Feeling the Stigma

For most West Germans, no matter what their age, the pomp surrounding the 40th anniversary of the Normandy landings came as a painful reminder that even after 35 years as a democratic country, the Federal Republic is not regarded in quite the same way as other West European nations. The D-day ceremonies posed a dilemma for West Germans. They would have liked to be part of a commemoration, but they could hardly be—and were not—expected to join in the celebration of what was for them a historic defeat. On the other hand, as key members of NATO, they could not ignore an occasion that brought together the major Allies in an event that was televised across Europe and reported in detail on every front page. Rightly or wrongly, West Germans were made to feel the stigma of a Nazi era that for many of them is as remote as Kaiser Wilhelm II.

On the level of pure military history, West Germany observed the occasion much as its erstwhile enemies did. Television devoted hours to round-table discussions about what happened. D-day veterans talked about the confusion among commanders and the contradictory orders that flowed from German headquarters. Historian Hans-Adolf Jacobsen told the viewers that a major German failure in 1944 in bad intelligence, the Allied Invadors were expected to strike in the Pas-de-Calais, not in Normandy. Stuttgart Mayor Manfred Rommel, whose father Field Marshall Erwin Rommel commanded the German Atlantic defenses, called D-day "one of the various great defeats in history." But Rommel felt no sense of slight. Reminding West Germans that "it was better to lose the war with Hitler than to win it with Hitler," he said, "I think it's quite in order that the Allies have their celebration."

Not all his countrymen shared that assessment. What grated most strongly perhaps was the perception that the commemoration stressed the notion of victory rather than the theme of postwar friendship. Though a number of newspaper editorials pointed to the absence of anything resembling a vindictive tone in the ceremonies, Alois Mertes, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, suggested that the celebrations "could make the German people feel alienated, vanquished and guilty," something that might "give impetus to pacifists and neutralists who are seeking a special German role between East and West."

Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who was 14 in 1944, had earlier denied reports that he officially sought to be included in the Normandy gathering. According to his aides, however, he had indicated to French President Francois Mitterrand last February that in the spirit of reconciliation, he would not mind being present. Mitterrand shrugged off the hint, and Kohl swallowed the rejection. Said Kohl last week: "The German Chancellor has no reason to celebrate when others celebrate a victory in battle that cost 10,000 German soldiers their lives." Neither Bonn nor the West German public took much comfort from a French compromise whereby, on June 8, French and German officials honored German soldiers killed during the first 24 hours of the landing.