Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-05-08
On Freedoms Side

On this tenth anniversary Of the total
defeat and unconditional surrender OF
Hitler'S Third Reich, Germany still is
partitioned land. But the greater part Of
1.-THE free part, with its so million in
habitants-has reason to mark the day
as profoundly important and propitious
turning point both in its own history and
the history of the West as a whole.
For now, by virtue of the Paris accords,
the Bonn Federal Republic is no longer
what 1t was only few days ago. It has
ceased to be occupied territory. Instead,
for all practical purposes, it has become
nation that is its own master-an equal
and sovereign member OF the Western
European Union and the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization. And as such, in
addition to cooperating closely with the
economic and political endeavors of this
great community, it is to arm itself-with
a 50,000-man navy, an 86,000-man air
force and 500,000-man army-to contrib
ute its full and vital share to the common
allied defense against the danger of Soviet
aggression.
Quite obviously this far-reaching
change in West Germany's status, besides
laying the groundwork for highly pronnis-
ing nonmilitary developments in free
Europe, is an event Of massive potential
significance in military terms This is so
because Of the way it can help to promote
peace by bringing about much safer
balance of power between the Atlantic
alliance and the Soviet Union. Certainly,
given the projected armed contribution of
the Bonn Republic, NATO will have the
wherewithal for genuinely effective "for-
ward strategy" of defense-strategy Of
kind designed to lessen the danger of war
by making clear to the men of the Kremlin
that they can launch an attack only at
the risk Of suffering losses that could be
disastrous for them.
It is important, of course, to remember
that Bonn's armed strength is as yet only
a thing of paper and that three or four
years of hard effort will be required to
convert it into an operating reality. Mean
while, Russia will almost certainly do
everything it can to persuade the West
Germans to abandon their present COM
mitments and embrace neutrality" in ex-
change for an Austrianlike treaty under
which their country would be reunited
reunited but left acutely vulnerable to a
Communist coup. However, although this
is danger to be reckoned with most seri-
ously, the signs indicate that Chancellor
Konrad Adenauer-who may rightly re-
gard today as a day Of triumph for his
superb statesmanship-ha strong popular
support for his basic view, which is this:
That the only place in the world for the
Federal Republic to be is on the side Of
freedom and that that is the best hope for
achieving a workable reunion with East
Germany.
Needless to say, Dr. Adenauer is right.
Indeed, there is good reason to believe that
the Paris accords-now that they have
taken effect-have frightened the outlook
for Germany's identification on an accept
able basis. The Kremlin after all, is real
istic, and If it is truly anxious to put
bride on things that make for war, it
must feel that the time has come to be
sensible about lot of issues. In any case,
there can be no doubt that continuing
firmness on the part Of the West
especially as regards arming the sovereign
Bonn Republics far more likely to serve
the cause of peace than to hamper it.
TLI ALL. AA>.:T