6/25/03

# Article for World Cup 2006 Brochure

by Henry A. Kissinger

In 1944, I came back to Germany with the 84th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army near Geilenkirchen. As an ordinary soldier, I witnessed the collapse of the Third Reich as my unit moved across northern Germany, and I stayed for two years with the army of occupation.

I mention these events because they frame Germany's achievement over the past fifty years. When the war ended, the country was in ruins. Cities were destroyed to an extent unimaginable to today's generation; in many quarters of the major cities, literally not a house was standing. There was a critical food shortage. Postal and telephone service had broken down. Central authority had collapsed. In the eyes of the world,

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Germany was not only an economic shambles; it was morally isolated in a
world still traumatized by the wartime experience.

For me, this is the base line against which the current German
achievement must be measured. It required exceptional moral courage
even to start reconstruction. But with extraordinary tenacity, dedication,
and moral commitment, Germany launched itself on the road to
rebuilding and reform. Without central institutions for four years and no
immediate access to world markets, it reinvented itself politically and
economically. In 1947, currency reform unleashed market economics.
By 1949, the three Western zones of occupation had merged into a single
unit headed by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. To achieve this, Germany
had to brave the Soviet blockade of Berlin in strong alliance with the

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United States and other Western powers. It had to traverse the domestic
and international debate regarding the creation of the Atlantic Alliance.

In the early 1950s, the Adenauer government made a heroic
decision. Faced with an ambiguous offer from Stalin to neutralize the
country in return for unification, Adenauer and his colleagues rejected the
temptations of returning to Germany's historic national policy. They
affirmed the priority of reliability and ties to the West. As the Cold War
division of Germany stretched into decades, the Federal Republic
emphasized both its Atlantic and European vocations. It sought security
from Soviet military pressures by supporting American leadership in the
Atlantic Alliance, and it strove for legitimacy vis-à-vis the East German
Soviet satellite by close ties with France on European integration. A few
decades after the end of the war, the Federal Republic emerged as the

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strongest military and economic power in Europe and as a key building block of Atlantic solidarity. These relationships were forged ever deeper through two Berlin crises and the common experience in helping bring about the unification of Germany after the collapse of Communism in 1989.

Three basic trends are emerging as a unified Germany becomes less dependent on the United States for security and on France for legitimacy:

* A more significant role for Germany is becoming evident within both the Atlantic Alliance and European institutions.

* Germany will always value its links to the United States. In that sense, it provides a balance between European institutions and Atlantic partnership.

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* As Germany's relative role grows, and as Russia recovers, there will emerge opportunities for closer Russo-German ties.

These tendencies will be supported across a broad spectrum. Not only did the younger generation of Germans not experience the postwar trauma but the former Communist third of Germany did not participate in the democratic experience until the last decade of the twentieth century.

Thus a new kind of national identity is developing, not based on military power but resistant to discrimination and striving for a political influence for Germany commensurate with its economic and strategic potential.

These trends are a healthy culmination of German recovery. And they define the significant role played by Germany in a unifying Europe and as a member of the Atlantic partnership.

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Visitors to the World Cup in 2006, which—unlike the last time Germany hosted in 1974—will be held in a unified country, will thus encounter a dynamic Germany. Having observed the country's evolution my entire life and especially closely since the end of the war, I am aware of the important role football has played. As a passionately pursued sport, it has an inevitably unifying impact on the national consciousness (in national-level play, though not at *Bundesliga* games). Even in that first postwar winter of food shortages, the traditional clubs began to activate their established competitions and thereby provided a sense that society still existed even as political structures had collapsed. Over the years, I have visited my hometown of Fürth several times and witnessed the reemergence of my home team, Spvg Fürth, to which, by the inscrutable workings of fandom, I had remained attached through all

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vicissitudes of history. German football immediately after the war was
backward by modern professional standards, being largely based on
prewar amateur technique; that nevertheless did not diminish my
enthusiasm—especially as it produced more goals than today's style.

By 1954, football had made a great contribution to German pride
when the national team won the world championship against Hungary,
which had heretofore been considered unbeatable. In 1974, Germany
hosted, and won, the World Cup in a marvelously efficient manner in a
still divided country.

German teams have been at the forefront of the international
competitions, both on club and national levels, having won three World
Cups and placing second three times. In 2006, the national team of a
unified Germany will be playing in a World Cup for the first time on native

JODY WILLIAMS

703 9414072

06/24/03 11:13pm

P. 001

1010 WORDS

6/24/03-#2

WC 2006 ARTICLE

I came back to Germany in 1944 with the 84th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army near Geilenkirchen. I then witnessed the collapse of the Third Reich from the vantage point of an ordinary soldier as my unit moved across northern Germany. It occupied Hannover and Salzwedel and I stayed for two years with the Soviet armies on the Elbe. I finally wound up for two years with the army of occupation. Then with the army of occupation in southern Germany, first in Bonshelm, then in Oberammergau.

JODY WILLIAMS

703 9414072

06/24/03 11:13pm

P. 002

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There was a critical food shortage. Postal and telephone service had broken down. Central authority had collapsed. In the eyes of the world, Germany was not only an economic shambles; it was morally isolated in a world still traumatized by the wartime experience.

For me, this is the base line against which the current German achievement must be measured. It required exceptional moral courage even to start reconstruction. But with extraordinary tenacity, dedication, and moral commitment, Germany launched itself on the road to reform.

JODY WILLIAMS

703 9414072

06/24/03 11:13pm

P. 003

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Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. To achieve this, Germany had to brave the
Soviet blockade of Berlin in strong alliance with the United States and
other Western powers. It had to traverse the domestic and international
debate regarding the creation of the Atlantic Alliance.

In the early 1950s, the Adenauer government made a heroic
decision. Faced with an ambiguous offer from Stalin to unify the country
in return for unification, Adenauer and his colleagues rejected the
temptations of returning to Germany's historic national policy. They
affirmed the priority of reliability and ties to the West. As the Cold War
division of Germany stretched into decades, the Federal Republic
emphasized both its Atlantic and European vocations. It sought security
from Soviet military pressures by supporting American leadership in the
Atlantic Alliance, and it strove for legitimacy vis-à-vis the East German

JODY WILLIAMS

703 9414072

06/24/03 11:13pm

P. 004

4

Soviet satellite by accepting French political leadership on European integration. Gently associated with the United States within NATO and to France within Europe, the Federal Republic emerged a few decades after the end of World War II, its unconditional surrender as the strongest military and economic power in Europe and as a key building block of Atlantic solidarity. These relationships were forged ever deeper through two Berlin crises and the common experience in helping bring about the unification of Germany after the collapse of Communism in 1989.

* A more significant role for Germany as becoming evident within