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AUnited Europe
Nearer
ThanYouThink!
by
Ronald D. Kelly
For centuries Europeans have dreamed of a united continent.
That dream is destined soon to be ful filled!
I
T's NOT
a new idea-a
United States of Europe.
French writer Víctor
Hugo first used the phrase
in the mid-1800s. Before him
Yoltaire and Goethe phi loso–
phized about it. Beethoven ,
Mozart and Wagner dreamed of
it as they composed beautiful
music. Michelangelo and Rem–
brandt contemplated a united
Europe wh ile they produced
magnificent paintings. Even
Dante Alighieri, as early as
1300, dared to envision the
European continent at peace
under one ruler.
l t has been the dream of Euro–
peans fo r centuries. Emperors of
the Holy Roman Empire, kings and
queens, feudal lords, Popes and
archbishops, dukes, barons and
earls, philosophers, artists, musi–
cians and commoners by the mil–
lions have vainly yearned for a
united Europe.
The centuríes have passed and it
still remains an unfulfilled dream.
The Mood Since World War 11
Commemorating the 40th anniver–
sary of the end of World War II, on
May 8, 1985, European Par liament
President Pierre P flimlin said,
" lt
might now seem a vain hope to
dream of bringing together all the
peoples of Europe, but no one can
stop us d reaming of a complete
November / December 1985
Europe united in peace. After all,
mankind's greatest steps forward
have often only been dreams come
true."
Forty years ago Europe !ay in
ruins from bullets, bombs and mi l–
lions of marching boots. When
British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill surveyed the devastation
in the Ruhr he could not envision
Germany rebui lding in the next 50
years.
But rebui ld they d id .
In a speech he made in Zurich,
Switzerland, in 1946, Chu rchill
called to mind Víctor Hugo's 1850s
phrase as he advocated a "United
States of Europe."
French Foreign Minister Aris–
tide Briand , even in the halcyon
days before the Great Depression,
proposed the creation of a U ni ted
States of Europe to the League of
Nations.
It was given to a committee for
further study. The dream was tem–
porarily obscured by the rubble of
the Second World War.
After the war no one knew if the
dream could ever come to fulfill–
ment. Europe was many nations
now divided into two camps-East
and West. T he bombing raids were
over. The Cold War was on.
Two Europes-Forever Divided?
The end of the war in Europe 40
years ago left Europea divided con–
tinent. An "Iron Cur taín" sepa–
rated the two halves.
Many wonder how long such
separation can endure. What could
bring the nations of Europe
together? Or is the status quo satis–
factory for the peoples of Europe?
The separation can be realized
above all else in the two Germa–
nies- East and West. At the end of
the war, many Western leaders
assumed somehow the two Ger–
manies would once agaín unite.
But 40 long years later they
seem more apart than ever. An
en tire generation has g rown to
matur ity knowíng only the reality
of two Germanies. Young East
Germans on the whole seem little
interested in being dissolved into
the fast-paced Western culture that
has developed after the war years.
Many fai l to realize most people
alive today only know the Second
World War as history. Anyone less
than 50 years of age remembers
almost nothing from personal expe–
rience. I was 1 year old when Hitler
marched Nazi troops into t he
Sudetenland. When the surrender
papers were signed in 1945,
1
was
only 7. My memories of tbe war are
toy soldiers and model airplanes.
While in Europe this year 1
spoke with many Europeans, most
of them less than 50, who like
myself only know of the Second
World War as an event of history.
A couple who are friends of mine
are East Germans. Upon hearing I
was in Europe they made arrange–
ments for a trip to Yienna where we
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