An American Jewish - German information & Opinion Newsletter

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AN AMERICAN JEWISH – GERMAN INFORMATION & OPINION
NEWSLETTER
dubowdigest@optonline.net
AMERICAN EDITION
May 2015
IN THIS EDITION
TWO ANNIVERSARIES – End of WW II 70 years ago and 50th of German-Israel
diplomatic relations. Both of great importance.
A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP: VIDEO – See it!
STILL GUILT RIDDEN – 70 years and still going strong
GUILT OR LIBERATION?:A JOURNALIST’S VIEW – With some history thrown in.
RAMSTEIN – What or who is it?
TOPOGRAPHY OF TERROR – I guessed wrong – fortunately!
THE INTELLIGENCE FLAP – Those who live in glass houses, etc. etc. etc.
Dear Friends:
There are times when I think there won’t be enough in the way of news to make a
monthly newsletter worth reading. Then there months like this one (May) when I have to
pick and choose and am forced to leave out a lot or worthwhile material that I think
you’d like to read.
The super-abundance of news this month is attributable to two anniversaries – namely
the 70th of the end of World War Two and the 50th of the establishment of diplomati9c
relations between Israel and Germany.
The latter was highlighted by the visit of Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to Germany.
During the visit an announcement was made that Germany would supply Israel with four

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Corvettes (not the old Chevy variety), small destroyers, and turned over several missile
batteries as well. You can read about the ships by clicking here.
http://www.dw.de/a-new-twist-to-german-arms-for-israel/a-18447001
In addition Pres. Rivlin met with Chancellor Merkel. That meeting is described in an
article you can read by clicking on this link. http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-
And-Diplomacy/Merkel-to-Rivlin-Nuclear-agreement-unlikely-to-be-reached-with-Iran-
402862
Let’s get on with the rest of the news…
TWO ANNIVERSARIES
This month we celebrate two important anniversaries; the 70th anniversary of the end of
World War Two in Europe and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic
between Israel and Germany.
VE Day (Victory in Europe) was commemorated in the Bundestag as well as in many
other places. Before reading more you should dwell on the fact that this important
occasion was acknowledged in the parliament of the losing power. How peculiar! I
guess “only in Germany”. .
DW noted, “The German parliament honored the dead of World War II as it
commemorated the 70th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe and the Nazi
genocide. Speakers called on Germany to never forget its moral obligation, and drew
parallels between the hatred of Jews of the Nazi era to xenophobia today.
Bundestag President Norbert Lammert spoke first on Friday as the Bundestag and
Bundesrat met for a joint session to observe the Allied defeat of the Nazis to end World
War II and put a stop to the Holocaust.
"May 8, 1945, was a day of liberation," Lammert told the joint session of the German
legislature on Friday. "On May 8, a war was ended that a German regime had begun
with criminal intent," he added, noting that the war had left well over 50 million people
dead - 8 million were Germans.
Nazi Germany formally surrendered to Allied forces on May 7, 1945, in Reims, France,
and signed the paperwork a day later in Berlin, marking the official end of World War II,
though many nations in the former Soviet sphere mark the date as May 9, owing to time
zones and the late hour at which the surrender was signed. German dictator Adolf Hitler
had committed suicide on April 30, just 10 days after his 66th birthday, during the Battle
of Berlin, a joint offensive by Polish forces and the Red Army to take the capital. The
battle had begun on April 16 and concluded two days after Hitler's suicide.
Lammert thanked German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck for
the efforts they have made to honor fighters for the nations that ultimately overcame the

