July 22, 2004
SAY WHAT?
Dutch PM praises Stauffenberg (Hans Verbeek, Radio Netherlands, July 21st, 2004)
The failed attempt on the life of German dictator Adolf Hitler on 20 July 1944 was commemorated in Berlin on Tuesday, with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende in attendance as a special guest. In his address to German troops and other guests at the ceremony, Mr Balkenende linked the courageous efforts of those Germans who tried to end Hitler's reign of terror with post-war efforts to unite Europe.[...]In his speech to the assembled crowd, the Dutch prime minister strikingly linked the attempt on Hitler's life with recent efforts to draw up a European constitution. Mr Balkenende spoke of how members of the German resistance to Nazism had already held firm ideas about a future constitution for Europe.
Speaking in what German newspapers reported as being near perfect German, he said the attack of 20 July 1944 was an important step towards European co-operation and integration.
Mr Balkenende later clarified how he made this connection: "Von Stauffenberg and those around him had already thought about how Europe should be after the war. They even discussed the idea of European legislative bodies. So, they were already very much focussed on the future. That attitude, and working for freedom and democracy, and on values within society, those are issues which are still relevant today."
In other news, the Prime Minister of Sweden hailed the Viking practice of disemboweling whoever cheated them as a first step in the development of a pan-European consumer protection code.
Everything that has ever happened in the past was just a precurser to the present culmination of History in the most perfect political form ever devised - the European Union.
Posted by: Brandon at July 22, 2004 5:49 PM"Mr Balkenende linked the courageous efforts of those Germans who tried to end Hitler's reign of terror with post-war efforts to unite Europe"
This is an attempt to find commendable people in the midst of a renagade regime. Groups contain very bad people and extraorinarily good people, once such groups attain a great enough size. The significant issue is how such groups function with such "outliers." These good people, bucking the Nazi tide, were much too late.
Posted by: LarryH at July 22, 2004 6:27 PMYeah, but it's important to have heroes to base future actions are. Ask yourself this: do you want the Germans viewing Stauffenberg as their role model, or Hitler?
Wouldn't we have wanted a "Stauffenberg" in Iraq or Palestine against Hussein or Arafat?
It's easy for people who have never lived in a brutal dictatorship to discount such heroism as being "too late." What's remarkable is not that it was late, but that it was attempted at all.
Acknowledging Stauffenberg and the other coup plotters does not exonerate the German people who collaborated and joined the Nazi regime as some seem to fear. Give the man his kudos.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at July 22, 2004 7:57 PMThis reminds me of an announcement I saw about 25 years ago in what was my local paper. It was for an upcoming service at the Unitarian church and stated "Jesus was for the ERA" (for those too young to remember, the Equal Rights Ammendment). Even though I was quite the liberal in those days I found the whole notion laughable at best.
Posted by: MB at July 22, 2004 11:07 PMChris, what's remarkable is that it wasn't attempted more often. It's remarkable that Hitler was *deliberately* brought into the government (apparently in order to co-opt and thereby hinder him.)
It's likely that the "Stauffenberg" project was an attempt to cut German losses, since it did not consider acceptance of onerous defeat conditions -- instead it was pursuing quite favorable conditions. Chris, how do you explain the pursuit of such favorable post-combat conditions? Nice guys, weren't they?
What a sob story.
Posted by: LarryH at July 23, 2004 9:00 AM