Bonn vs. Berlin
by Peggy Salz-Trautman
A public opinion poll released last week, shows just one in ten Germans thinks moving their capital to Berlin is a good idea. In addition to the high cost of moving a modern government from one place to another, most Germans feel comfortable with Bonn. That little city on the Rhine represents something comfortable and safe.
A catchy new song is the underground anthem for the silent majority of very disgruntled Germans. "For 40 years", the song goes, "we were good enough. But now that's all over. The move is a waste of money and will bankrupt us". Over 30 public opinion polls have been comissioned and not one shows a majority of Germans in favor of moving the capital.
A typical opinion is: "The cost is so amazing. It's such a high cost that the German government and the German people can't pay for it." And another common complaint: "I think Bonn is a very quiet place and Berlin is very dangerous... because the crime is so high and it is so close to Eastern Europe."
At a time when the German economy is suffering through a post-war low, politicians seem intent on spending at least $15 billion on the move...some on perks like free weekend flights for civil sevants who miss Bonn... some on the maintenance and renovation of empty buildings awaiting occupants from Bonn. One building alone costs $10 million a year to keep up.
But it's more than money. There's a fear that the end of the
Bonn era will mean the end of post-war Germany's values...values like
democracy, an orientation to a united Europe and close relations with
neighbors. In other words, Bonn represents the "Good Germans" who
worked long and hard to make up for Hitler and the Nazi past.
Margarita Mathopoulos, political scientist and author of "The
End of the Bonn Republic", says unification has changed Germany
forever.
"We're entering a new period and that's why it's so important that
keep holding on to the Bonn Republic's values."
The question is: What kind of an era? There are many Germans who believe nothing good has ever some from Berlin... that it is responsible for Germany's greatest disaster. They fear history might just repeat itself. Albert Brancato, is president of a pro-Bonn lobby group. He feels Berlin's old militarist past will re-assert itself.
"I'm afraid that the national conservatives that are behind the move of this capital back to Berlin want to change the direction of German politics, want to establish continuities with the German past that were broken in 1945 when the Germans learned the lessons of the hundred years before that. And I'm afraid that these politicians will be taking Germany in the wrong direction - into the past and not into the future."
One other problem, Bonn may become a ghost town, a company town that loses its only big employer. The government is actively lobbying international organizations, such as the U.N., to move some agencies to Bonn. But, so far, there's been little interest.
Journalist Peggy Salz-Trautman is a MARKETPLACE contributor based in Bonn.