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Nazis - as well as the citizens of the nations that were for so long overcome by them.
He said that though May 8 was not a day of "German self-liberation," the individual
reckoning that had followed had allowed the country to move forward as citizens
acknowledged the nation's collective guilt.
If you’re interested in the step by step end of the war in Berlin, click on the following link.
Historian Jefferson Chase takes us through the “yesterday and today” of the end of Nazi
rule in Germany. http://www.dw.de/a-liberating-defeat-berlin-and-the-end-of-world-war-
ii/a-18430494
Israel & Germany
Though, perhaps, less celebrated, 2015 commemorates the 50th year of German –
Israeli diplomatic relations. The celebrations are somewhat sadly tinged with the fact
that the two governments today are very much in different places when it comes to the
Palestinian question. In addition, there is a rise in anti-Semitism throughout Europe that
even touches Germany.
DW reported, “50 years ago, Germany and Israel established diplomatic ties. On
Thursday, the German Bundestag acknowledged the trusting relationship between the
two nations, but also mentioned the rights of the Palestinians.
The term "miracle" was used frequently in the Bundestag on Thursday (May 7). "The
success of our friendship is nothing less than a miracle," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier said on the subject of today's close relations between Germany and Israel.
By no means, he continued, was it a matter of course that Germans and Israelis were
now "literally dear to each other's heart". Overcoming the "abyss of the past", the nation
of victims had reached out its hands to the nation of offenders, the foreign minister said
about the difficult start of that friendship, which has its roots in an exchange of
ambassadors in May, 1965.
Initial skepticism
At the time, the governments of both nations were considerably unsure about a possible
rapprochement. When Willy Brandt became the first German Chancellor to visit Israel in
1973, "every single step was still rather awkward", recalled the foreign minister.
Today, he went on, an exchange of visits and joint cabinet sessions had become
routine. Not just the governments, the people as well were involved in close interaction:
thousands of young Israelis love to live in Berlin, while many Germans feel at home in
Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. "The relationship between Germany and Israel will always be a
very special one," stressed CDU politician Gerda Hasselfeldt.
Fighting anti-Semitism
All parliamentary parties were in agreement that, in order to consolidate present
achievements, special efforts were required on Germany's part.

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Firstly, remembrance of the Holocaust had to be kept alive, despite the dwindling
number of contemporary witnesses. "A clean break debate is out of the question," said
Volker Kauder, parliamentary leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives. It
was essential for Germans to remember the crimes of the past, he stressed.
Secondly, action must be taken against all forms of anti-Semitism to make sure that
Jews in Germany can live in safety. "It is cause for concern that during the past year
anti-Semitic criminal offenses increased by 25 percent," said Green Party parliamentary
leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt: "That's a disgrace to our nation."
And finally, the German government is obliged not to lose sight of Israel's security
concerns, first and foremost with respect to the Iran nuclear talks. "Eventually, we will
only sign an agreement leading to more security for Israel, not less," Foreign Minister
Steinmeier emphasized.
Insisting on two-state solution
The German Bundestag considers the friendship with Israel so solid that there is
enough room for criticism, particularly with regard to Jewish settlement construction in
the occupied territories and the ambiguous stance of the current Netanyahu
government on the subject of a two-state solution.
"Without a viable, democratic Palestinian state," Steinmeier said, "there will be no
sustainable security for Israel." The German government had to bring "more passion" to
the issue, demanded Left Party parliamentary leader Gregor Gysi: after all, the
Palestinians were entitled to their own state as well.
Perhaps I’m being too “picky” and too quick to find fault but I did with how each of these
notable occasions was observed. I am going to borrow the statement about Germany’s
friendship with Israel and say that my feelings about Germany are “so solid that there is
enough room for criticism”.
I have said many times before that Germany’s use of the term liberation (from Nazism)
is misused. It is not as if in May of 1945 there were millions of Germans waiting for
Hitler’s downfall so they could be freed. Most Germans were not hidden anti-Nazis.
Some more accurate wording would be better. Enough! I think you get what I mean.
As far as the Bundestag’s statement on the half-century commemoration of diplomatic
relations with Germany is concerned, I did not think it was proper to throw in the piece
about the Palestinian situation. However one feels about Israel and the Palestinians,
whatever is happening or not happening, it certainly is not a one-sided affair. Shouldn’t
Foreign Minister Steinmeier at least mentioned the Palestinian role or, better, just left
the whole thing out of his statement. After all, this was a celebration of a relationship not
a forum for political criticism.
‘Nuff said!

