Do we Germans understand our pan-European responsibility? It certainly does not look that way. Indeed, rarely has Germany been as isolated as it is now.
It is still not too late to change direction, but now we have only days and weeks, perhaps months, rather than years.
Germany destroyed itself – and the European order – twice in the twentieth century, and then convinced the West that it had drawn the right conclusions.
Only in this manner – reflected most vividly in its embrace of the European project – did Germany win consent for its reunification.
It would be both tragic and ironic if a restored Germany, by peaceful means and with the best of intentions, brought about the ruin of the European order a third time.
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Excerpts from J. Fischer’s, The Threat of German Amnesia, Project Syndicate, May 25, 2012. Emphasis in bold or italics added by Ellopos. Joschka Fischer was German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor from 1998 to 2005.
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