On June 28, 1914, the heir to the Austrian throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, Serbia, a murder that eventually led to the outbreak of the Great War. On the occasion of the centenary, Germany's president Joachim Gauck invited historians from the countries involved to his residence Bellevue in Berlin, to discuss and implement a common European Erinnerungskultur (commemorative culture).
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| Joachim Gauck lecturing at Bellevue (©dpa) |
Gauck said at Germany's military academy in Hamburg, The disgust against military force is understandable, but since we live in a world with violence, it may be necessary and reasonable to overcome violence by force, . Germany knows that peace, freedom, and the respect for human rights cannot be taken for granted and are not for free. Many Germans regard freedom and the pursuit of happiness as an obligation of their country to provide and confound freedom with thoughtlessness, indifference, and hedonism.
In taking up John F. Kennedy's leitmotif, ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country, Gauck continued: For a democracy to function, it needs commitment, attention, courage, and sometimes even the ultimate what man can give: his life.
In his inaugural speech of 1961, Kennedy continued: My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. Indeed, following the Second World War, it was always up to the Americans to defend the ideals of the Western World successfully in the Korean War but less efficiently in Vietnam, where they took over from the French when the latter had already suffered their Dien Bien Phu.
Again, it needed US forces leading a NATO alliance that intervened in the Kosovo of former Yugoslavia to reinstall peace and order. The Americans have slowly moved out of KFOR (Kosovo Forces) stationed in the region since 1999 and left the task of keeping peace in their own house to the Europeans.
Gauck naturally took up Kennedy's invitation to share the burden and said you cannot have freedom without taking responsibility. Amazingly his cautious words were broadly accepted in hesitant Germany except for some Left Party members who called Gauck a war hawk.
Regarding the Bellevue discussions with the historians about a common Erinnerungskultur, it turned out that our president had been quite blue-eyed. The multi-national experts should have ironed out Red Baron's previous observations but rather accentuated them. I had stated: For France, it is the Great Patriotic War; for Great Britain, it means the decline of the British Empire; for Russia, it is the trigger of the Communist Revolution; for Poland, the beginning of its fight for independence from Russia.
In fact, the Polish historian stressed that the Great War had been the Big Bang of Poland's nationality, and given their losses of 1.5 million people, his country is not interested in the suffering of others. In the UK, people now regard 1914/1918 as a futile and superfluous war. The Turks consider that the war was fought against them as a crusade, with Germany playing the role of the forgotten (useless?) ally. For France, the Great War against the one and the only aggressor was justified, and one French historian added: Sorry, we must deal with a fragmented memory.
Gauck was not amused.
In his inaugural speech of 1961, Kennedy continued: My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. Indeed, following the Second World War, it was always up to the Americans to defend the ideals of the Western World successfully in the Korean War but less efficiently in Vietnam, where they took over from the French when the latter had already suffered their Dien Bien Phu.
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| U.S. Marines provide security for Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers as they investigated a mass grave in July 1999 (©Wikipedia/U.S. Marine Corps) |
Gauck naturally took up Kennedy's invitation to share the burden and said you cannot have freedom without taking responsibility. Amazingly his cautious words were broadly accepted in hesitant Germany except for some Left Party members who called Gauck a war hawk.
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| President Joachim Gauck inspecting his Marines (©dpa) |
In fact, the Polish historian stressed that the Great War had been the Big Bang of Poland's nationality, and given their losses of 1.5 million people, his country is not interested in the suffering of others. In the UK, people now regard 1914/1918 as a futile and superfluous war. The Turks consider that the war was fought against them as a crusade, with Germany playing the role of the forgotten (useless?) ally. For France, the Great War against the one and the only aggressor was justified, and one French historian added: Sorry, we must deal with a fragmented memory.
Gauck was not amused.
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