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A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP: VIDEO
Deutsche Welle (DW), the German version of BBC or NPR put up a very interesting
video on its website. It covers and Israeli living in Berlin and a German living in Israel.
It’s not the usual political stuff, rather it’s stories about young people living the “Special
Relationship”.
To see and hear it click here http://www.dw.de/program/a-special-relationship/s-101493-
9798
STILL GUILT RIDDEN
During my years living and working in Germany I had many discussions about German
guilt. My own feeling was that people born after the War or who were too young to
participate in it had nothing to feel guilty about. I did stress, however, that Germany (and
Germans) should have a sense of responsibility for Jews and the State of Israel.
However, guilt is not something that can easily be dismissed. It’s an internal
psychological matter. A recent dpa study shows that as far as Germans are concerned
it certainly has not evaporated with time.
The Local.de recently reported, “Seventy years after the end of the Second World War,
Germans still feel that they deal with its legacy in everyday life, a survey published
[recently] shows.
The survey, conducted by YouGov for the German Press Agency (dpa), was carried out
ahead of the 70th anniversary of the end of the war on May 8th and interviewed 1,000
people.
It shows that 81 percent of Germans believe that Berlin's actions on the world stage are
still influenced by the Nazi period.
Germany's duty towards Israel, the importance of the relationships with France and
Poland and the sensitivity of relations with Russia were all cited as being affected by the
Second World War.
Only 8 percent of those asked said Germany's current foreign policies have no
connection with the Nazi past.
It is clear that the war is not only of historical importance for Germans, but still has an
emotional impact on many, too.
Almost half of all respondents (47 percent) said they are emotionally affected by the
events of 1939-45, while 40 percent said the war only concerned them for its historical
importance

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The survey also shows that privately the war is still a regular theme of conversation, as
Germans try to tackle and understand the past.
Only 9 percent of respondents said they had never spoken about the war with
their family.
On the other hand 88 percent said they had discussed the fate of their relatives, talked
about the historical details of the war, or debated the societal responsibility that it left as
its legacy.
Half of respondents said that it is still a recurrent theme at family gatherings, but the
number was higher in the former East Germany than in the west, at 57 percent
compared with 48 percent.
In western Germany, 36 percent said that while the war used to be a topic of
conversation, it no longer is, but in east Germany this number was only 26 percent.
Germans also feel pretty confident that they are equipped with the
necessary knowledge to understand what took place during the war.
Seventy-three percent of respondents said they feel well equipped to have a
knowledgeable discussion about the darkest chapter in German history.
But there were differences between east and west Germans here, too, with 71 percent
of respondents from former west Germany confident in their grasp of the details of the
war, while 80 percent of east Germans said they knew what they needed to.
In terms of the end of the war and its implications, a large majority (76 percent) perceive
the defeat of the Nazis by the Allied powers to have been a form of liberation. Ten
percent said that this was not the case.
I mentioned previously that I have a little trouble with the strong feeling in Germany that
the defeat of the Nazis was a form of liberation. If what is meant by that, that the
German people would not have to live with the constant fear of the SS or Gestapo, I
fully understand that. If, however, the implication is that the German people in 1945
were waiting for the Allies to liberate them that was just not the case. Maybe it’s just that
the word “liberate” doesn’t seem to fit the reality very well.
In any case, Hitler promised his masses a 1,000 year Reich. Instead it appears he has
given them 1,000 years of guilt feelings..
GUILT OR LIBERATION?:A JOURNALIST’S VIEW
The previous piece reports on a statistical study (actually a poll) of how Germans feel
today on the issue of guilt or liberation 70 years after the end of the War.
The study doesn’t say anything about how Germans felt on the day the War actually
ended or tells the story of how feelings developed as more and more time intervened.

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What follows is an article in it entirety that fleshes out the issue very fully.
Volker Wagener writing in DW noted, “Was Germany defeated or liberated on May 8,
1945 - and was it a day of shame or a turning point? For 70 years Germans have
agonized over the war, its origins and its end - and the question of German guilt.
When World War II finally ended, it was less a matter of joy than "dull relief," as
historian Gerhard Brunn wrote in retrospect about the emotional state of German
survivors.
Memory is personal. Whoever was a German Wehrmacht soldier in Soviet captivity
remembered a far different May 8, 1945 than did a civilian who escaped unscathed.
Those who were driven from their homes in East Prussia were more likely to consider
the war's end a catastrophe than Germans living in US exile who suddenly felt free that
day. And that's without even mentioning the feelings of those who had survived
Auschwitz.
The day that marked the end of World War II in Europe has known many meanings.
Over the decades the "zero hour" was subject to repeated reinterpretation - at least in
West Germany.
But what united both West and East Germany in the early postwar years was a feeling
of having suffered during the war, rather than any sense of responsibility for waging a
war of extermination. In that period, the collective memory attributed German crimes
exclusively to the demon Hitler and "the Nazis." They were juxtaposed against the
German masses - nameless, innocent individuals who had known nothing.
For decades, Germans in East and West did not really want to contemplate what had
happened to them up till 1945, or what responsibilities they bore. Germany succeeded
only much later in overcoming its past.
In denial
Anyone who wants to understand how Nazism was handled both officially and publicly
for 20 years after the war need only read a few passages from a speech West German
President Heinrich Lübke delivered to the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce on May 7,
1965. He said nothing about mass murder, instead expressing regret that patriotism and
loyalty to one's homeland often faced disparagement.
His words came at the very same time closing arguments were being made at the
Auschwitz trials in Frankfurt.
In those first two decades, May 8 had a very limited presence in West German public
life. There was no mourning of victims; instead, the date served as an occasion to
bemoan the division of Germany. Not infrequently, leading politicians, especially
Christian Democrats, offered public affirmations that the German Reich - the country in
its prewar borders - still existed.

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West Germany focused much more strongly on official remembrances of July 20, 1944 -
Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg's attempt to assassinate Hitler - and June 17,
1953, the workers' uprising in East Germany against the communist government. It was
easier to derive positive German traditions from these two dates.
East and West
It was a very different matter on the other side of the Iron Curtain. East Germany
ritualized its commemoration of the end of the war early on. The communist government
declared May 8 a holiday only months after it was founded in 1949. It was a vehicle for
its own view of history. The capitulation of the German Reich was celebrated as the Day
of Victory of the Red Army over Fascism.
Until 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell, the May 8 celebrations served as visible
evidence of the close ties with the Soviet Union and thus proof that East Germany was
on the winning side. Consequently, there was no reflection on responsibility for the
German past. Nazism was officially regarded as fascism - and that, as far as the
leadership was concerned, had been consigned to history. Deviations from this party
line did not exist.
It was a total contrast to West Germany, where the meaning of May 8 came to be
constantly reevaluated and reinterpreted. This was characterized by a significant shift in
the answer to the question of what that day meant to Germans. Even so, it was
understood as a defeat for decades before it came to be conceived of as liberation.
Gestures count
"A people that has achieved such remarkable economic success has the right not to
have to hear any more about Auschwitz," Franz-Josef Strauss is claimed to have said in
1968. The powerful leader of Bavaria's governing Christian Social Union never took
legal action against the press when this quotation appeared in print several times, even
though he was not squeamish in dealing with the media. Whether he said it or not, the
statement encapsulates West Germany's concentration on economic success as a form
of psychological repression and insufficient acceptance of guilt.
At the other end of the spectrum was the gesture of Willy Brandt on December 7, 1970
in Warsaw. The chancellor fell to his knees in front of the Monument to the Ghetto
Heroes, silently asking the victims of German tyranny for forgiveness.
That moment was a historic turning point, understood as a "first serious symbolic
acknowledgement of German guilt," as historian Peter Hurrelmann described it. It
encapsulated a change in perspective on the Nazi period that asserted itself in the
1970s and that slowly displaced the old understanding that it had ended in defeat.
It was this perspective of guilt that Walter Scheel articulated in his May 8, 1975 speech.
Thirty years after the war ended, the West German president spoke openly and candidly
about German responsibility. He called what had happened between 1933 and 1945 the
failure of an entire generation.

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Liberation
Even the 1980s were marked by heated political debates surrounding the question of
how May 8 should be remembered. Until then, interpretations had the upper hand in
which accounts of the Nazis were almost entirely lacking in perpetrators or followers.
That changed on the 40th anniversary of the war's end. West German President
Richard von Weizsäcker's speech on May 8, 1985 was a watershed.
Von Weizsäcker reframed the historical date as a day of liberation from the Nazi regime.
And he looked back further to place the end of the war in context with its prerequisite:
Hitler's assumption of power on January 30, 1933.
Many who had been infected by the Nazi ideology or even guilty of its crimes were still
alive. For them, May 8 was still a day of defeat, four decades on. Not so the younger
generation. But no one in such a position of authority had properly articulated this
before.
Almost no one, that is: Chancellor Helmut Kohl had previously spoken of a day of
liberation, but the media echo had been faint. In contrast, his attempt that year to create
harmony between victors and vanquished, perpetrators and victims created an uproar.
Kohl's appearance with US President Ronald Reagan at the Bitburg cemetery, where
SS men were also buried, proved to be a media policy fiasco.
Kohl's attempt to broaden the focus to include Germans as victims failed. They simply
had not suffered under Nazi tyranny in the same way that Jews or the peoples of the
Soviet Union had.
And now?
For several years now, interest in the history of National Socialism has been booming in
reunified Germany. The remembrance machinery has been operating at full steam as
television, newspapers and books battle for viewers and readers.
Superficially, at least, Germany has an image as world champion in dealing with the
past. Perhaps most notably, the concept of liberation has held sway since 1985.
In parallel, however, a strand of contemporary history has emerged that identifies the
Germans as victims of the Hitler era. Indeed, Germans were also expelled from their
homes, raped en masse and killed in hails of bombs.
This context may result in a tendency toward a more lenient judgment on matters of
guilt and responsibility - and a view that "blurs the difference between perpetrators,
victims and followers," as historian Norbert Frei put it.
But as long as the core interpretation of May 8, 1945 is not subject to revisionism, this is
legitimate and understandable in human terms. "The special German path to freedom,"
philosopher Peter Sloterdijk wrote, "passed through the needle's eye of defeat."

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You may or may not fully agree with or totally understand Wagener’s final paragraph but
one must agree that the article spells out fully the history of this difficult question.
RAMSTEIN
How many of you really know what or who Ramstein is?
No! He’s not a German composer and it’s not a place where Dodge Ram trucks are
made. Rather, it’s the largest military base that the U.S. maintains of foreign soil and it’s
in Germany.
Spiegel On-Line reports, “The US Air Force base in Ramstein is a central and
indispensable element in Barack Obama's controversial use of drones in the war
against terror. New documents are creating pressure for both Washington and the
German government.
In the heart of Germany's Palatinate region -- just a few kilometers from the city of
Kaiserslautern -- the United States maintains [Ramstein].The base is best known as a
hub for American troops making their way to the Middle East.
But another strategic task of the headquarters of the United States Air Force in Europe
(USAFE) remained a national secret for years. Even the German government claimed
to know nothing when, two years ago, the base became the subject of suspicion. It was
alleged that Ramstein is also an important center in President Barack Obama's drone
war against Islamist terror. A former pilot claimed that the data for all drone
deployments is routed through the military base.
The report caused quite a stir. Were the deadly precision weapons -- which can
eliminate al-Qaida terrorists, Taliban fighters or members of the Shabaab militia on the
Horn of Africa with apparent clinical precision -- guided toward their targets via German
soil?
No, the German government said at the time, that's not quite correct. But even today,
the government says it still has "no reliable information" about what exactly is going on.
The United States has refused to provide it.
But the Americans' secretiveness also comes in handy for Berlin. Not knowing anything
officially prevents the government from having to take any action.
Berlin's comfortable position, though, could soon be a thing of the past. Classified
documents that have been viewed by SPIEGEL and The Intercept provide the most
detailed blueprint seen to date of the architecture of Obama's "war on terror."
The documents, which originate from US intelligence sources and are classified as "top
secret," date from July 2012. A diagram shows how the US government structures the
deployment of drones. Other documents provide significant insight into how operations

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in places like Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan or Yemen are carried out. And they show
that a central -- and controversial -- element of this warfare is played out in Germany.
The graphics show that Ramstein is involved in virtually every Air Force drone attack.
For German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the new evidence could be explosive. The air
base in southwestern Germany may resemble a piece of Americana with its churches,
movie theaters, baseball diamonds and park-like golf course, but it is not an extra-
territorial area like the US Embassy in Berlin. The German government has
contractually guaranteed the United States use of the property, which is surrounded by
barbed wire, but only under the condition that the Americans do nothing there that
violates German law.
In the past, whenever media reports emerged presenting evidence of violations of the
law at Ramstein; whenever critical members of parliament demanded answers about
Germany's contribution to these airborne executions: The German government always
maintained that these were mere assertions. They were, Berlin insisted, countered by
American claims that the US was respecting German law.
The veracity of such claims now ought to be reviewed. Just like during the NSA scandal,
the German officials are facing the question as to whether massive legal violations may
be taking place on German soil.
There’s more which you can read by clicking the link below.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/ramstein-base-in-germany-a-key-center-in-
us-drone-war-a-1029279.html
Perhaps, this matter will blow over and maybe the German government is at fault for not
asking more questions about what goes on at Ramstein. However, with Germany being
as pacifist as it is and the coming to light that the US’s drone war is being staged (to a
degree) on German soil, I have to believe that American – German relations will face
another difficult time. We need that, as my grandmother used to say, “Like a loch in
kopf”.
TOPOGRAPHY OF TERROR
I love being wrong.- especially when what turns out that the issue I was negative about
eventuates into something quite positive and spectacular. That was, indeed, the case
with the Topography or Terror Documentation Center in Berlin.
Across the street from the old State of Prussian Parliament Building where the State of
Berlin Parliament now meets (Abgeordnetenhaus) was the ruins (DW)”[That] formerly
housed the headquarters of the Gestapo as well as the SS and the Reich Security
Office. What remained of the buildings after the war was knocked down and the site left
to crumble. It wasn’t until 1987 that a temporary exhibition opened there. More than two
decades later, in 2010, the documentation center opened. It features a permanent
exhibition alongside a series of temporary displays which deal with the horrors of the

