The builders

By Sir Bernard Braine MP

The Second World War ended with Germany ruined, occupied and divided. Today she is prosperous, free and united. What is more, our two countries have come together in a way which none of us in our wildest dreams would have thought possible in 1945.

In the early stages, of course, our relationship was helped by the threatening behaviour of the Soviet Union.The blockade of Berlin brought home to the British people a realisation of the dangers we still faced and it led to admiration for the courage of the Berliners. By 1965 the Queen's State Visit emphasised growing awareness in both countries of the practical value of friendship and co-operation.

Indeed, by 1972 when President Gustav Heinemann paid his State Visit to Britain, it was possible for Sir Alec Douglas-Home to say in his welcoming speech that "on the international stage Germany and Britain are setting an example. We have known the miseries of confrontation; we have chosen the way of partnership. Our partnership extends in to every field: it is broadening and deepening all the time."

How had this extraordinary development come about? There were many strands and hands building the new relationship. Essentially it owed almost everything to the de-termination of outstanding men and women in both countries that the mistrust and hostility of the past should never be repeated.

From the beginning on the British side, Robert Birley, the Educational Adviser to the British High Commission, was tireless in his efforts to develop dialogue between British and German political and professional leaders. This was an essential prerequisite to the establishment of a responsible and enduring democracy. So it was that while Germany was still occupied by the war-time allies, the British sought to create an atmosphere in which democratic ideals took firm root. By 1949 the Deutsch-Englische Gesellschaft had been founded, followed quickly by the extraordinary get-together of opinion-formers in both countries and of all parties at annual conferences held at Königswinter, a small town on the Rhine close to Bonn. This was the brain-child of a remarkable woman, Lilo Milchsack, and her husband Hans, who had defied the Nazis and survived and it was a development which caught the imagination of many in both countries who were able to influence public affairs. These conferences still flourish and over the years have helped to shape a common resolve to work together.

A similar resolve developed in our two Parliaments. At Westminster the late John Hynd MP and I founded the British-German Parliamentary Group. At Bonn Peter Corterier and others founded the German-British Group. By the mid-70s both Groups were meeting annually, first in one country and then in the other.

The advantage of such meetings was two-fold. First, personal friendships developed which have endured through the years and second, seeing one another's problems though the eyes of different political parties in two countries made for a genuine meeting of minds. The result has been a wider range of agreement than any of us expected at the outset.

What is more these groups encouraged a continuing relationship across party lines between the annual Königswinter Conferences. The first was held in June 1974 in the delightful Berkhamsted home of Peter Rost MP. We have met every year since, save one when there were General Elections in both countries.

I well recall that at our first conference we were anxious over what the future would hold for the European Community. Would it be possible to re-negotiate the terms of British entry, on which the newly elected Labour Government was resolved, on a basis acceptable to both sides? What would happen if it were not and what future would there then be for British-German colleagues, both CDU and SPD, shared our anxieties. We knew that they wanted re-negotiation to succeed. We were not deliberating in isolation.

We had splendid support from our Governments and were helped year after year by the Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society, whose first secretary, Peter McGregor and his successor, Barbara Beck, contributed greatly to developing understanding of current economic, industrial and social problems.

Looking back, we can claim that an increasing number of Britons and Germans not only came to understand that the key to a better world lay not merely in ending the bitter rivalry which had led twice to disaster in the first half of this century, but in devising a totally new framework of relationships across national boundaries.

Let us then salute these builders of peace and not least the British and German envoys throughout this momentous period, men like Frank Roberts and Oliver Wright and Johnny von Herwarth and Karl-Günther von Hase all surely ambassadors extraordinaires. Nor should we forget that vast army of activists like "Bob" Martin, Chairman of the Anglo-German Association and all those at local government level who have "twinned" whole communities.

Britain and Germany have been singularly fortunate in the quality of the men and women who have worked unceasingly since 1945 to build an enduring relationship of mutual respect between two great peoples. Thucidides understood this very well when he told the defeated Athenians that "it is men not walls that make the city".