Franz Josef Strauss: Ein Typus unserer Zeit. by Erich Kuby; Profile: Nachzeichnungen aus derGeschichte. by Theodor HeussReview by: Werner BurmeisterInternational Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), Vol. 41, No. 2 (Apr.,1965), pp. 328-329Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Royal Institute of International AffairsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2610656 .

Accessed: 08/12/2014 09:17

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Wiley and Royal Institute of International Affairs are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-).

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Mon, 8 Dec 2014 09:17:34 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

328 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

political scientist of the operation of the federal system under the Bonn r6gime. His argument is that the new West German federalism is in no way inferior to the older American model, and that if tensions are relaxed and peace maintained there is every reason to believe that it will become as suc- cessful a system of democratic government. It is devoutly to be hoped that Zoller and Wells prove to be right, as otherwise the German question may well lead to a crisis infinitely more dangerous than that of Cuba two years ago.

FRANK SPENCER.

Franz Josef Strauss: Ein Typus unserer Zeit. By Erich Kuby et al. Vienna, Munich, Basle: Verlag Kurt Desch. 1963. 380 pp. DM. 16.80.

Profile: Nachzeichnungen aus der Geschichte. By Theodor Heuss. Tiibingen: Rainer Wunderlich Verlag Hermann Leins. 1964. 350 pp. Index. DM. 16.80.

LAST summer Dr. Erhard said that he sometimes had the feeling that 'under the fig-leaf of a conservative policy strong nationalist trends could develop again'. His remark was aimed at the Strauss faction which dominates the Bavarian wing of the Christian Democrats and would like to dominate the whole party. Dr. Erhard's suspicion is shared by many observers outside Germany and has made the fluctuating fate of Herr Strauss a matter of acute interest. He lost his place as Federal Minister of Defence after the Spiegel affair in 1962 but he soon showed that he meant to ride again.

This volume has been organised on rather original lines. In the opening chapter, Erich Kuby analyses Herr Strauss's political character. He des- cribes him as a 'demagogic functionary,' a political manager devoid of principles and driven only by his greed for power, a skilful exploiter of mass prejudice and ignorance. Then follows a revealing account by Otto von Loewenstern of Herr Strauss's post-war career, with his rapid rise from a small provincial position in Upper Bavaria to the post of Minister of Defence in Bonn. The next two chapters provide documentary evidence in support of the authors' views by quotations from Herr Strauss's own speeches and from the opinions expressed by contemporary observers in Germany and abroad.

Juirgen Seifert then gives a detailed and fascinating account of the Spiegel affair. The facts about the police search of the paper's editorial offices do indeed read stranger than fiction. The occupation forces of the police moved in on October 26, 1962, and did not leave until November 26. Like others before him, Seifert concludes that this method of investigation strengthened the suspicion that the Federal authorities were hoping to secure the evidence which they had lacked when they initiated this action, and that a secondary purpose of the search was to silence the journal and to frighten all who had contributed to its columns or supplied it with information.

One of the Spiegel editors and his wife, on holiday in Spain, were arrested in the middle of the night after an illegal request to the Spanish police by officials of Herr Strauss's Ministry acting on instructions from their Minister. Herr Strauss attempted to deny his part in this particular action. He tried to mislead the Bundestag, he failed and he had to go. For the first time in recent German history, public opinion had powerfully asserted itself. People who previously had taken no interest in politics suddenly became politically conscious. The ghosts of the totalitarian past seemed to rise again. Deeply

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Mon, 8 Dec 2014 09:17:34 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

WESTERN EUROPE 329

disturbing though this. spectacle was, the decisive reaction of the German public was even more reassuring.

The possibilities of democratic defence against these dangers are con- sidered in a final chapter by Professor Kogon. All modern mass societies are susceptible to the appeal of demagogues, but some have better protective anti-bodies than others-the 'Anglo-Saxons ' for example, with their tradi- tion of freedom, better political qualities in their people and more experience in their parliaments. But Professor Kogon is convinced that nationalism and revanchism ' have ceased to exist as an actual or even a potential threat in

Germany. The real danger he sees in the German 'Gaullists '-and one victory in -the Spiegel affair is no guarantee of their final defeat unless it becomes the starting point for a thorough change in the state of affairs of which Herr Strauss was merely a symptom. As Professor Kogon says, the forces which could achieve this change do exist in the Federal Republic, and he sees them in the university teachers, the trade unions, the newspapers, the radio and television commentators who form public opinion.

Professor Kogon argues that Parliament, to become more effective, needs its own planning staff-experts ' on tap ' to assist members in their work irrespective of their political parties; just as ministers are supported by their civil servants. Some of his proposals-such as the establishment of a special training course for parliamentary candidates who want to become profes- sional politicians-will strike the reader as unrealistic. But he rightly aims at making Parliament the arena for the defeat of the ' demagogic function- ary'. And he sums up his views in one heartening sentence: 'In the Federal Republic of today, demagogues have a harder time than democrats'. It is difficult to understand why the volume has been published without an index.

Profile, by Theodor Heuss, is a collection of essays written by the first President of the Federal Republic over a period of about half a century-a series of masterly political sketches ranging from earlier periods of German history to modern times. At the suggestion of his publisher, Heuss himself made the final selection shortly before his death. The volume, beautifully printed, shows his wide-ranging knowledge and his gift, rare among German professors, of combining lucidity, brevity and depth. But then, he was a journalist and parliamentarian as well as a professor, and his thought is infused with the Swabian brand of liberalism and the gentle humour that goes with assured convictions and a deep humanity. How fortunate it was for his troubled country that this philosopher had the chance to serve for a time as its king.

WERNER BURMEISTER.

Die unheimliclien Deutschlen. By Hermann Eich. Diisseldorf, Viennia: Econ-Verlag. 1963. 390 pp. Bibliog. Index. DM. 19.80.

Nachruf auf Europa. By Kurt Gayer. Stuttgart: Seewald Verlag. 1964. 240 pp. DM. 16.80.

WHY are the Germans unloved? What is it about them that even makes such a question possible? Dr. Eich, while not accepting its implications, makes a gallant and praiseworthy attempt to answer it. The Germans, he suggests,- are universally credited with six major characteristics of an unflattering-nature. They are: boorishness, nationalism, lack of moderation, militarism, submissiveness and thoroughness. Much of Dr. Eich's book goes

This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Mon, 8 Dec 2014 09:17:34 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions