The convictions of a realist: concepts of ‘solidarity’ in Helmut Schmidt’s European thought, 1945–82

Abstract

This article reconstructs concepts of ‘European solidarity’ in Helmut Schmidt’s political thought. Tracing Schmidt’s beliefs from the late 1940s to the period of his chancellorship and beyond, it shows how his concepts of European solidarity were shaped by the lessons he drew from the political and economic catastrophes of the 1920s and 1930s. The article reveals how Schmidt developed a largely functionalist understanding of ‘European solidarity’ that was grounded in both his generational experience and the piecemeal logic of European integration he derived from Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet. Schmidt believed that ‘European solidarity’ was not a given, but that it had to be consciously constructed through mutually beneficial intra-European cooperation. He was guided by two central convictions: that the interdependence of European economies made their cooperation both necessary and desirable; and that Germany’s unique historical burden and geostrategic location meant that its foreign policy always had to be embedded in a wider European framework. As West German Chancellor from 1974 to 1982, Schmidt then sought to translate these convictions into practice, trying to avoid a relapse into 1930s protectionism whilst at the same time hoping to avoid perceptions of German dominance in economic matters. Yet, he remained highly sceptical of any attempts to transfigure West European integration into a greater ‘European identity’, believing that the Cold War context made any such attempts futile since true European solidarity could only be practised on a pan-European scale. Putting these views in a broader context, the article concludes that Schmidt’s thoughts offer valuable insights into the relationship between constructions of ‘European solidarity’ and notions of ‘crises’, and suggests that the analysis of his pragmatic approach adds to new, less teleological narratives of European integration that are now emerging in the historiography.

Keywords:

• Helmut Schmidt
• European integration
• European solidarity
• West Germany
• Cold War

Notes

1. Reprinted in Schmidt, Mein Europa, 42. For ease of reference and better readability, “German” and “Germany” always refers to the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), unless specifically indicated otherwise.

2. Kühnhardt, Crises in European Integration.

3. In private conversation with the British Prime Minister James Callaghan. The National Archives, Public Record Office (henceforward: TNA: PRO/) PREM16/894, Note of a Conversation between the PM and FRG Chancellor after Lunch, June 30, 1976.

4. Schulz, “Reluctant European;” Loth, “Deutsche Europapolitik von Helmut Schmidt,” 475; Schulz, “Vom ‘Atlantiker’ zum ‘Europäer,’” 202–3.

5. Haeussler, “Cold War European?;” Mourlon-Druol, “Filling the EEC Leadership Vacuum?;” Thiemeyer, “Helmut Schmidt;” Mourlon-Druol, Europe Made of Money.

6. The article is based largely on several months of extensive research in Schmidt’s private archive in Hamburg, where Schmidt kept records of most of his writings, publications and speeches since the late 1940s. I have investigated writings for the period 1946–1982, and I would particularly like to thank Heike Lemke for her incredible help and support during my archival work there.

7. Stjernø, Solidarity in Europe.

8. Loth, “Sources of European Integration.” For an overview of pre-1945 schemes, see Stirk, “Integration and Disintegration;” with a tighter focus on Germany, Conze, Das Europa der Deutschen.

9. Winston Churchill, “Zurich Speech,” September 19, 1946. Quoted in: Documents on the History of European Integration, Vol. 3, The Struggle for European Union by Political Parties and Pressure Groups in Western European Countries 1945–1950, ed. Walter Lipgens and Wilfried Loth (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1988), 663–6.

10. Hitchcock, “France, the Western Alliance and the Origins of the Schuman Plan;” Gillingham, Coal, Steel, and the Rebirth of Europe.

11. “The Schuman Declaration,” May 9, 1950, https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/symbols/europe-day/schuman-declaration_en (accessed July 14, 2016).

12. Roseman, “Generation Conflict,” 32; see also Haeussler, “Cold War European?,” 429–30. For Schmidt’s experience of Nazi Germany, see Schmidt, “Politischer Rückblick.”.

13. Privates Helmut-Schmidt-Archiv Hamburg (henceforward: PHSA), Eigene Arbeiten, 1950–52, Helmut Schmidt, “Eine neue Hansa? Zur Frage der Zusammenarbeit der kontinentalen Nordseehäfen,” December 5, 1950. See also Helmut Schmidt, “II. Hamburg and the Other North Sea Ports: Helmut Schmidt asks Leading Hamburg Persons about their Opinion,” in Hamburg Economic Studies, ed. Hamburg Department of Foreign Trade (Staatliches Aussenhandelskontor) (Hamburg: Carl Holler Verlag, 1951).

14. PHSA, Eigene Arbeiten, 1950–52, 3/21: “Nordseehäfen und Integration der Europäischen Wirtschaft,” undated.

15. Helmut Schmidt, “Das Ruhrstatut – drei Wochen später,” Der Sozialist: Mitteilungsblatt der Landesorganisation Hamburg 4/2, February 1, 1949. See also his even earlier views in Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (Bonn), Helmut-Schmidt-Archiv (henceforward: 1/HSAA)005006, “Eine Chance für Europa,” SDS Gruppe Hamburg: Rundbrief, June 1948.

16. See the correspondence in PHSA, Eigene Arbeiten, Band 1, 1946–49, Heine an Meitmann, February 3, 1949; Schmidt an Meitmann, February 14, 1949.

