German Reconciliation

Report Outline
Federal Republic Today
Reshaping German Opinion
The ‘German Question’

Federal Republic Today

Refocusing on War Defeat and Rebirth

For a week in May, Germany will be the focus of world attention. First, President Reagan and leaders of six other big Western industrial powers will gather in Bonn for their annual review of international economic and trade matters. Reagan will then extend his stay in Germany until May 6, just before the 40th anniversary of the collapse of Nazi Germany, ending World War II in Europe.

The two events starkly illustrate the dilemma of modern Germany—a powerful participant in the community of nations, yet still haunted by an aggressive and sinister past that often impedes its ability to play its present role. While few people still seriously question Germany's place as a positive force in international affairs, recent trends and the current wave of 40th anniversary memories have raised questions about the future of Germany and the consequences for its neighbors.

In May 1945, Germany and many of those neighbors lay devastated and broken by six years of war. But within a decade the wirtschaftwunder (“economic miracle”) was set in motion, bringing prosperity to Germany as never before and restoring its self-esteem. Four decades of peace have followed Germany's defeat, but it has been a troubled peace, leaving the country, Europe and most of the world divided politically, militarily and ideologically between East and West. Since 1949 two German nations have existed side by side: the Federal Republic (West Germany) and the Democratic Republic (East Germany), embracing the territory controlled respectively by the Allied and Russian armies at the time of Germany's surrender.