Egon Krenz at the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park (Berlin, 9 May 2023)
Last week, two German warships passed through the strait between mainland China and the island of Taiwan. Social Democratic Minister Boris Pistorius said it was “the shortest route and, given the weather conditions, the safest route.” Beijing was furious. You too?
Of course. What are the frigates “Baden-Württemberg” and “Frankfurt am Main” actually doing in the Far East? They were not cruising along the Chinese coast because of the weather, but to provoke. This kind of gun politics has a tradition. This brings to mind the so-called Panther Leap to Agadir in 1911. Kaiser Wilhelm II sent his gun “Panther” to the Moroccan coast as a demonstration of power to show France, the colonial power, his murderous tools. Unlike today, the SPD leaders protested and called for a peaceful demonstration. But big German capital was just as happy then as it is now. In 1911 their newspapers asked, “When will we march?” Today it says, “German industry is encouraging the Federal Government to maintain as much as possible the rules-based international order that is already falling apart.” The hammer.
It’s the same sound as the emperor blowing his trumpet a hundred years ago.
Do you remember Wilhelm’s infamous “Hun speech” of 1900, when the “expedition” set out for China? “If you go before the enemy, you will be defeated!” No quarters will be given! No prisoners will be taken,” he ordered the soldiers in Bremerhaven at the time. “(…) May the name Germany in China be confirmed by you for 1,000 years, so that no Chinese will dare to bury it. We are Germans again!” This imperialist megalomania led to World War I. I see a striking parallel. Thanks to China’s desire for peace, there was no backlash. But the traffic light government must not misunderstand this.
Task Force Supplier to be deployed in Pacific Operations “Frankfurt am Main” (Tokyo, August 20, 2024)
Will the danger of war that we face be the subject of your speech in Berlin on October 5th?
This event at the Babylon Cinema was organized to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the GDR. In 1949, a week before the GDR was established, the People’s Republic of China entered the world political arena. And of course, when we think about the past and the present, we cannot ignore the peace policies of these two countries. Opposition to war and the struggle for peace are central issues of all socialist foreign policy. That is what remains of the GDR. And China will continue to exist as long as it can stand up to world imperialism economically and militarily and is not provoked.
The idea of peace revolves around your “memories”. Two volumes have already been published in Edition Ost.. The third and final work was released by the publisher on November 18th. Is that person coming?
He is coming, but not on the announced date. Probably not until early next year. Because of my many commitments, I have less time than I should have spent on the computer. As we all know, at my age, time and energy are limited. So you have to set priorities. And the priorities set by East Germany and published in this newspaper in the 1980s were not the worst, but they were not the worst. “Everything is now especially for peace. Make peace against American missiles!” Anyone who claims that freedom is more important than peace does not know what war is. I experienced the end of World War II when I was a child. For me, peace is the first right of man. Defending it against NATO should be the first duty of a citizen.
