge the world into catastrophe,” Baring says, “but we do have the power to hurt ourselves and the alliance.”

Such questioning of West Germany’s reliability irks many West Germans. Karsten Voight, a leading member of the opposition Social Democrats, said, “I’m beginning to think that America was happier with a known adversary like the Soviet Union than a so-called unreliable partner like West Germany.”

Angelika Volle, a senior researcher for the Foreign Policy Institute in Bonn, said, “There is certainly something in the air, but why is the U.S. always telling us that we are equal partners in the alliance and then worrying when we start behaving as such?”

Gorbachev, she said, is responsible for opening a Pandora’s box with his policies of detente and glasnost , or openness, particularly in East Europe.

“It has given rise to nationalism and patriotism in the East, and West Germany is experiencing some of that too,” she said. “But Germans resent increasingly that their reliability in the alliance is still questioned.”

Many West German commentators insist that the Federal Republic is firmly embedded in the West, however attractive a new Ostpolitik might be to Genscher and the Social Democrats.

Volker Ruehe, a leading Christian Democratic member of the Bundestag, the lower house of Parliament, argues that “West Germany is not moving east; the East is moving west, and this is in the strategic interest of the alliance.”

West Germany, he said, “is anchoring the Western position as the East moves closer.”

More Trade With Switzerland

As for West Germany’s alleged aim of grabbing the lion’s share of business with the Soviet Union and East Europe, officials in Bonn point out that West German trade with the Soviet Union last year was less than West German trade with Switzerland.

Clearly, however, West Germany is feeling its oats. Thomas Kielinger, editor of the conservative weekly Rheinischer Merkur, commented: “It’s about time people in the U.S. and Great Britain gave Germany credit for 40 years of democracy, the rule of law and self-determination. Reunification is more on the minds of Germany’s neighbors than of Germans themselves.”

Some commentators believe that the renewed interest abroad in the “German question” is due partly to the recent debate over short-range nuclear weapons, which many believe was mishandled by the government. Further, they suggest that foreign observers have not taken the time to assess the views of modern young Germans.

“I think,” said one, “that one reason for all the talk about Angst and uncertainty and German searching for a role is that foreigners tend to talk to political figures, journalists and academic researchers, all of whom, like me, are paid to worry and analyze. I doubt that the average German is at all concerned about reunification.”

He suggested that the Angst is often in the eye of the beholder.

No Talk About Reunification

At a recent gathering of friends, mostly people from the Darmstadt area who have scattered, there was much talk of friends and families, even politics, but no one so much as hinted at reunification as a topic of serious interest.

A high school teacher, asked to comment on this, said: “I don’t think of reunification as an important matter. There are too many current things to be concerned about.”

A banker said: “No, it’s not on my agenda. If the Soviet Union were to offer us a reunified Germany, and the East Germans went along, we wouldn’t say no.”

The wife of a business executive, who comes from East Prussia and is a staunch conservative, said: “I would like to see more freedom to travel between East and West Germany, but I would never give up my freedom and standard of living just to get together with the socialist East.”

Public opinion polls show that reunification is not a real issue at the moment--nothing like the environment, taxes and nuclear power, for example.

“There may come a time when the Germans are offered the possibility of reunification,” Volle, the foreign policy researcher, said. “But when that time comes, the climate will be so different that the issue will not be treated as it is today.”

CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, on the eve of a visit from Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev that is worrying some in the West, recently affirmed German-American relations.

Declared Kohl: “Is all this now in jeopardy because the Germans are allegedly looking eastward . . . alienating themselves from the West?

“This is a distortion . . .. The Federal Republic lies at the heart of Europe, on the demarcation line between East and West. Is it not the most natural thing in the world for us Germans, a divided nation, to take a very special interest in developments in Central, Eastern and southeastern Europe?”