When George H. W. Bush and the German Chancellor Conferred on the Future about Germany and beyond
From my Writing Room
Copyright © 2022 by Uwe Bahr
It should all happen very quickly: Three months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Chancellor Helmut Kohl (CDU) traveled to the United States to reassure himself of American support for Germany’s future plans toward state unity.1 At a meeting at Camp David on February 24, 1990, he easily found the backing he had been hoping for from U.S. President George H. W. Bush. However, the Americans were primarily concerned not only with German reunification, but also with the expansion of NATO.
In the meantime, a public memorandum about the Camp David meeting exists and can be viewed online.2 It illustrates how, in the period immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the West was keen to shift its sphere of influence together with EU and NATO to the East and closer to Russia, the legal successor of the then still existing Soviet Union.
In contrast, there is little sign in this conversation of plans for compromise or even peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union within the framework of a future security structure in Eastern Europe. One participant in the conversation is intent on a possible reunification of Germany under the protective shield of the Americans; the Americans themselves see their supremacy in the world after the end of the Cold War as their most important interest in the context of “a new world order”. Both sides unfold their strategy at the expense of the disintegrating Soviet Union. The fact that the Soviets possessed nuclear weapons and that up to half a million of their soldiers were stationed in the GDR is completely ignored, as is Moscow’s reaction to the surprise opening of the Wall on November 9, 1989, which could have turned out quite differently.
I had been born and raised in the GDR, the frontline state of the Cold War, and even on the morning after the opening of the Wall, my father did not trust the situation: “The Russians will not tolerate this, they will send their tanks again.” His “again” referred to June 17, 1953, when workers’ uprisings in East Berlin and other cities had brought the GDR to the brink of collapse and the Ulbricht regime could only hold on to power through Soviet military intervention.
But this time, in the fall of 1989, the Soviet tanks and soldiers stationed on GDR soil remained in the barracks during the crucial hours. The reform policies of Mikhail Gorbachev, brought about by huge economic problems in his own country and mass protests in several Warsaw Pact states, ushered in the end of the Cold War; a development that culminated in the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Whoever looks at Europe today and sees a despicable war, which hardly anyone thought possible especially after 1989, should remember the recent historical development of the past three decades. There is no justification for Russia’s war against Ukraine – but the historical causes of the current catastrophe go back further than pointing to Europe’s and Germany’s dependence on Russian energy supplies. The terrible suffering of the affected people in Ukraine could have been prevented by more than one side if the Western powers, including Germany, had had the honest intention of building trust with the successor state of the Soviet Union instead of cornering it.
Notes:
1 Kohl had the valid fear that the chance for reunification, which had been offered to the Germans as suddenly as it had been unexpected, might not last long, so that swift action was the order of the day. This was especially true of the Soviet Union’s position, whose concession the German chancellor saw as a singular opportunity in history.
2 The published memorandum of February 24, 1990, can be read here: Memorandum of Conversation between Helmut Kohl and George Bush at Camp David. | National Security Archive (gwu.edu)
As a side note: It’s quite amusing that no small number of people in the U.S. believe Ronald Reagan brought down the Berlin Wall. In truth, Reagan did not pressure the Soviets, but took successful steps of détente with them toward disarmament, undoubtedly paving the way for what was to follow a short time later. His words at the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987, remain unforgotten: “Mister Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” In contrast, American foreign policy under his successor, George H. W. Bush, very quickly returned to Cold War practices.
The Wind of Change 
Hello from the UK.
Many thanks for your post. I find it very illuminating, especially re George Bush and Helmut Kohl. It is clear that tensions between east and west were intended to be maintained so as to justify wars and rumours of wars to keep arms manufacturers etc. going.
I wrote the following just now and posted elsewhere but I think may be of use here too.
“As regards Germany, it should be remembered that it started the Franco-Prussian or Franco-German War, and has initiated 2 world wars, despite what one may think of the Treaty of Versailles which led to obvious resentment.
However, Germany had been planning WW1 for decades in its jealousy of the British Empire, and caused grievous harm to France, let alone the UK etc., when so many of its young men, its ‘enfants’, died. Germany has seen itself as the rightful ‘ruler’ of Europe and since WW2 has sought to do this by yet another war, only economic, political and health this time.
Hence it essentially runs Europe/European Union, has a budget surplus, has many of the world’s well-known companies based there, including big pharma, and has ‘pinched’ a large part of other’s manufacturing bases.
The Nazis are in power in Germany, although it may not seem so. Strictly it is Nazis/Marxists/communists, who all arose out of Germany. Germany used the communists (mainly Jews) in WW1 to foment insurrection against the Tsar which led to Russia being taken out of the equation and remove the Eastern Front.
Germany nearly then succeeded in overcoming France. After WW1, Germany started infiltrating the USA and has made it a centre for many industrial companies. It has used the USA to start wars to help fund arms manufacturers (the largest proportion are in the US) etc as this makes large amounts of money, either paid for by other countries or by the US taxpayers.
The by-product of wars is reconstruction when yet more money can be made rebuilding the destroyed infrastructure etc. Money can also be made from the traumas, injuries and deaths caused.
Real Estate can be bought cheap, stock markets manipulated and yet more money made etc etc.
So don’t just blame Putin, look to Germany and the USA, the Nazis, Marxists and communists. There are 2 other main groups behind all this however. They are obvious once you look.”
Perhaps I might conclude that if you don’t treat a bear, Russian or otherwise, with respect, you will enrage it and get what you deserve for being stupid and careless.
Kind regards
Baldmichael Theresoluteprotector’sson
Please excuse the nom-de-plume, this is as much for fun as a riddle for people to solve if they wish.
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