How pride in overcoming the past backfired

Germany's reparations were done to "regain international reputation" said its chancellor Adenauer on TV

A Nazi era officer as ambassador to Israel

Daniel Marwecki says to ND:

”Germany's first ambassador to Israel was …a former Wehrmacht officer. He wasn't just a tough guy who knew how to represent German interests. He also said a lot of anti-Semitic things. “

”If you look at the origins of German-Israeli relations, there can hardly be any question of morality. This began with the reparations agreement of 1952.”

Adenauer’s Antisemitism

“Chancellor Adenauer said on German television in 1966 that the payments had been made in order to "regain international reputation" and that one should not "underestimate the power of the Jews even today."“

“The then Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her famous speech to the Knesset in 2008 that the majority of the German population did not support the reasons of state. But that doesn't matter, you have to set a good example. “

“Reason of state is a term from the absolutist, pre-democratic era. So it is above what the population wants. “

“Angela Merkel also discussed the geopolitical aspect in 2008. The main aim was to keep Israel capable of defending itself against Iran. At the same time, there was also a real change in politics of the past. A certain pride in overcoming it also set in, along the lines of: “Look, no one has overcome the past as much as we have.””

REFERENCES

All excerpts are from the Daniel Marwecki Interview by Pauline Jäckels April 6, 2024, nd-aktuell.de, googletranslation from the German original

https://www.nd-aktuell.de/artikel/1181285.staatsraeson-deutsche-israelpolitik-von-moral-kann-kaum-die-rede-sein.html

Image: Olaf Scholz with Kippah as a sign of friendship and memory culture. Fotos like this sometimes are used to bolster the narrative of equating judaism with Israel