Word: germanism
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...real obstacle to German reunification lies with the Soviet Union, where a prolonged discussion of Germany is likely to stir up latent anti-German sentiment and a fear of neo-Nazism. Officially, the Soviets are civil, but determinedly dead-set against reunification. Nikolai Portugalov, a Soviet expert on Germany, explained the Soviet stance to the Boston Globe last week. "The present geopolitical conditions in Europe," he said with Kruschev-like bluntness, "cannot tolerate a German confederation...
...needn't worry about anti-Semitism and greater-German nationalism, because they're dead. To many people, this statement is dogma. To others, it's pure untruth. Certainly the Germans have shown virtually no manifestations of a dormant Nazism in the past forty years; in fact, they have gone far to dispel Western suspicions...
Very few people expect today's Germans to beg in perpetuity for forgiveness for the aggressions of a previous generation. But it's rather arbitrary to decide that 40 is the number of years necessary to erase all lingering wartime sentiments. Germans can't expect that the passage of two generations with "good behavior" will convince everyone of the desirability of investing the German people with a European economic and military dominance. There are still plenty of people who aren't likely ever to forgive...
...reunification debate is not a matter of discussion in the Germanies. The debate is largely held abroad. This sentence was taken verbatim from Mr. Klasen's letter, and it is a rather perplexing opinion, coming from a German citizen who might know better...
Ironically, on the day of this letter's publication, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl presented in Bonn a 10-point program that would lead to the ultimate goal of reunification. Kohl addressed his proposal to the West German Parliament, which interrupted his address to clap their wholehearted approval. "Nobody knows how a reunified Germany will look," Kohl said. "But I am sure that unity will come, if wanted by the German nation...