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Nazi era. Outside, the remains of the Gestapo “house prison” foundations are a further
reminder of the horrors that occurred on the site. It was here that some 15,000 Nazi
resistors were interrogated and tortured.
In the late 1990’s when I lived and worked in Berlin I never thought much would come of
it. It was a ruin. Who would care about a pile of bricks? The “Director Elect” was Rabbi
Andreas Nachama, an old and good friend of mine. He had faith. (After all, he is a
rabbi). I was dead wrong.
(DW) A large crowd has gathered by the information panels, which are suspended from
the ceiling by metal ropes. The building’s glass façade lets in a dull light. The
Topography of Terror has been open for just half an hour but already it is brimming with
people. The first of the day’s tours for school pupils is underway and a group of seniors
has begun to make its way through the exhibition. Meanwhile, parents explain to their
children in hushed tones who Hitler, the man in the pictures, was. The early-morning
bustle is nothing unusual here; in 2014 the Topography of Terror attracted some 1.36
million visitors, more than any other Nazi memorial site.
Unlike the Holocaust Memorial at the Brandenburg Gate which commemorates the
Jewish victims of Nazi Germany, the Topography of Terror is primarily a documentation
center, designed to inform about the horrors of the Nazi regime. Its location on what
was once the political center of Nazi terror adds a poignant dimension to the exhibition.
The site, which is close to Potsdamer Platz, formerly housed the headquarters of the
Gestapo as well as the SS and the Reich Security Office. What remained of the
buildings after the war was knocked down and the site left to crumble. It wasn’t until
1987 that a temporary exhibition opened there. More than two decades later, in 2010,
the documentation center opened. It features a permanent exhibition alongside a series
of temporary displays which deal with the horrors of the Nazi era. Outside, the remains
of the Gestapo “house prison” foundations are a further reminder of the horrors that
occurred on the site. It was here that some 15,000 Nazi resistors were interrogated and
tortured.
Berlin is home to many memorial sites linked to Nazi horrors, including the House of the
Wannsee Conference and the German Resistance Memorial Center, both of which have
registered an increase in visitor numbers. The Topography of Terror has had a
particularly successful run however. In the five years since its opening, it’s welcomed
some ten million visitors.
While some avail of the free audio guide provided by the center, other visitors join a tour
which is available in eleven languages. One of the tour guides is Adi Kantor from Israel.
She came to Berlin more than four years ago as part of her university program. For the
past two years, she’s been giving tours in English and Hebrew. “60 minutes isn’t a long
time for a tour but I hope that I can provoke visitors to think,” she explains. For her, the
documentation center is a representation of what humans are capable of under certain
conditions.

