Why is the pacifist tradition here in Germany so strong?
The pacifist tradition in Germany has deep roots. It basically goes back to World War Two, the horrors this nation went through and the process of nation-building it went through right afterwards. My parents were brought up in the belief that weapons shouldn’t be allowed in this country. A full generation was never used to the idea that a state should be legitimized to defend itself, to use force. The historians use a phrase called “the horizon of expectations” — “What do you expect? What does a nation expect it should do?” This nation, Germany, always expected itself to care for the well-being of its people — for economic well-being, for bettering of lives, basically — but it never took responsibilities for its outer security, for its role in the world. It accepted that there was a threat at its eastern border, the Soviet threat, and that had to be fended off. But it was to be fended off with the help of the Americans. … German foreign policy was always in the shadow of American
