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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 29, 1981
PAGE 6
Alice Siegert, Bonn Correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, tells of the
Washington correspondent of a national German daily who went home on leave
and noted a new approach to defense policy among the general public. It was
summarized, the correspondent said, by the slogan "Let's draw away from
America."
This new approach, reported Siegert, was also reflected in a statement by a
German scientist that the German reporter said he hoped no one in the White
House or in Congress would read. The scientist told a German magazine that
any "responsible federal government would have to look for ways and means
to prevent the Americans from making good their promise of defending the
Federal Republic."
Interestingly enough, anti-American sentiments, traditionally found among
leftist groups, also are being expressed by the extreme Right.
A survey conducted by the Sinus Institute in Heidelberg showed that those
expressing right-wing leanings were blaming America for having forced West
Germany to abandon traditional virtues for "a culture of Coca-Cola, im
perialism, beat and drug culture, disco, Hollywood, and jeans."
"If a balance sheet were struck," summarized Siegert, "it would show with
out question that the majority of people here still have friendly feelings
for the United States. But it also is a fact that Germans no longer look to
the U.S. as the model country. And the political rift that is opening could
be dangerous."
Even pro-American German officials have publicly voiced negative U.S.
views. German officials, Schmidt among them, are openly critical of the
U.S. armed forces, contending that American troops fail to measure up to
German soldiers in quality. Finance Minister Hans Matthofer has noted that
the Germans "can all read and write" and "we don't have a drug problem."
Schmidt counters U.S. complaints of Bonn's failure to spend more on defense
by saying that more is asked of Germany's young men--they are conscripts-
than American youths today.
West Germany as a whole is beginning to display a bit of a split personality
toward the United States. One poll commissioned by the U.S. International
Communications Agency revealed that 60 percent of those questioned were
against the deployment of the modern nuclear weapons. The poll did not
point out the corresponding Soviet counterweapons, but it disturbed U.S.
officials nevertheless.
At the same time, other polls still show widespread liking for the U.S. One
reported that 55% of Germans still consider America to be Bonn's "best
friend." Runner-up "best friend"? France, with only 14 per cent.
Polls notwithstanding, evidence indicates there is a definite change un
derway in U.S.-German relations.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau