Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1950-05-20
Awakening Of France
And Germany Is Seen
As Moral Victory
Only Unified Europe Con
Withstand or Borgoin
With Russiun Leaders
By Dorothy Thompson

BY Dorothy Thompson
For the first time since the war
this columnist is relatively opti-
mistic. Since my readers may
have become weary Of Cassandra>
like utterances, this seems worth
while recording.
All wars successfully waged TO,
total victory give the victors ar
inflated sense of power and by
binding them to realities put
them into immediate new dangers
The conquerors believe they car
do anything they please-divide
up the territory of the enemy
smash his industrial power, dis
arm him, "re-educate" the popu-
lation, and even remove him from
history.
OF course, the victors cannot dc
any of these things without set
ting new events into motion, and
some they cannot do at all except
by use Of naked force forever.
Truths Were Obvious.
But when victors think they can
do anything they please they first
fall out among themselves over
the loot. Wartime coalitions usu-
ally are held together only by q
common enemy. When the enemy
becomes Invisible assets, the ALI
ance dissolves. That is why the
longest periods of peace have fol.
lowed victories which restored the
status quo preceding the war
Such was the peace that followed
the Napoleonic wars and the Brit
iSh-American war of 1912.
But there was more restraint
and political intelligence Their
than today. That totalitariar
word "total"-"total" war, total
peace. total" diplomacy-was un.
known to our more realistic anc
humane ancestors.
knowledge of several things re.
strained them. They knew thai
the passing OF a great state is 9
catastrophe; that vacuums Of
power always fill, and possibl,
dangerously; that even affection.
ate families quarrel over the as.
sets Of deceased member; anc
that peoples are not politically
educated by alien "conquerors,
but by historical experience.
1t was because I saw no sign!
that Western allied leadership rec.
ognized these obvious truths tina
I have been pessimistic. For tn,
moment it was decided to divid,
Germany and move around from
tiers, it was also decided tina
there would be a quarrel between
the war coalition over the futur
OF Europe. The moment it was de
clded that the Russians might es
tabllsh Russian hegemony owe
East Europe, it was also decide,
that the Western Allies would, O
necessity. try to establish a uni
ned hegemony over Central an,
West Europe. BY pure logic tina
meant a cold war, at best.
And the moment it was decide,
to establish a West German gov
eminent. it was also decides
whether the Western Allies knew
1t or mott to end political contro
over Germany. Everything has it,
logic. ANY government which re.
fleets the will of any people ane
rests upon their free suffrage
must strive for a position of equal.
ity with other governments.
French Mind Is LOGICAL.
As might have been expected
the French have seen this first
The French mind is logical. TIL,
French know that you can't con
duct two cold wars against ma
tons who have the possibility o
allying themselves. And the,
know that if a potentially stron,
neighbor has the prospect of be-
Ing free again. it is better to hav
1t as friend than an enemy. Tn
French proposal for the uniflca
ton OF French and German Goa
and steel potentials is a logica
unsentimental way to assure tina
Germany will be a friend and no
an enemy. And it is more impor
tant than anything decided 9
the foreign ministers conference.
There are many offs" attache
to 1t. But one of the "ifs" is mo-
at this moment, West Germany
The Germans have been "re-edu
Gated" not by military govern
ments but by the facts of histor,
The German double game
exists almost wholly in the imag
nation OF the Allies, as Alai
Clement. an able French observe
OF Germany, recently stated i
lie Monde" The German peopl
know that the alliance betwee
Germany and Russia, conclude
by Ribbentrop and Molotov, wa
the cause of the war and tn
uedIIl knell OF Germany. The
know that another such allianc
would be between q midget an
q lion.
They know, with whatever sup
pressed regrets. that certain am
billions are forever over-amon
them the myth of a greater Ger
many. They know that only
unified Europe can withstand til
Russians, or bargain with Russi
for German unif1cation. There
fore, not only Chancellor AIDE
nauer but, with rare exception
nearly every politically consciol
German knows that Europea
unif1cation takes precedence ovt
German unification.