Date Posted:11:28:33 10/14/04 Thu Author: Shane Subject: Re: German Politics and Culture In reply to:
Chris
's message, "Re: German Politics and Culture" on 11:00:37 10/14/04 Thu
My major in college was Political Science with a minor in History. My concentration in Political Science was Soviet foriegn policy. I always thought it was funny that I studied Soviet f.p. because as soon as I graduated in 1991, the Soviet Union broke apart. Oh well.
Europe has an interesting history and Americans don't really have a chance to discuss it with Europeans. Also, part of my family tree goes back to Germany. My grandmothers maiden name was 'Knight'.
SHane
>How about in Germany, who have been the great
>leaders of Germany since 1945?
>
>In Germany, the chancellor is somewhat comparable to
>the US president. We also have a president, but he is
>a different person and has mainly a representative
>role. Most of our presidents were great people, but
>they cannot be considered leaders. Among our
>chancellors, I would mention Konrad Adenauer
>(christian conservative) as the first one, not only
>chronologically. The next great leader was Willy Brand
>(social democrat). Helmut Schmid's (social democrat)
>term of office was too short to count him among the
>great figures, but he was a great and intellectual
>man. His successor Helmut Kohl (christian
>conservative) was the contrary, not very intellectual.
>He was a confessing (Catholic) christian and would
>have been a great leader and historic figure (he was
>the chancellor of the unity) if not there had been the
>party-donations affair at the end of his career. So,
>he became rather a tragical figure of history. He also
>was too much of a power monger. Our current
>chancellor, Schroeder is not so bad as many believed,
>but he is certainly not a great leader.
>
>Shane, is there a particular reason you are so
>interested in Germany and Europe?
