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