Zeitung Heute : Our Legacy of Trust

Amidst the flurry of commentaries on the ways in which the world has changed in the five dire years since September 11, a few reminders have surfaced of another anniversary: this one 60 years ago, a time when Germans, faced disorientation and uncertainty. The future of a devastated Germany was ambiguous at best; the French wished to partition off the Ruhr Valley and another plan envisioned a smaller, pastoral Germany of farmers and bed-and-breakfasts. But a year after Stunde Null, US Secretary of State James Byrnes took the train from Berlin to Stuttgart to deliver what became the defining speech of postwar transatlantic relations: the “Speech of Hope.

” Byrnes brought a simple, if unexpected, message: the US would provide massive support for Germany’s path to recovery. This commitment was moral as well as economic: it reflected the American belief that the German people had irrevocable rights to human dignity, the pursuit of well-being, and the opportunity to regain the confidence of the international community. It was an expression of trust in the soul of the nation that had produced Kant and Goethe. It was an Emersonian sentiment, one forged in the spirit of the man who wrote “trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.”

Some critics argue that there is a dearth of gratitude in Germany for America’s monumental support for the country’s reconstruction. I think that gratitude is not only ubiquitous but a vital component of postwar German identity. Yet in recent years some Germans have forgotten what America is – a land of diversity and debate, of writers and innovators, of checks and balances – and that it deserves a measure of confidence in turn.

Today there are more potential catastrophes facing the Western world than ever before; and no nation or organization is capable of effectively dealing with these alone. These crises will test our confidence in the relationships we have built together, some of which were unimaginable in 1946. (What greater sign is there of Germany’s coming-of-age than Israel’s willingness to entrust its protection to German soldiers?)

We can also build trust through efforts to understand what nurtures our respective nation’s souls. Both Germans and Americans must question the current national preoccupations with inwardness and the day-to-day. In our ninth year, the Academy can attest that nothing is a more effective antidote than a cultural diplomacy that fosters personal relations by bringing the best of one country to another. The resulting deep cultural understanding – and trust – will be the foundation of future transatlantic relations, so that we may, in an Emersonian sense, show our greatness again.