Of Pride & Politics

"As a people, Germans still have not come to rest," warned West Berlin's Mayor Willy Brandt in Manhattan last week. His words were aptly illustrated in his home town, where some 400,000 West Berliners visited relatives in East Berlin on special Easter passes. Even more restless was an East German family of five who stole across the Wall, a 17-year-old girl who swam across a boundary canal, and an East German engineer who bilked a West German visiting East Berlin over Easter out of his identity papers by posing as a member of the secret police, then used the papers to flee into West Berlin.

Brandt was not resting either. In an election-year ramble that included "consultations" with Lyndon Johnson in Washington, fishing in Florida and speeches in New York, West Germany's Socialist candidate for Chancellor supported U.S. policies in Viet Nam--and urged the U.S. to promote German reunification. "It was as inevitable as the sunrise that the German people would seek their national identity. No people can live without pride," he cried, well aware that reunification is a major issue of the coming campaign.

With Brandt making headlines, Chancellor Ludwig Erhard felt it appropriate to invite a reporter from the West German press agency down for a chat at his vacation retreat in Bavaria, and there the conversation got around to reunification too. "What really counts," said Erhard, "is that we develop a continuous initiative." He added, in a swipe at the Socialists' advocacy of "small and medium steps" (such as the Easter passes): "Let us not fall prey to the self-deception that reunification can be reached with inadequate technical means."

Focusing new attention on Berlin and the ugly Wall that divides it and Germany will be next month's visit by Britain's Queen Elizabeth. Germans are doing everything to ensure an impeccable reception. Last week the German Dancing Teachers Association offered its suggestions on proper conduct. The teachers recommended clapping and cries of "Koenigin Elizabeth," with curtsying as "optional." Just in case a relative of the Kaisers might induce any other anachronisms, the association nervously suggested that "the word 'Heil' as an expression of joy should be avoided for reasons of tact."

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