Letters from Munich

Letter from Munich – the Joseph Affair – 16

EINE DEUTSCHE FASSUNG STEHT WEITER UNTEN.

27 April 2001

Dear Mr. Graf, dear friends,

“Not ANOTHER million,” laughed Alexandra. “Surely you’re making that up.”

“I’m not. I’m serious,” I said to her. “The former treasurer of Helmut Kohl’s party has just admitted there is another one million German marks that apparently represent campaign contributions that were not legally accounted for. He has no idea where the money came from.”

“Sometimes I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” she replied, “when I consider the current state of politics in Germany.”

“But it’s really no more corrupt than anywhere else?”

She looked at me as if I were a hopeless case. “Whether it is or not is beside the point. If you were to steal money from someone, I doubt that anyone would excuse you simply because other people steal money all the time.”

She looked at each of us in turn, as if inviting us to think more carefully. “Political and social corruption in Germany may be no worse than anywhere else.” Looking at me, she added, “It’s probably no worse than it is in America.” Then, leaning forward slightly, she said with an intensity I have not often heard in her voice, “But the difference between Germany and America – perhaps between all of Europe and America – is that in America no group and no individual are considered above the law.”

“And the press is freer and more aggressive in America,” a young student interjected.

“And the press is freer and more aggressive in America,” Alexandra repeated. “That’s true. But I think the essential point is that in Germany and some other European countries ‘the great ones,’ like Helmut Kohl or Kurt Biedenkopf or Edmund Stoiber consider themselves ‘more equal’ than other people. And most Germans, whether they are conscious of it or not, agree. Most Germans believe that if the crimes that Kohl or Biedenkopf or Stoiber have committed were really thoroughly investigated and those men were charged and prosecuted for what they have done, the whole political and social order would begin to come apart. Most Germans believe that if ‘those up above’ can somehow plausibly present themselves as upright and honest, no matter how fictional that presentation may be, then they must be believed and taken at their word. That’s why no major political scandal in Germany since the end of World War Two has ever been thoroughly investigated. That’s why every parliamentary investigating committee, every district attorney, and every journalist – especially the ones in the German state-controlled media – are weak and ineffectual when it comes to investigating a major political scandal. And often even a minor one.”

A woman in the group started to object, but Alexandra went on, “And in the present political climate, when right-wing extremists hold extraordinary power – unofficially of course – in certain parts of the country, this odd German attitude can lead even to violent crimes that are never satisfactorily investigated.”

“Alexandra,” someone commented gently, “I think you’re obsessed with the death of the boy Joseph in Saxony.”

“I am obsessed with injustice,” she replied, just as gently. “I am obsessed with a murder that is covered up by the authorities, because they are under political pressure from above. I am obsessed with a family that is still harassed and threatened because they tried to tell the truth about the circumstances of their child’s death.”

If it were possible to express a sigh in writing, I suppose I would do that now. Obviously Alexandra is obsessed with these things. But to say that great men like Kohl, Biedenkopf, and Stoiber – who know far more than a simple old man like me – are guilty of ‘crimes,’ well, that seems to me to be simply going too far. I would never say such things. Surely Kohl, Biedenkopf and Stoiber, like all German politicians, are really good at heart, aren’t they?

Sincerely yours,

Robert John Bennett

Mauerkircherstrasse 68

81925 Germany

Telephone: +49.89.981.0208

E-Mail:  

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