UN General Assembly
1961

229. The Bonn Government—as several speakers have already pointed out from this rostrum—has now created the biggest army in Europe, an army which by the spring of 1962 will consist of twelve modern divisions equipped with rockets. 230. Recently Chancellor Adenauer declared that "the 'Bundeswehr1 must have the right to dispose of atomic weapons", yet it may be remembered that only a few years ago he cloaked himself in the mantle of a "pacifist by principle". People in the West often refer to one or other public statement by ruling figures in the Federal Republic of Germany as evidence of their "love of peace". But Bonn has more than once gone back on its earlier declarations, with the gradual discarding of masks and changing of the wd6cor" on the political stage. In 1949, Adenauer said: "I resolutely reject any remilitarization of Germany", and Strauss, the Defence Minister, declared at the same time: "If any German takes up arms, may his hand wither". In 1951, the same Adenauer and the same Strauss loudly called for the speediest possible completion of the war machine in the Federal Republic of Germany and for atomic equipment.