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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 17, 1985
PAGE 15
In many ways, the challenges of 1832, when thousands of young
Germans came here to protest repression, were similar to those
you face today.
By that year of 1832, Germany was changing
rapidly, the Industrial Revolution was sweeping across Europe.
But in dealing with these new problems, strong forces inside and
outside Germany resisted democracy and national unity. The great
hopes that arose in 1832 and again in 1848 were set back. But
despite the difficulties of democratic movements, we know for
sure that totalitarianism, by whatever name, will never fulfill
German aspirations within a united Europe. The cause of German
unity is bound up with the cause of democracy.
President Reagan struck a responsive chord with Germany's younger genera
tion since many of them exhibit an emotional sense of common destiny with
their "East German cousins." The other occasion on which President Reagan
appealed to the goal of a united Europe was during his 44-minute speech to
the European Parliament in Strasbourg on May 8. There he said:
It is my hope, our hope, that in the 21st century--which is only
15 years away--all Europeans, from Moscow to Lisbon, will be able
to travel without a passport and the free flow of people and
ideas will include the other half of Europe. It is my fervent
wish that in the next century there will be one, free Europe.
In a sense, the President echoed remarks made earlier that morning by
Pierre Pflimlin, president of the European Parliament, who told a special
V-E Day sitting of the Parliament:
Let us not indulge in self-satisfaction. We must recognize our
limitations. We represent only one part of Europe. There are
peoples every bit as European as our own that are unable to take
their place in our Community. Dresden and Warsaw, Prague and
Budapest are cities as European as our own ten capitals.
It
might now seem a vain hope to dream of bringing together all the
peoples of Europe, but no one can stop us dreaming of a complete
Europe united in peace. After all, mankind's greatest steps for
ward have often only been dreams come true.
Significantly, one of the most energetic members of the European Parliament
is Otto von Habsburg, who has been an outspoken proponent of an expanded Eu
rope or Community to include countries in both Eastern and Western Europe.
After Mr. Reagan's address, Mr. Kelly and I chanced meeting Dr. Habsburg
coming out of the assembly hall (well, I did do my best to make such a
chance materialize).
Dr. Habsburg praised the President's remarks--the
ones at Hambach Castle even more so than those at the EP that afternoon.
Thus, in a roundabout manner, German disillusionment with its American "big
brother," plus its inability to recover a sense of purely national pride
and patriotism, could rebound into a greater German zeal for a united Eu
rope, which would also lead to the biggest dream of all: a reunited German
nation, one Germans could feel proud of again.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau