How others see us
Sir: In spite of it being a very hot day on the continent I think I have to say something about the anti-German articles in The Spec- tator ('After you, Helmut', 1 August). Do you really think that a lot of intelligent Ger- mans look forward to the introduction of the 'European Currency Unit'? What a name! No, I prefer to keep my Deutschmark. But I can also understand why some people think union necessary.
In 1914 it was Great Britain which made a world war out of threats of a local war. And what did the victorious allies do in 1919 to create peace? They made Yugoslavia, which falls apart now; they fos- tered Czechoslovakia, which was a miscar- riage. In 1923 Great Britain did not stop France invading the Ruhr and thereby the hyper-inflation in Germany began and without that there would never have been an Austrian painter called Hitler. And what did the Allies attain in 1945? The British Empire was no more, the UK was bankrupt and now you have no navy, no competitive economy and no suitable education except for a few.
What shall Germany do? It wants peace, exports and no quarrel. Certainly it does not want any kind of hegemony. Our only true ally is France and we do everything to soothe them. For me it would be better if only the old six clung together and we had one currency in France, Germany and Benelux. They fit together. But what about the chaotic Greeks, and the corrupt Maca- roni-eaters? Imagine if we left them in the lurch.
Your periodical gives me insight into British thinking, but the Economist is more balanced, perhaps pro-German.
For the next 20 years Germany will be busy with the former Soviet-occupied zone. It will be our Mezzogiorno or Siberia; I hope not our Northern Ireland because there is no Cromwell in sight. Back to the War: without American weapons you would not have won. Now we are on the move. Gerhard Lorenz
Muthesiusweg 27, Hanover 71, Germany
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