Abstract

The criticisms voiced against the German peace movement both in this country and in France are puzzling: they range from attacks on the nationalism of this movement to the lack of democratic institutions and traditions in Germany as a whole, from invocations of the “blond beast” to accusations that the German peace movement, whether willingly or not, serves or reflects the interests of West German capital in maintaining relations with the Soviet Union and the Eastern European bloc. It is first important to note that no other European peace movement — the British, Dutch, Danish, or Italian — has been attacked with the same animosity and hysteria as the West German one, and in the second place to admit indeed that in the current debate about the rearmament policy of the Atlantic alliance far more is at stake for West Germany than for any other European country.