I once read a passage in a history of World War Two ( I think it was in the Stephen Ambrose book “Band of Brothers”) that has always stuck with me. The soldier speaking reflected on his first experience with the Germans, after landing on D-day and fighting the entire way into Germany- he realized that the Germans were more like us than were the French. He commented on the German’s cleanliness, integrity and industriousness in contrast to the “unclean” French who rolled over and allowed the Germans to dominate them and us to come and save them. This soldier found it strange that he and his friends were in Germany, fighting to save European nations that did not appear to deserve to be saved, just as his father had done. After all, Germany and the United States had a great deal in common.

The irony behind the recent decline in US/German relations is that we still do have much in common, including a closely shared recent history, but no one seems to notice, or to care enough to talk about that. All that matters are the differences. In the summer of 2004 I spent a week visiting a friend in Berlin, where we took in the German-American Volksfest- a forty something year old tradition that is a cross between a cultural event (the theme is a different a region of the U.S. each year) and a county fair complete with roller coasters and cotton candy. The event is held on what used to be called “Truman Platz” across the street from the U.S. Embassy Annex. If you have ever been to an “Octoberfest” in the U.S. imagine the mirror image of that in Germany and you will have a pretty good idea of what the event is like- earnest but somewhat cheesy.

After an early evening of good beer and a close approximation of bar-b-que ribs my friend and I, accompanied by several Americans and Germans who work with him, headed for the U-bahn (subway) to go downtown in search of more beer and food. On the train we were approached by a somewhat tipsy German fellow who mentioned, in impeccable American accented English, that he had seen us at the fair. He went on to say that the fair was not the same with the U.S. troops no longer in Berlin- followed almost casually by a quip that he was sorry to see his friends leave Berlin and to go on to massacre people all over the world. Why, he wondered, had the American people become such killers? We were all too stunned to really answer, so he asked again- where had we learned that this was the way to solve problems? After a beat or two had passed one of the Germans with us answered in a sad tone of voice “perhaps they learned it from us.” There ensued a brief argument in German too fast for me to follow, and we exited the train soon after. Later what bothered me the most was not that this unknown German had a low opinion of us, but that my friend’s colleague appeared to agree with the sentiment that we have become a too violent player on the world stage.

America has always had close ties to Germany, starting with the number of German immigrants who came to the colonies. In the aftermath of WWII, as the U.S. and our allies squared off against the Soviet Union, Germany, particularly Berlin, became the focal point of the Cold War and relations between America and Germany were quickly resotred in the face of a common enemy. When the Soviets cut off Berlin we airlifted food and supplies into the city, highlighted by then Lieutenant Gail S. Halvorsen’s candy parachute drops. President Kennedy declared himself, and by extension all of America to be Berliners (and not jelly doughnuts). Allied and Soviet troops stared each other down in huge numbers across the Fulda Gap and eye to eye across the street at Checkpoint Charlie. The world cheered when President Reagan famously challenged General Secretary Gorbachev to:

“Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! “

When the wall did come down no one outside of Germany cheered louder than we did here in America. So where did it all go awry?

Today the United States and Germany face very similar internal issues. Ongoing immigration and what to do with the existing, largely unassimilated, immigrant populations haunt both societies, with no easy answer in site for the Mexicans in the U.S. or the Turks in Germany. Both societies face graying populations and declining numbers of workers paying into increasingly expensive retirement support systems. Employment for the masses is a constant news topic in both lands, although the U.S problem is not as severe as the German. The threat from militant Islam, which so far has not directly affected Germany, indirectly threatens all Western nations. To quote the numbers presented by the German Embassy in D.C.:

  • US travelers rank second only to visitors from the Netherlands in terms of overnight stays in Germany.

  • In eastern Germany, more travelers come from the United States than any other country.

  • About 10 percent of US investments in Germany are in the new federal states, making the US the largest investor in eastern Germany.

It seems that in the aftermath of the Cold War petty differences have blossomed and become major issues, on both sides of the Atlantic. I would venture to say that the average German has nothing against the average American, and vice versa (my U-bahn experience not withstanding). Elites on both sides of the ocean, fueled by, and at the same time fueling, the media propagate the idea that a vast gulf separates Americans and Europeans on issues such as climate change, the environment in general, terrorism, and foreign aid. There are specific differences to be sure- how members of each society view the state, for example, but in general the similarities outweigh the differences. It is up to us, Germans and Americans, to look for the similarities and to recognize that the differences do not make us enemies or mean that we can not work together to solve common problems, but rather that those differences may hold the key to reaching viable solutions.

The very tools that are often used to make the differences seem insurmountable- the Internet, satellite television and mass media- are the same tools that can bring us together, or better, make us realize that we never really drifted apart. Germany will play host to the largest party in the world this year with the World Cup to be played out across the country. Atlantic Review provides a link that I think bodes well for all of us: Americans among most popular World Cup guests. To my fellow Americans I say: go. Go to Germany and interact with the people. Learn about them and let them learn about you. Invite them to come and learn about us.

Governments come and go, but the people of a nation endure. The friendship between our two nations, rekindled in the hard days of the Cold War after WWII, was regained at great cost and should not be thrown away over misperceptions and sound bites. We will never agree on all things, I know. But if we continue to only seek the differences we will ever more find them increasing.