17. Helmut Schmidt, “Zwerge und Riesen,” Abendzeitung, December 5, 1968.

18. Schmidt, Strategie des Gleichgewichts, 164.

19. See, for example, his strategy paper circulated to key members of the German cabinet just prior to his election as Chancellor. 1/HSAA010072, “Persönlich-Vertraulich: Memorandum,” May 7, 1974.

20. Schmidt, “Struggle for the World Product,” 447.

21. Ibid., 450–1.

22. BPA, ZDF: Bilanz (20.15 h), May 4, 1977 (copy in PHSA, Eigene Arbeiten, 10.4.–11.5.1977).

23. BPA, Rede auf SPD Parteitag der SPD des Landes Rheinland-Pfalz in Kaiserslautern, January 25, 1975 (copy in: PHSA, Eigene Arbeiten, 1.1.–7.2.1975).

24. Die Zeit, September 6, 1974; Burk and Cairncross, Goodbye, Great Britain, 64–112.

25. Mourlon-Druol, “Filling the EEC Leadership Vacuum?,” 325–6, 332.

26. Magnusson and Strath, “A Social Polity?,” 12.

27. General-Anzeiger, September 7, 1974.

28. BPA, BK im Interview für Deutschlandfunk, November 14, 1976 (copy in: PHSA, Eigene Arbeiten, November 1976–Januar 1977).

29. Quoted in diplomatic dispatch from the British Embassy in Bonn: TNA:PRO/PREM16/427, Bonn to FCO, July 16, 1975.

30. Le Monde, June 11, 1975.

31. PHSA, Eigene Arbeiten, 4.10.–7.11.1974, BPA, Hintergrundgespräch (off the record) im Presseklub: Helmut Schmidt und StS Bölling mit ARD-Chefredakteuren, October 9, 1974.

32. Protokolle des Deutschen Bundestages, 7. Wahlperiode, 235. Sitzung, April 8, 1976, 16449–50.

33. BPA, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in London, February 6, 1976 (copy in: PHSA, Eigene Arbeiten, Januar–März 1976).

34. Helmut Schmidt, ‘Germany in and with and for Europe: Speech given by former Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt on 4 December 2011, SPD Party Conference Berlin.’ Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung: International Policy Analysis, https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/id/ipa/08888.pdf (accessed June 29, 2016).

35. Schmidt and Steinbrück, Zug um Zug, 236–7. However, Schmidt added that this should take the form of investments and European infrastructure projects, rather than be confined to financial help only.

36. Schmidt, “Germany In and With and For Europe.’”

37. See footnote 14.

38. Welt am Sonntag, January 2, 1966.

39. Reprinted in: “Die Lage der Nation im geteilten Deutschland,” special issue, Tatsachen – Argumente, No. 5 (1968).

40. Time Magazine, May 10, 1976; Economist, September 29, 1979.

41. Schmidt, Strategie des Gleichgewichts, 25; “Rede Schmidt zur Lage der Nation,” 28. Januar 1971. In: BPA, Bulletin 13, January 30, 1971.

42. PHSA, Eigene Arbeiten Band 48/2, “Rede Helmut Schmidt auf der Gebietskonferenz des SPD-Bezirks Franken für Nord-Bayern in Nürnberg,” March 7, 1971.

43. Schmidt, “Germany In and With and For Europe.”.

44. Bergedorfer Gesprächskreis zu Fragen der Freien Industriellen Gesellschaft. Wohin Deutschland in Europa? Ein Internationales Gespräch (Protokoll-Nr. 14). Hamburg: Decker, 1964, 25–6.

45. SPD, Parteitag Dortmund 1966: Protokoll. Bonn: Neuer-Vorwärts-Verlag Nau & Co., 1966, 446.

46. Abendzeitung, October 9, 1967.

47. Helmut Schmidt, “Die deutsche Frage im nächsten Jahrzehnt,” in Übersee-Club Hamburg: Mitteilungen. Hamburg, April 1967, 56.

48. Schmidt, Die Deutschen, 102.

49. PHSA, Eigene Arbeiten, Band 10, Verhandlungen des Europäischen Parlaments No. 5A, March 31, 1960.

50. I discuss the relationship between European integration and the Cold War in Schmidt’s political thought more extensively in Haeussler, “Cold War European?,” esp. 433–6.

51. For general background on the “Third Force”, see Greenwood, “The Third Force,” 59–70.

52. For more background, see Geiger, Atlantiker gegen Gaullisten.

53. See in particular Schmidt’s first two books, Schmidt, Verteidigung oder Vergeltung; Schmidt, Strategie des Gleichgewichts.

54. SPD, Parteitag Dortmund 1966, 436.

55. For the importance of the United States in the European integration process, see Lundestad, “Empire” by Integration.

56. Schmidt, Verteidigung oder Vergeltung, 207, also 189.

57. Schmidt, Strategie des Gleichgewichts, 164.

58. Ibid., 164.

59. For the link between European integration and Ostpolitik, see in particular Wilkens, “New Ostpolitik.”.

60. Helmut Schmidt, “Deutschland und das europäische Sicherheitssystem der Zukunft,” in Wehrkunde XVI, No. 3 (1967): 124.

61. Die Zeit, March 9, 1990; Die Zeit, March 23, 1990.

62. Schmidt, “Germany In and With and For Europe.”.

63. Ibid.

64. Monnet, Memoirs, 488.

65. Dinan, “Historiography of European Integration,” 297–324.

66. Gilbert, “Narrating the Process,” 646.

67. For an illuminating introduction to these recent trends with a particular focus on the 1970s, see also Laursen, “Introduction.” See also Romero, “The International History.”