Section:GDN 1N PaGe:28 Edition Date:190829 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 28/8/2019 18:57 cYanmaGentaYellowb
- The Guardian Thursday 29 Aug ust 2019
(^28) National
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989
unsettled Margaret Thatcher and
caused divisions with diplomats in
East and West Germany
PHOTOGRAPH: ALAMY
Thatcher’s qualms over
reunited Germany ‘hurt
Britain’, archives reveal
Ben Quinn
Exasperated British diplomats warned
that Margaret Thatcher’s reser vations
about German reunification had
caused “growing resentment” among
Germans, according to newly declas-
sifi ed documents that shed light on a
loss of infl uence in Europe pre-dating
current rifts over Brexit.
The standing of the UK in Germany
was “at its lowest for years” by Febru-
ary 1990 – months before reunifi cation
- the Foreign Offi ce was warned by the
British ambassador to West Germany ,
Christopher Mallaby.
While the then prime minister’s
opposition to the two German states
uniting has long been known, the fi les
released yesterday at the National
Archives in Kew detail the extent to
which her position caused divisions
with her diplomats, among others.
One fi le notes that Douglas Hurd ,
then the foreign secretary, thought
that Britain should be very cautious
“not to appear to be a brake on every-
thing ” and “should come forward with
some positive ideas of [ its ] own ”.
On the eve of reunifi cation , which
took place on 3 October 1990 , a joint
dispatch by the British ambassadors to
East and West Germany forecast “the
likely nature and aspirations” of the
new united country.
“Germany is again in the ascendant.
With the scars of 1933-45 still vivid in
many memories, this has not surpris-
ingly caused concern in other parts of
Europe,” stated the joint dispatch from
Patrick Eyers , the ambassador to East
Germany, and Mallaby.
“Twice bitten, thrice vigilant. Ger-
many’s neighbours naturally wonder
how far the Germans have really
changed since 1945, and whether
following unifi cation there will be
another shift in the behaviour of a
nation that so often has proved vol-
atile. What will sovereign united
Germany be like?”
Mallaby and Eyers concluded:“There is no reason to expect rever-
sion to the behaviour which caused
two world wars .”
But they added: “Our German ally
and partner will be much more diffi -
cult but not dangerous to deal with. We
shall need in particular to watch out
for interaction between greater Ger-
man assertiveness and pressure from
the German public over defence policy,
which could cause serious problems.”
Problems of a diff erent kind had
already been stored up, however, as
a result of Thatcher’s stance.
It later transpired she had told the
Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev,that Britain and western Europe were
“not interested” in the unifi cation of
Germany.
The documents released from Kew
include a February 1990 dispatch from
the diplomat Pauline Neville-Jones ,
then stationed at the British embassy
in Bonn, who noted how Thatcher’s
attitude to German reunifi cation was
attracting widespread criticism in the
West German media.
“The tone is deplorable. But dam-
age is being done,” she said.
In a final dispatch from Eyers,
in which he bade “farewell to an
unloved country”, Britain’s man in
the GDR wrote on 2 October 1990: “At
midnight to night the German Demo-
cratic Republic will cease to exist as
a state.
“In what mood do the people of the
GDR come to unity? ... My impression
is one of deep emotion, of content-
ment mixed with a certain trepidation
in the face of the uncertainties ahead.
But none of them is looking back.”
Mallaby, his counterpart in the
west, was meanwhile raising a glass
to Germany over lunch, where he told
those gathered around him: “ Long
live reunifi ed Berlin in a sovereign
Germany, in an undivided Europe.”rr
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GGGThatcher’s stance caused
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