2009 marked the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the event that came to symbolise the end of Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, the demise of Communism as an ideology and force in the world, the end of the Cold War, the fall (or should that be raising?) of the Iron Curtain.
And yet, I have mixed feelings about it. Not because it brought capitalism, freedom and democracy to much of Eastern Europe (after a delay of almost 45 years), but because it also resulted in German reunification.
When the writing was on the wall for the Third Reich, much of the so-called opposition and resistance to Hitler in Germany was centred around his conduct of the war. Members of the opposition hoped to conclude a separate peace with the Western Allies, who would then join Germany to defeat Communist Russia. (Hey, stranger things have happened in history.)
While they never managed to get their way before Germany’s final defeat, the Bolshevik threat put an end to the process of
Denazification of Germany, and to any ideas of dismembering the German beast completely (in terms of the
Morgenthau Plan). Instead, Western Germany became a key player in NATO and part of the front line against the Eastern Bloc, just as both Hitler and his opponents had hoped. The
Marshall Plan kick-started the German recovery, while the fledgling Jewish State in Palestine - the final refuge for survivors of the Holocaust - was left to fend for itself economically and militarily.
Barely 45 years after Germany laid waste to Europe - and to civilisation itself - the last vestige of her shame was no more and a single united Germany replaced the Federal and Democratic Republics. In 2009 (while many of those who survived Hitler are still with us), Germany has become the powerhouse of a united Europe, and the Jewish world is in disarray, seemingly still writhing from the mortal blow of the Holocaust. In a sense, the reunification was Hitler’s final, posthumous, post-war victory.
Yes, I have mixed feelings on the fall of the Berlin Wall.
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