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The Economist, 8. 9. 90
Only weeks before German unity an October 3rd, a big new Bismarck exhibition
is pulling in the Berlin crowds. Non-Germans may shudder at the timing.
Is this evidence of reborn enthusiasm for the Prussian chancellor that
"hysterical colossus", as Thomas Mann called him who united
Germany with " blood and iron" more than a century ago?
Hardly. The organisers at the relatively new German Historical Museum
in West Berlin began planning their show, called "Bismarck-Prussia,
Germany and Europe", in 1987. They never dreamed 1990 would be unity
year. Nor can they be accused of glorifying Bismarck, so venerated at
his death in 1898, and since, that it is still hard to separate man from
myth. With 1,100 exhibits from 15 countries, the Berlin show reveals Bismarck
warts and all: as supreme political juggler, social reformer (to try to
keep the masses docile), as sentimental lover of dogs and music but also
as a brutal Realpolitiker who urged his people to "beat the Poles
until they despair of living."...
For another thing, although few Germans want to make Bismarck a cult figure
again, many feel
there are close parallels between his time and the present. Now as then,
when Bismarck had to bribe Bavaria to join the unity drive, there are
plenty of worries behind the euphoria about unity, not least over its
costs. And again Germans face the dilemma (in a new context) which Bismarck
resolved only for a time - how their united nation can achieve a balance
of interests with all its neighbours in Europe, east and west. Where better
to pose these issues than Berlin, as the Beats are put out in the Reichstag
for an all German parliamentary Session an unity day?
From our Bonn Correspondent
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