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“Our aim at the Topography of Terror is to shift the focus onto the perpetrators," she
says. For her, it is important to establish a link between the past and the present. “The
goal is to educate people about democracy, tolerance and the protection of individual
freedoms and to break down prejudices. If my colleagues and I can contribute to that
with our tours, then we are doing our job right."
Rabbi Nachama (Andreas to me – or even Andy) has done a splendid job in making the
ToT into an internationally famous center – one with a real message. For any of you
who have Berlin in your travel plans it should be an absolute “must”.
Sometimes it pays to be wrong.
For a more complete history click on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topography_of_Terror
THE INTELLIGENCE FLAP
Last year there was a genuine diplomatic eruption when it came to light that the
American NSA (National Security Agency) was not only tapping German phones but
had even been successful (If that’s what you want to call it) in getting into Chancellor
Merkel’s cell phone. There were meetings, discussions, etc. some at high levels and
Pres. Obama had to call the Chancellor and apologize. The German media was full of
anti-American stuff and some went as far as saying that the rupture is American –
German relations would take years to heal if, indeed, it ever did.
It now appears that the diplomatic flap has flipped as it was reported in late April (DW)
that, “Several German media outlets allege that Germany's secret service, the BND,
helped the NSA spy on France and EU institutions. It comes after claims that Germany
tolerated NSA spying on European firms.
Germany's foreign intelligence service, BND, spied on top French officials as well as
members of the European Commission on behalf of US spy agency NSA, according to
reports in German daily "Süddeutsche Zeitung" and public broadcasters WDR and
NDR.
In an article published on Thursday's front page, Süddeutsche claimed the BND's
wiretapping center in Bad Aibling, south of Munich, was "abused" to help the NSA spy
on "high-ranking French officials in the French Foreign Ministry, the Elysée Palace and
the EU Commission."
Citing an internal investigation, the paper goes on to say that European companies
were also affected, but to a lesser extent. The NSA was particularly interested in
intelligence on illegal defense deals, the paper says. German politicians and companies
were not on the list Süddeutsche claimed to have seen.
At the moment there is a lot of political accusations flying around. So as not to bore you
with all the details and probable cover-ups, I want to point your attention to an article in
DW by Kay-Alexander Scholz entitled, “Countries don't have friends they have

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interests”.
Scholz notes, “The evil Americans should finally come clean and tell the German people
exactly what the NSA is up to, and if and why they are snooping on them on a massive
scale.
That, at least, was more or less the tenor of the intelligence service debate in Germany
a year ago.
At the time, Hillary Clinton's Senior Adviser for Innovation, Alec Ross, said that the
Germans would be well advised to take a look in the mirror. The BND is no different
than the NSA, their budget is just smaller. He said he was well informed about accepted
practices. Ross didn't get much attention in the German media at the time. Somehow
those statements didn't fit the picture.
Intelligence agencies are intelligence agencies – even the BND
Now, the topic is back again. In the meantime, the German public has learned that the
BND has indeed been playing the great intelligence services game, where there is no
good, and no bad, just interests. Spying between friends, that's just not done? With that
statement, the chancellor was attempting to take control of the discussion.
But there is no friendship treaty between the USA and Germany. The Americans don't
even allow the Germans to participate in Five-Eyes. There are enough reasons for the
Americans to view Europe skeptically, and there is a basis for their curiosity: What is
going on with the Greek bailout? In the Ukrainian crisis? What is the European take on
TTIP? When it comes to mega-contracts for corporations, espionage knows no limits.
There are shared interests in the war on terror though. In Berlin, the chancellor's
spokesman, Steffen Seibert, made an interesting statement about that - which was also
lost to the German public: In the fight against terror, there is no better partner than the
USA. That sounded a lot like an excuse, but at least it was honest. He could not
comment on any of the rest. Classified information.
Thomas de Maizière would sacrifice a pawn
Thus, a vast gray area remains. The big question is whether the Office of the Chancellor
has detailed knowledge of what the BND is actually doing, and vice versa. But the
Office of the Chancellor also has to keep its eye on the big picture – and that is
cooperation with the USA. Without them – in terms of finances alone – nothing
happens.
Like it or not, it's a dirty business, but the intelligence service is no picnic. To look for a
pawn to sacrifice, as is currently happening with Thomas de Maizière, won't help at all.
The world will not become any simpler because of it. The only thing to come out of it will
be that a potential successor to Angela Merkel would be taken out of the equation,
much to the delight of rival Ursula von der Leyen. And to the delight of the opposition,
who could then claim victory in the parliamentary committee investigations of the NSA
spying scandal. But that would be a purely domestic political victory. The real debate

15. 15
has to take place between Berlin and Washington. Yet, ever since last year's cyber-
dialogue, there is only silence on that front.
It’s pretty obvious that the silence will continue. It’s the nature of spies and spying that
the don’t talk and certainly don’t reveal any secrets worth knowing about. Sure! There
may be a sacrificial lamb or two but rampant intelligence gathering will continue apace.
What happens to the right of privacy? When it comes to “security” it hardly matters.
**********************************************************************************************
See you again in June.
DuBow Digest is written and published by Eugene DuBow who can be reached
at dubowdigest@email.com
Both the American and Germany editions are posted at www.dubowdigest.net