FORMER WEST GERMANS AND THEIR PAST
541
stolen a dead comrade's papers and decorations. Filbinger nevertheless
imposed a sentence of mere imprisonment, but was overruled by his su–
perior officer who insisted on having the man shot. If anyone was a last–
ditch fanatic in this case, it was that officer, not Filbinger.
So it went, for every instance of brutality and inhumanity alleged
against Filbinger. He sued for libel, and his lawyer was none other than
Rudolf Augstein's own brother, Josef Augstein. He won a nominal
judgment, but the court found that freedom of the press outweighed
Filbinger's honor and career and would not penalize either Hochhuth,
Rudolf Augstein, or their journals for what amounted to spreading ma–
licious rumors without proper investigation. Josef Augstein commented
that "it is cause for concern that the mass media can so destroy a politi–
cian they do not like that he is forced to step down, even though the
allegations made against him are unfounded."
A second fact about the whole episode that was ignored was that
the supposedly incriminating material had come, appropriately doctored,
from the GDR
Staatssicherheit,
the secret service of Communist Germany.
It was part of a long-running campaign waged by the East German se–
cret service against conservative West German politicians and leading fig–
ures - against anyone who was in a position to make trouble for the
German Communists in: their drive for recognition by and material assis–
tance from West Germany. And it was not the first time Rudolf Aug–
stein, driven by his own political ideology, had bought into a Commu–
nist disinformation operation. The first time was the so-called
Spiegel
af–
fair of 1962 which destroyed the anti-Communist Bavarian leader Franz
Josef Strauss's chances to become chancellor. And the
Spiegel
affair,
whatever else it was, was also one of the opening shots in the whole
drama of
Vergangenheitsbewiiltigung.
Am
I saying that evidence about people's actions in the Third Reich
should have been discounted if it came from the GDR? Yes, if it could
not be independently confirmed. The GDR's main purpose was to un–
dermine West German stability and security; every act of the regime must
be interpreted from that basic perspective. The German Communists
were not disinterested third parties happy to provide evidence that
would strengthen West German democracy by rooting out unpunished
or unrepentant National Socialists. They were enemies of West German
democracy and knew very well how to exploit the West German politi–
cal and intellectual community'S guilt.
Filbinger was a leading conservative who was unafraid to take on
the hard lett, who did not keep quiet about human rights abuses in the
GDR, who refused to shut up about the Germans' right to self-determi-
