Germany at 30 a leader in its prime
Irecently spent two weeks driving around Germany interviewing people – mostly climate scientists, since you ask – and I came to the conclusion that it is the best-run, and possibly just the best, major country right now.
Some small countries are absolute jewels, of course, but it’s easier if you’re small. Big powers fightmore wars, contain more divisions, suffer nastier and more ridiculous delusions of grandeur. But, if you only consider countries with more than 50 million people, Germany today is the fairest, the least conflicted, the most peaceful, actually the nicest major country.
That wasn’t true 30 years ago and it may not be so 30 years hence, but it’s worth noting as today marks the 30th anniversary of the unification of Germany in 1990, just a year after the Berlin Wall came down.
Compared withwhat occurred after the first time it was unified, it has all worked out rather well.
The first unification of Germany in 1871 was achieved by war and led to more and much bigger wars – not entirely Germany’s fault, of course, but certainly the consequence of the sudden appearance of a highly nationalistic new great power in the heart of Europe.
After World War II, Germany was divided into three. The eastern third was emptied of Germans and given to Poland, in compensation for the eastern third of pre-war Poland, which was kept by the Soviet Union.
The middle part, also under Soviet occupation, became Communist-ruled East Germany, while the rest, with most of the population, became West Germany.
The two Germanies became the cockpit of the Coldwar, with huge armies of tanks ready to roll and nuclear weapons not far behind
As a society it radiates contentment, and the strident nationalism that disfigures so many other countries is conspicuous by its absence.
them. Many people understood that some day the country would have to be reunited – but they were terrified by the prospect. They feared that the process might trigger awar and they feared a reunited Germany.
Lord Ismay, the British general who became the first secretarygeneral of the Nato alliance, which includedwest Germany, put it bluntly: ‘‘Nato exists to keep the Russians out, the Americans in and the Germans down.’’ Frenchwriter
Francois Mauriac said it more elegantly: ‘‘I love Germany so much that I’m glad there are two of them.’’
If the trigger to end the East German communist regime had been in British, French and American hands, it might never have been pulled. But it was actually in the hands of the East Germans themselves and in 1989 they brought down their oppressors without a shot being fired. All the other communist states of eastern Europe followed suit.
Therewas great joy in both parts of Germany – the street party after the Berlin Wall came down was probably the best and certainly the longest I have ever attended – but there was considerable trepidation elsewhere. But Mikhail Gorbachev, the reformist Soviet leader, reassured everybody by declaring Moscow had no objection to German reunification and the deed was done 30 years ago this week.
It has worked out well. As a society it radiates contentment, and the strident nationalism that disfigures so many other countries is conspicuous by its absence. When you compare it with the incompetent and belligerent populism that prevails in the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil and India, it looks pretty good. ‘‘Wir schaffen das’’ (‘‘We can manage this’’), said Chancellor Angelamerkel when more than amillion refugees arrived in Germany in 2016, and four years later it looks like she was right.
‘‘Mutti’’ (Mummy), as Germans call her, has been chancellor for half of the past 30 years, so therewill be a holding of breath when she retires next year. But the world would be a better and safer place if there were more countries like Germany.
Gwynne Dyer’s new book is ‘‘Growing Pains: The Future of Democracy (and Work)’’.