HOW CAN WE "RECONCILE" COMMUNIST AND NAZI LEGACIES?
605
Wildried Von Bredow: I
was a bit provoked by Mitchell's comment
about neo-nationalism in Gennany, about the boundaries between this
kind of intellectual, fringe neo-nationalism, which indeed goes back to
the twenties (one can quote, for instance, the prominence of Karl
Schmidt), and the national feelings of the political establishment. I think
there is a boundary here . There is a deep difference, probably not so
much as far as taste is concerned. As to the bronze cast of a Kathe
Kollwitz Pieri, which was added to the memorial on Unter den Linden,
in the east of Berlin, by Helmut Kohl, there are many people who are
opposed to its being appropriated as a nationalist symbol.
The most important political question is the question of Europe, the
unification of Europe. Today, you still find a consensus among the polit–
ical establishment in Gennany that the construction of a unified Europe
above the level of nations is a most important goal. As long as this re–
mains so, I think one can be reassured about the so-called Gennan na–
tionalist debate. The Gennans have to find new answers to the question,
"Who are we, what do we want?" This general debate will continue,
without changing the political system. As it is, the right-wing parties
don't find much resonance in general elections, even though a lot of silly
things are going on, and silly arguments are again being put on the
table. Thank you.
David Rosenberg:
Three years ago , Professor Kurzweil and
Partisan Re–
view
orgainzed a conference on Eastern Europe, during which Czeslaw
Milosz remarked that when he published his great book,
The Captive
Mind,
when he was in exile in Paris, he was treated as something like a
combination of lunatic and agent for the CIA. And he said that the
book was, ironically, no help in his getting a position at Berkeley, ei–
ther. I was quite shocked to hear that. I know, Professor Hollander, that
you've written on this issue, and I thought your remarks were directed
toward the United States rather than toward Gennany. Do you think
that people who have lived through that period and have experienced
such things still would be reluctant in academic circles to make a strong
claim for their experience? Will they continue to find this kind of resis–
tance to the true story of what took place in the Soviet sphere?
Paul Hollander:
What period do you refer to?
David Rosenberg:
Obviously, Solzhenitsyn is representative. What sur–
prised me was that in an American academic context, a book which I
studied in high school in 1960, a definitive document, was no help to
