JEFFREY HERF
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of the NATO double decision within the SPD, Erhard Eppler,
combines ecological concern, cultural criticism of industrial society
and its waste , Protestant moralism, and antinuclear politics. Eppler
asks whether the Federal Republic is or is not a satellite of the
United States and urges rejection of NATO policies to show that it is
not . While not as strident as Eppler, Willy Brandt, Egon Bahr,
Gunter Gaus, and Horst Emke are other leading members of the
SPD who have pointed to the conflict between German reunification
and anti-Sovietism. In a contribution to Jurgen Habermas's impor–
tant collection of essays
Stichworte zur 'Geistigen Situation der Zeit (On the
Spiritual Situation of Our Time) ,
Horst Emke, a leading member of the
Social Democratic party, refers to the "absurdity" of the division of
Europe and of Germany, and writes that the Germans in the Federal
Republic and East Germany are "closer to each other than to
anyone else" in their shared "consciousness of a national sense of
belonging together." Noting these and other developments, the
French observer of the German scene, Joseph Rovan , has asked if
the combination of the German question and the effects of years of
Marxist and Marcusian critiques have not created a generation of
young West Germans who will abandon the Western alliance
because they are convinced it has nothing worth defending. The
historic weakness of the liberal tradition in Germany would be
manifest once again , but this time in the form of a neutralism of the
Left.
Neutralism in West Germany offers the Soviet Union a
tremendous opportunity. A neutral Germany would make the
continuation of NATO extremely difficult and open the road for
growing Soviet control over Western Europe as a whole. The
Federal Republic is now older than Weimar and Nazi Germany
combined , but its political and moral foundations will take longer
than thirty years to become solidified . The Soviets are hoping to
capitalize on both their current military power and the ambiguities
of the German question to pry the Germans loose from the alliance
before such a solidification takes place . To prevent this, it might be
argued that a German nuclear arsenal is the only way to brake the
neutralist slide. However, that would convulse members of the
Atlantic alliance-certainly the French. Instead, like Mitterand ,
many may breathe a private sigh of relief if the Kohl government is
returned to power. As I write this, the polls point to a narrow
Christian Democratic victory on March 6. Even if this should take
