European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 4, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Again forces a redefining of Europe by Craig r. Whitney new York times p fifty years ago this summer Germany had traumatized Europe for the second time in this tragic Century Austria has been annexed Poland France Holland Norway and Belgium. Had been Defeated Czechoslovakia and Denmark were occupied and British troops had been driven into the sea from Dunkirk. The Battle of Britain in the skies Over London Lay ahead As did the subsequent decision to turn instead on the soviet Union. In the 12 Short years of the thousand year Reich Hitler Himmler Goebbels and Goering destroyed their country s Good name and nearly destroyed the european civilization that had been marked indelibly by germans like Bach Beethoven and Goethe. A yet even in those dark hours Germany a actions shaped the new Europe that Rose out of the ashes of world Warll. Never known in the Brief few years of the Weimar Republic. A even so the idea of German unification causes anxiety among its neighbors even for people who did not live through the War the reason perhaps is that for most europeans a Germany Quot has been a Point of reference that has shaped their own idea of who they Are today. And suddenly the Germany they have known for 40 years will become tomorrow something very different. What then Are its neighbors to make of themselves the whole european Community was built around a Central lesson from the War there would be no lasting peace or Prosperity in Europe unless germans had a stake in both. With the merging of their economies july 1, the West German Deutsche Mark has become East Germany s Legal tender inter German Border controls have been lifted. Thus 45 years after the end of world War ii a practically speaking a Germany has unified and the German democratic Republic essentially has ceased to exist As a Sovereign state the consequences of German aggression and German barbarity divided the country arid the continent for four decades the United states was forced to define itself As a european Power and the soviet Union with half of Europe in its clutches got the Opportunity to define itself As a superpower. Today West Germany is a democracy not a dictatorship it is also a Loyal and respected partner of the nato Alliance and of the european Community whose commitment will not be in question after the 16 million East germans and their new democracy become part of the Federal Republic perhaps As Early As the end of this year. In the West two German generations have grown up in a free open society with a remarkable economic stability but even More than most of them realize the other european states have defined themselves in the modern Era by their relationship to Germany. When they worry about unification they Are worried about themselves. Charles de Gaulle for example created a whole new modern idea of Quot eternal France Quot out of the resistance to German occupation that he almost single hand edly willed into existence with a speech broadcast from London 50 years ago. France viewed As the pre eminent military Power of prewar Europe had been deeply demoralized by its unexpected sudden defeat in 1940. Even 25 years ago when the general was president and his fifth Republic still in Jas infancy French illustrated magazines were full of articles about the 25th anniversary of the German Conquest. Today 20 years after de Gaulle s death they Are full of celebrations of him and the redemption he symbolizes and president Frangois Mitterrand finds it politically Wise to be seen As close to Chancellor Helmut Kohl As de Gaulle was to Konrad Adenauer. Perhaps no other country has defined itself by its relation to the germans in recent times so much As the soviet Union. Until Mikhail s. Gorbachev every soviet ruler since Stalin explained not Only its fixation on military strength but also its political repression and economic backwardness by reference to the great patriotic War As the struggle against the nazis is usually called in russian. Even Gorbachev recently asked americans to Willy Brandt As Chancellor of West Germany in 1970, kneeling at the Monument to victims of die Warsaw ghetto uprising in 1943. Understand that he could not simply accede to German Unity without taking account of the sufferings of the 27 million soviet citizens who died during the War and of the feelings of their survivors children and grandchildren. But both the soviet attitude toward germans and the German attitude toward russians have always been far More Complex than the nazi and stalinist stereotypes allowed. Life is full of examples like the West German businessman living in Moscow in the late 1970s who had returned to the soviet Union out of nostalgia having been held As a prisoner of War in Siberia unti the Earty 1950s. When russians Over 40 speak any foreign language at All it is most often German picked up during the War or Learned at school. And when they talk about Western consumer goods it is German Quality and style they Admire. For years the germans East and West have been the soviets biggest trading partners. But self doubt and anxiety about the economic future Are nowhere More acute today than in the soviet Union and this is one reason it agonies about German Page 14 the stars and stripes wednesday jul