Many questions linger as Germany marks the 75th anniversary of the Basic Law - das Grundgesetz - signed on May 23rd, 1949
, a character embraces strange, new pleasures in her unified German homeland – travel and shoplifting – while asking bigger questions. “Wasn’t it agreed that a unified Germany would get a new constitution?” wonders Katharina as she strolls out of a DIY store with a stolen lawnmower. “Instead, the Basic Law of West Germany has extended its jurisdiction over the East. Was that fair?”The original volume, weighing 1.4kg and bound in beige goat leather, was always more than just a legal document.
For some, this institutionalised a two-speed Germany. Many former easterners like Jenny Erpenbeck take a more sober view of the Basic Law on what, for them, is its 34th anniversary. Recent shocks mean that one-time future is now. In this present, Germany is struggling to redefine itself – and its Basic Law., with one year to go in office as the “traffic light coalition”, resembles a car crash of competing interests and unresolvable ideologies.
With particularly ironic timing, Germany’s Basic Law anniversary comes amid the country’s first-ever trials for high treason. A group of 27 people, ranging from aristocrats to astrologers, are accused of planning to overturn the democratic order and replace it with a military-backed monarchy. It’s two years since Scholz used a Prague speech to call for “swift and pragmatic” EU reform. Few new ideas have followed as the chancellor struggles to match the European rhetorical elan of French presidentThe chancellor could be forgiven given his preoccupation with something not even mentioned in the Basic Law: Israel.took bilateral relations to a new level. She described Germany’s historical responsibility for Nazi crimes against European Jews as “part of my country’s Staatsräson .
Asked how it would react to any ICC warrant against Netanyahu – effectively a choice between Israel and international law – Germany made a discreet but significant shift: Steffen Hebestreit, spokesman for Scholz, said Germany would “naturally stick to the law”.
Germany Jenny-Erpenbeck Olaf-Scholz Angela-Merkel Gaza-Strip
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