After meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Václav Klaus announced that in order to strengthen Czech-German relations a German military company will be deployed in the area of former Sudetenland in the near future.
News like this would be sure to cause havoc in the Czech Republic. And not only among those who remember the Nazi occupation and repression. It would certainly irritate many patriots as well. When international circumstances are favourable and we do not need to surrender, or resignedly watch the “brotherhood” army in our streets, we are capable of defending the independence and sovereignty of our territory like lions. Remember the patriotic frenzy across the country caused by the proposal to place an American radar in Brdy. And that concerns a nation with which we have no negative experience. The reaction would likely be even stronger in the case of Germany, depicted by the revivalists, wrier Alois Jirásek and communist propaganda as the cause of all our suffering and trauma.
From the Czech point of view, it is therefore still impossible to offer a generous and conciliatory gesture to the former enemy who has become our ally and is considered a solid and democratic country. It is simply strange how, in some places, prejudice, old slights and memories continue to thrive despite the change in political and social conditions. While in other places it is possible to wipe the slate clean and start again in spite of similar experience. And it does not have to include an offer to deploy a German military company in the border region as France recently did to its long-time rivals and life and death enemies.
President Sarkozy announced, after meting with Chancellor Merkel, that the next step in strengthening French-German relations will involve the unlimited placement of a German army battalion in the east of the country. Meaning the regions of Alsace and Lorraine over which Germany fought with France a number of times in the past.
Not only did this decision not cause a public outcry, heated debates in the media or in the parliament, an attempt by the opposition to bring down the cabinet. It did not prompt activists to chain themselves or barricade buildings on the bridges across the Rhine. It was accepted by politicians, as well as by the media, as a “historical step in French-German relations”.
Maybe the French are more mature than we are. At least in the long-term. The reconciliation already began under President de Gaulle and Chancellor Adenauer. They did not pretend to be only the victims and were willing to officially admit to their own mistakes and share some of the blame in the once hostile atmosphere. We have the forever-valid Beneš Decrees, bolstered by a flag flying above Prague Castle, claiming that “truth shall win”. Our truth, of course.
