European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 8, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                German lecturer gives the boat to the . West Quot this is the West sir. When the legend becomes fact print the  a newspaper editor in the Man who shot Liberty Valance 1962 film directed by John Ford by Ron Jensen Nurnberg Bureau Homas Huke broke his leg hiking in the petrified Forest of the american Southwest a couple of years ago and carries a Limp As a reminder of the Accident but it is scholarship not payback that motivates him to fracture the myths of America s old West in a class at the University of Erlanger in Germany. Quot we can t live without myth. Mankind simply can t do that Quot said Huke. Quot but you must be aware a these Are facts these Are  in the class Quot the american Southwest myth and reality Quot students of american studies learn from Huke that the West was settled not by rugged individualists intent on carving a personal Niche in the world but by those hungry for financial gain. He tells students that the theme of the Western migration in America was get in get Rich get out. Ranching interests grazed huge herds of cattle on free Range land and made millions. A mining companies sucked fortunes out of the ground. Quot germans Are very fascinated by the West and Southwest Quot said Huke a native of Bavaria s Franconia Region. There Are so Many romantic ideas that people  just As it is Back Home the reality of a the american West is masked in Europe by movies and literature. John Wayne and the cavalry arrive just in time on european movie and television screens too. And Many Young europeans were enthralled by the books of Karl May a late 19th-Century German writer who never left the continent yet wrote convincingly of cowboys indians and the struggle of the american Frontier. Quot the Southwest is the picture most europeans have of America Quot said Andrea Kuhn one of the six students in the class. Quot that is America. Cowboys and indians. Grand Canyon. Death  a amps Ron Jenson Thomas Huke uses personal experiences from his Days in the United states in his lessons on the myths and reality of the american West. Huke s students admit the class has skewered their romantic ideas about the old West but say it does t matter. Quot i think it makes it much More interesting Quot said Christoph Cortner. Quot after All this the class is the thing that should be done. You should t stick to the  for example the idea of the Cowboy As a romantic figure Riding horseback across american history was punctured. Students Learned that it was a rough dirty and unattractive life. Quot no water. No soap. No showers they stank Quot Huke  were surprised to learn that the Cowboy Era lasted less than two decades. It seemed from books and movies one said that the period went on for centuries. Huke who also teaches for the University of Maryland in Germany lived in Boulder colo., for nearly three years returning to Germany in August 1992. During his time in America he hiked in most of the National Parks of the Southwest poked around in the Cliff dwellings of lost Indian tribes and panned for Gold on land to which he owns the Mineral rights High in the Rocky mountains. He was Able to spice up his lectures with personal experiences and visual aids such As the pan he used in his Gold search a Rattlesnake rattle and arrowheads. His intimacy with the Region leads him to Call it Quot the most Beautiful place i be Ever seen Quot and a place to which he wants to return. Asked Why he and other germans have such a feeling about the area he said Quot to me and to most people j talk to the feeling of endlessness and having space. You know what it s like Here. Every mile you have a town. There you can drive for Miles without seeing a  unified Germany he said is the size of Montana. The country has 60 million people. The state has fewer than 1 million. Huke shared with his class his knowledge of the geography of the Southwest. In the final class session he provided picture books of National Parks and Scenic Sites including Arizona s grand Canyon and Monument Valley on the Border of Utah and Arizona. This prompted a bit of amusement from those familiar with movies by director John Ford who created such film masterpieces As the searchers fort Apache and Rio Grande. Quot in Johh Ford s movies there is always the Monument Valley no matter where the action takes place Quot said Kuhn. Kuhn said the Western movies of America seem to indicate that americans Are unable to let Loose of that myth of the Frontier. Quot there is the truth and there is the myth Quot she said. Quot even though people know it s not that Way it s the myth that  Short subject new Wall rises As German Economy Falls by Craig r. Whitney the new York times when Germany was United in october 1990 and the Way ahead looked Clear and Rosy Chancellor Helmut Kohl told his people that no one would feel any pain. More than two years later the Industrial powerhouse in the West is sinking fast into recession with unemployment now at 7,4 percent and rising. Instead of Blooming the formerly communist Economy in the East collapsed under the pressure of Competition dragging the rest of the country with it and stirring widespread anger and frustration. As in the United states talk of Quot sacrifice Quot is now the order of the Day. Kohl is begun telling the 62 million Western germans that helping their 16 million poorer cousins in the East to rebuild their part of the country is going to Cost so much that they will have to pay higher taxes and suffer deep cuts in the welfare state that made germans the envy of most of the rest of Europe for 40 years. Meanwhile investors and employers have begun telling Eastern germans that they cannot expect to have overnight the same High Standard of living As the West and want to go Back on rash promises they made while the Economy was booming last year to raise their salaries quickly. Hostility Between German haves and have not is rising by the Day. Thomas Petereit a fitter in the Hysson steel works in the Western German Industrial City of Duisburg hard hit by a crisis in the steel Industry caused largely by cheap Competition from Eastern Europe summed up the mood of Many in the Industrial Ruhr Region this Way Quot pm sorry to say it but some people on the factory floor Are saying we should t have let the Berlin Wall be Tom  last fall in an Appeal similar to that made by president Clinton to americans Kohl called for a Quot Solidarity pact Quot among the major political parties labor unions and Industry to agree on the tax increases spending cuts and wage restraints to make unification work. But the Public debate about such an Accord has been raging for weeks and is not sounding much like Quot Solidarity Quot at All. The squabbling Over the costs of unification has Given German politics a bad name with Many people wondering whether the country is capable of tackling its most pressing problems. Kohl s popularity ratings in Public opinion polls have sunk almost continuously since he won the election in 1990, but nobody else is doing much better. But the debate goes beyond who is making the sacrifices and who is reaping the. Benefits. It also reflects a broader european undercurrent of unease about just what the Well off welfare states of Western Europe Are in for now that the Iron curtain is gone and those who lived under communism Are beginning to demand a piece of the Good life. Kohl monday March 8, 1993 a the stars and stripes 17