Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507210080
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: G-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DONALD NUECHTERLEIN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The first was the closing of Nuremberg's famous Bavarian-American Hotel. For half a century, it had served as the U.S. Army's temporary lodging for thousands of officers and civilian personnel stationed in northern Bavaria.
The second was the decision of the German Bundestag, or parliament, to permit the nation's military forces to operate outside the NATO area for the first time since 1945.
Closing the famous American hotel in Nuremberg underlines the reality that U.S. military forces are now all but gone from Bavaria. During the Cold War, this sector of West Germany was on the front line in case Warsaw Pact forces attacked Western Europe.
The Stars and Stripes newspaper headlined its July 1 front-page story: "No Rooms at the Inn: Nuremberg's U.S. hotel checks out after 50 years." It recalled that the Americans had confiscated the building on June 30, 1945, because it had been a Nazi Party hotel for bigwigs when they assembled each summer for the gigantic Nazi celebrations just outside Nuremberg.
The U.S. Army's withdrawal from Bavaria and other parts of Germany during the past three years precipitated a major debate in Germany, which the June 30 Bundestag vote will not end. The issue is whether Germany should assume a larger role in European security matters as the United States assumes a smaller role.
Until a year ago, Germans could hide behind a claim that their constitution prevented the country from using the armed forces except for self-defense. The Supreme Court ruled in 1994 that the issue of German participation in United Nations peacekeeping and NATO operations was a political, not legal question, and should be decided case by case.
Chancellor Helmut Kohl's government walked a political tightrope since that court ruling, because of the strong anti-military opinion in Germany and his government's narrow majority in parliament. He and most German leaders are convinced that their country cannot shirk its responsibilities to participate with the United Nations and NATO to keep the peace in Eastern and Southern Europe.
The opposition Social Democrats and the Green party (which emphasizes environmental issues) are opposed to use of German forces outside Germany. They are particularly opposed to sending any forces to the former Yugoslavia.
German public opinion is divided, and the opposition runs across party lines. I continue to be surprised by the deep skepticism, from older as well as younger Germans, about ever trusting the military again. The 50-year commemoration of the end World War II seems to have reinforced anti-military sentiment.
Polls show, however, that most Germans also understand that their country - Europe's most powerful economically and politically - cannot leave it to neighbors to provide for their security. As long as the United States was willing to fill this role, Germans could avoid a decision. Now they cannot.
Germans who question whether their country should send forces to Bosnia ask why the United States refuses to get involved. They ask why, if NATO's strongest member doesn't want to be involved with troops, should Germany, which had a very bad record in Yugoslavia during World War II?
The American answer is that Bosnia is a relatively small European security threat, which the British, French, Germans and others ought to handle while the United States ensures that Russia does not present a future threat to Europe.
The danger, which the German government appreciates, is that Europe won't resolve the Bosnian civil war and that the war will become larger. The Americans, they say, then will not be able to stand aloof.
Meanwhile, Germany has turned an important corner in its attitude toward full participation in Europe's security affairs. That is a real plus for Europe and for NATO.
Donald Nuechterlein of Charlottesville is in Germany as a visiting professor at Kaiserslautern University.
by CNB