Download - German Historical Institute London

Review Articles
Secretary, who thought that the Germans’ ‘abiding characteristics’
included ‘angst, aggressiveness, assertiveness, bullying, egotism,
inferiority complex and sentimentality’. Charles Powell concluded
that the ‘weight of evidence and the argument favoured those who
were optimistic about life with a united Germany’. The optimists evidently
included all those present at the seminar, except the Prime
Minister herself.
The atmosphere for the summit was soured by a public spat over
Poland’s western border. On 26 March Sir Christopher Mallaby was
summoned by Teltschik who reported Kohl’s ‘shock and amazement’
that the Prime Minister should have told Der Spiegel that she had
heard him say at the European Council in Strasbourg on 8 December
that he ‘did not recognise the current frontiers’, and that previous as -
sur ances on this subject had been ‘overturned by the German courts’. 55
Kohl arrived in Britain a couple of days later, buoyed up by the victory
of the CDU-dominated Alliance for Germany in the GDR elections
on 18 March, and peeved by the Prime Minister’s latest interview.
56 The stage was set for a remarkable gala dinner at the Königs -
winter conference. Prime Minister and Chancellor were seated,
rather like Thai royalty, on one side of an elevated table, overlooking
conference participants, and separated by Sir Oliver Wright, a previous
ambassador to the FRG. In his after-dinner speech Kohl, who
seemed to me to be enjoying himself, paid tribute to those who had
made the present transformation of Europe possible, including
Winston Churchill, Michael Gorbachev, and those who had sustained
the Königswinter forum for forty years. The Prime Minister
congratulated Kohl on his election victory, and acknowledged that
Germany’s aspiration for unity would soon be realized. However,
she displayed no enthusiasm for it at a separate meeting with representatives
of the new political forces in East Germany who had been
invited to the conference. In her speech, she recalled British support
for Germany over the years since the end of the war. But her main
themes were the issue (still to be resolved) of a united Germany’s
place in NATO and the future role of the CSCE. The Prime Minister
gave a preview of the ideas that she had encouraged officials to
develop for the forthcoming summit. There should be new provi-
55 Salmon, Hamilton, and Twigge (eds.), German Unification, no. 181.
56 Ibid. no. 176.
72