Primary source analysis

By the time of the meeting, West Germany had already provided sufficient financial assistance to compensate for the damage caused. Such assistance gave state leaders reasons to believe that establishing diplomatic relations was possible and could become a breakthrough in the development of both countries. Furthermore, diplomatic relations between Germany and Israel could act as a factor hindering the risk of recurring military conflicts and unjustified violence. Although the analyzed source sheds light on the establishment and promotion of diplomatic relations between the two countries following the world’s bloodiest war, several questions are still left to be answered. One question is about how the two sides managed to overcome the public resistance following the decision to facilitate cooperation between Israel and West Germany. For many people of Israel, especially, Holocaust survivors, such cooperation seemed absolutely impossible even though West Germany assumed financial obligations for compensating the damage caused by the Nazi regime. On the other hand, the document does not provide any insight into how the people of West Germany accepted Adenauer’s diplomatic initiative, especially considering that the state economy was destroyed by military actions and vast resources were needed to ensure things came back to normal in their own country. The last, but hardly the least thought-provoking, question is about the role of the external effects on West Germany’s decision to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. It is a well-known fact that the defeat of Germany in World War II led to the splitting of the country into two parts controlled by the former allies. While East Germany was controlled by the Soviet Union, West Germany was under the influence of the United Kingdom, France, and the United States. The Cold War period revealed the former allies demonstrated a very different approach to managing their lands, people, and economic and political potential. A further look into these differences is needed to gain an in-depth understanding of the reasons why West Germany initiated a dialogue with Israel, while East Germany demonstrated reluctance in this specific case.A thorough reading of the document helps to formulate several lessons learned the first attempts to set a dialogue between West Germany and Israel, and these lessons have not lost their relevance to modern states. The first, and, probably, one of the most important lessons is that people change. The good news is that even former enemies can turn into allies if they are ready to reconsider their past and make sure it does not intervene with their present and future. The ability to learn from the past helped Germany to re-enter the political arena as a full member and an important agent of change. The second lesson is that a country’s strategic decision-making and resilience depend significantly on its political philosophy and ideology. In the post-war period, parts of Germany were offered different economic and political tracks, which shaped their approaches to establishing relations with other countries and planning further economic and cultural development. In addition to teaching a repertoire of lessons, the analysis of the assigned source also suggests a significant moral to consider. In my understanding, this moral is about the power of forgiving. It goes without saying that the Nazi Germany brought much grief to the people of Israel and undermined the nation’s sustainable development for the generations to come. However, the people of Israel had the strength to forgive their executioners and accept their assistance to build one of the world’s strongest and most resilient states. Summing up, the analyzed document sheds light on the geopolitical processes in the after-war period and explains how efforts to reconcile with the past pave the way to the future.BibliographyBen-Gurion and Dr. Adenauer meet: Pledge mutual cooperation. Jewish Teleraphic Agency Daily News Bulletin, XXVIII(51). Edelheit, A., Edelheit, H., Edelheit, A. (1995). History of Holocaust: A handbook and dictionary. Westview Press.Fischel, J.R. (2020). Historical dictionary of the Holocaust (Historical dictionaries of war, revolution, and civil unrest). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.Encyclopedia of Holocaust (2024). Nazi camps. Encyclopedia of Holocaust, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-campsShalom, Z. (1997). Document: David Ben-Gurion and Chancellor Adenauer at the Waldorf Astoria on 14 March 1960. Israel Studies, 2(1), 50-71. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30245698Stauber, R. (2003). “Realpolitik” and the burden of the past: Israeli diplomacy and the “other Germany.” Israel Studies, 8(3), 100-122. Stauber, R, (2021). The impact of the Eichmann Trial on relations between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany. In The Eichman Trial Reconsidered. University of Toronto Press, https://doi.org/10.3138/9781487538361-011