European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 19, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine West German coolness to America German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt at the White House in March. By John Vinocur new York times rowing numbers of West germans and americans arc expressing concern that a Basic negative change is taking place in West Ger Man attitudes toward the United states. Some though not All of those who Are Wor ried about the situation fear that the movement goes beyond the cyclical changes of politics beyond the failure of the american Rescue Mission in Iran and a few Points in a Public opinion poll to reflect the Central flow of popular thought in a country that is emerging As the Leader of Western  reservations about the United states not just its leadership or its politicians Are visible in More places than just the offices of government officials and politicians in Bonn. They can be seen in the letters to the editor columns in articles in magazines and newspapers and in dinner conversation of intellectuals. Recently a social democratic member of parliament asked an american into his office for a talk. He said he was heartsick about the situation but he wondered if too much Public attention would not create As he said a disastrous self fulfilling  the reporting of the is. Embassy o the state department has stressed us change in mood and in american who has the attention of the Carter administration said there is a change in the qual Ity of feeling about America. The question is How _ permanent it  perhaps More than in other european countries where Confidence in the United states has been weakened by both economic and strategic shifts the development is All the More striking in Bonn because of the big brother relationship Between the United states and West Ger Many that grew up after world War ii. Now the big brother has become a problem to the people who believed in him and needed him most. Sometimes the change is illustrated by a seemingly insignificant detail or an omission. Over a recent week end there were two such examples. One was a Campaign being run by Bild am sonntag. A mass circulation tabloid newspaper noted both for its sensationalism and anti communism. The newspaper is asking readers to write to it on the following theme world crisis which Way shall we turn to Washington or Moscow the answers so far As expected Are in favor of the United states. But the question itself is the most fascinating Clement two years ago it would not have been the other look place in Hannover when Gerhard sch Roeder the chairman of the social democratic party s youth organization which traditionally stands far to the left of the parly s mainstream attacked foreign minister Hans Dietrich guns Char for his Vassal like allegiance to the United  in itself the attack on guns Char who is the Leader of the free democrats the partner of the social democrats in the governing coalition was not extraordinary. Bui in a press conference held by the government spokesman two Days later not one West German reporter raised a question about it. The omission seemed to suggest that if the idea is not accepted at least the vocabulary and the Point of View have become commonplace. In a letter to a Cologne newspaper Kuus mar i urdu wrote of americans i m afraid of these mends and in the same newspaper another letter writer Josef Martens asked Are we a Colony of America Public opinion polls have produced some contradictory evidence about attitudes towards the United states but Stern a weekly Magazine reported that one Survey commissioned in March by the office of Chancellor Helmut Schmidt was so negative that it was suppressed out of concern Over irritating Washington. The poll according to the Magazine concluded that for four out of five West germans the United states was no longer an exemplary nation. Seventy three percent found that personal Liberty was better protected in West Germany than in the United states and 75 percent considered involvement of Ameri can troops in the persian Gulf a threat to world peace. In another poll undertaken by the Aben Sbach Institute a leading Public opinion Survey group Only 8 percent of the Sample said they were confident that the United states was capable of taking a world leadership role today. The largest segment 41 percent replied that they were not so  the same pollen also asked people whether their attitude towards the United states had become More negative in the last year or two. Most said it had remained the same but of those replying the number whose attitude had worsened was almost double that of those whose impressions of the United states had improved. But the same poll also showed that West Germany still seemed to count on the United states. When asked who is West Germany s Best Friend 55 percent answered that it was America. No other country was close. France in second place got 14 percent. The polls do not reflect the thinking of the West German intellectuals where there is reason to As sume the slippage has been greatest. Two unusual articles on the subject appeared recently in die Zeit the Hamburg weekly newspaper that Proba Bly has a greater following in the West German intellectual Community than any other publication. Gard Bucu Rius the newspaper s principal shareholder wrote in a commentary recently that guns Char thought he might win votes for his party by showing Strong support for the United states in connection with the world crises. Guns Char was wrong buc Erius said. The germans Are Cajzer to be left Oul of International conflicts. They Are of course for loyally but when they say loyalty they mean above All american loyally to  in the last months the conviction has grown that in an emergency the Federal Republic could gel along without the americans and under some Circum stances do even belter. No one threatens us gun scr grass shouted assigning the americans to the garbage thursday. June 19, 1980 dump of history. If such an honest and Clever Man thinks that How can one blame Helmut Schmidt for trying in the election Campaign to fulfil rather than destroy these longings of the people another article in the same newspaper by Klaus Harp Precht who for years served As a speechwriter for Willy Brandt delved deeply into what he described As the Prev Alent mood among opinion makers in the country particularly among the materially comfortable intellectual up per class. The key word America brings scorn to people s eyes and they purse their lips Harprecht wrote describing mood at a fashionable Hamburg party. Harprecht who lived in the United states for Many years notes that that country is now often mentioned in the same breath As the soviet Union with both dismissed As ugly superpowers. It is no longer the Carter administration he suggests but the United states As a whole its future its character that seems to be condemned by an increasing number of West germans. The situation seems to have been grasped to some degree by Schmidt who has called on the leadership of his party in a number of Small private meetings to Slop running Down the United states. The Chancellor reasons according to his aides that regardless of his own doubts about president Carter s capabilities West Germany has no other Choice than a firm Alliance with the americans. The current mood sufficiently disturbs Schmidt to the extent thai be in rated Waller j. Ploessel jr., the United slates ambassador to his Home recently for i rare private dinner. But a description of the meeting by West German sources indicated that if the Chancellor stressed the firmness of his own support for the United slates he also spent much of the evening underscoring his feeling that Washington was not paying sufficient attention to his analysis of the world situation. While the Chancellor sought to soothe for Ploessel any american misgivings about West German in cations heals pressed his theory thai All the current world crises Are interlocked and require an Overall Western strategy for  was described As being sick and tired of i people being portrayed As real or potential cowards which he Felt was unfair and unjustified. What the Chancellor has not said is How much he regards the United states problems As ones of historical disintegration or management that he considers less competent than his own. Some americans in Bonn however Bate questioned Why Schmidt has not chosen to nuke a speech on the subject of German american relations setting Oul in Public the positions be Stales with some Igor in private. Asked this question a european Diplomat with Long experience in the West German capital said Schmidt is an excellent politician in the in Idle of an election year. He has i pretty finely lunch notion about what the Public mood is he makes inc speeches he thinks necessary and not the ones the americans want to hear. He surely knows what he s  the stars and stripes Page 13