Comité français d'échanges avec l'Allemagne nouvelle

The Comité français d'échanges avec l'Allemagne nouvelle , the French committee for the exchange with the new Germany, was founded in 1948 as a private initiative of the French philosopher Emmanuel Mounier (1905–1950) with the political scientist and sociologist Alfred Grosser (* 1925) in cooperation with other French intellectuals such as the writer Jean Schlumberger (1877–1968), the Germanists Edmond Vermeil (1878–1964) and Robert Minder (1902–1980), the Germanist and resistance fighter Robert d'Harcourt (1881–1965) from the Académie Française , the resistance fighter Henri Frenay , the journalist and resistance fighter Rémy Roure (1885–1966), the writer Vercors (1902–1991), the philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980) and Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961) , the pastor and writer Albert Finet and the Jesuit priest, resistance fighter and military chaplain Jean du Rivau (1903–1970). Most of the participants had a Catholic background, some of them were of Jewish origin.

Goals and direction

The committee advocated European integration as well as reconciliation and constructive cooperation with the new Germany. This initially meant Germany in the phase after 1945 and after its founding in 1949 the Federal Republic , which saw itself as the legal successor to the German Reich, but not the GDR .

The Comité français d'échanges avec l'Allemagne nouvelle created a kind of "infrastructure of human relations", as Alfred Grosser describes it in retrospect , especially in the run-up to the later political activities of the two states.

The committee's program juxtaposed the old stereotype of the arch enemy (l'Allemagne éternelle - meaning: Germany that would remain the same forever) with the image of a new Germany (l'Allemagne nouvelle), as it emerged from the establishment of the Federal Republic on May 23, 1949 the basis of their Basic Law manifested. At the same time, with its main objective of a European federation including Germany, it included the orientation of the French resistance movement during the Second World War , the Resistance , in its program.

Between 1949 and 1967, the committee published its own periodical, the Bulletin d'information Allemagne (Germany).

Numerous representatives of the new democratic Germany were invited by the committee to give lectures at the Sorbonne University in Paris , for example the writer Alfred Andersch (1914–1980), the journalist, publisher and publicist Rudolf Augstein (1923–2002), the writer Heinrich Böll (1917–1980) 1985), the theologian Otto Dibelius (1880–1967), the publicist Walter Dirks (1901–1991), the political scientist Theodor Eschenburg (1904–1999), the theologian and politician Eugen Gerstenmaier (1906–1986), the historian Hans Herzfeld ( 1892–1982), the Romance philologist, philologist and science politician Gerhard Hess (1907–1983), the first Federal President Theodor Heuss (1884–1963), the politician Kurt Georg Kiesinger (1904–1988), the political scientist and sociologist Eugen Kogon (1903– 1987), the sociologist Eugen Lemberg (1903–1976), the politician Hans Lukaschek (1885–1960), the social scientist Theo Pirker (1922–1995), the publicist and politician Josef Rommerskirchen (1916–2010), the trade unionist Ludwig Rosenberg (1903–1977), the sociologist Helmut Schelsky (1912–1984), the politician and constitutional lawyer Carlo Schmid (1896–1979), the journalist Theo Sommer (* 1930) and the politician and constitutional judge Erwin Stein (1903–1992) .

The media balance was positive at the time:

"The merits of the committee and its newsletter" Allemagne ", the hundredth issue of which was the last, for the detoxification and improvement of Franco-German relations must be emphasized. (...) One of the most important demands of the "Comité d'échanges" and its paper consisted in the most factual information possible about both countries (...) The committee always represented a vigilant, balanced position that opposed any fanaticism on both sides. (...) The "Comité d'échanges" paved the way in its endeavors to extend exchange and cultural policy beyond the conventional framework to all areas of social life, from youth to trade unions, from business to the churches . "

- Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , FAZ, January 31, 1968

organization

Door knockers on house 21, rue Béranger, Paris - a symbol for the work of the committee: making contacts and paving the way

Board of Trustees

The committee's board of trustees (Comité directeur) consisted of Albert Finet, Henri Frenay, Alfred Grosser, Robert d'Harcourt, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Robert Minder, Emmanuel Mounier, Jean du Rivau, Rémy Roure, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Schlumberger , Vercors and Edmond Vermeil together. Membership in this board of trustees was regulated: no one who had been convicted of collaboration with the enemy (Nazi Germany) could belong to it.

Bureau

The five-member presidium was made up of Mounier, Rémy Roure, David Rousset , Vercors and Vermeil. None of the presidium members was allowed to work or have worked for the French Foreign Ministry, the Commissariat for German and Austrian Affairs or the military or civil administration of the French occupation zone in Germany. The same rule applied to the general secretary and the treasurer. This should guarantee the autonomy of the committee and its critical capacity.

Office

The former organizational office of the Comité français d'échanges avec l'Allemagne nouvelle was located at 21, rue Béranger, in the third arrondissement of Paris. The building still exists. The honorary general secretary (Secrétaire général) was Alfred Grosser, his mother Lily Grosser was the full-time secretary . Both held these offices from 1948 to 1967. Treasurer (trésorier) was the writer and resistance fighter Jean-Marie Domenach .

statute

The aim was to educate the Germans and the French about the political, cultural and social reality of the other state. It also wanted to support those Germans who fought against old and new manifestations of National Socialism as well as those Germans who showed willingness to actively participate in building an international community.

periodical

Allemagne - Bulletin d'information du Comité français d'échanges avec l'Allemagne nouvelle. The first edition appeared in April 1949 with a print run of 5,000 copies. The last issue, No. 100, appeared in 1967.

Cooperations

In 1948, on a German initiative, the Franco-German Institute was founded in Ludwigsburg , which subsequently developed into an important cooperation partner of the Comité français d'échanges avec l'Allemagne nouvelle . Theodor Heuss, Carlo Schmid, Fritz Schenk and Alfred Grosser were involved in founding this institute . At the time, the institute was located in the US zone of occupation in order to ensure that it worked independently of the French occupation authorities . At the official opening of the DFI on February 12, 1949, Vermeil held the keynote address as a representative of the committee.

Retrospective

Through the exchange of ideas and the creation of a social network, the committee is seen as a pioneer of the Franco-German Youth Office (DFJW), which was founded in 1963 and based on the Élysée Treaty of January 22, 1963 , signed by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and President Charles de Gaulle was created. Grosser attributes the committee, which existed until 1967, to exerting influence on Franco-German politics in the 1950s and 1960s.

literature

Alfred Grosser: My Germany . Hoffmann & Campe, Hamburg 1993 ISBN 3-455-08475-3
Alfred Grosser: Une vie de Français. Flammarion, Paris 1997 ISBN 2-0806-7281-9
Martin Strickmann: L'Allemagne nouvelle contre l'Allemagne éternelle. The French intellectuals and the Franco-German understanding 1944–1950 . Peter Lang, Bern 2004 ISBN 3-6315-2195-2