The independent German website NachDenkSeiten reprinted the May 1 VIPS memorandum, “Nuclear Weapons Cannot Be Un-Invented” in German translation, with a preface by the website’s editor-in-chief Albrecht Müller. VIPS co-founder Ray McGovern, the likely author of the memorandum, wrote on his website that this posting is a positive sign from Germany, but nevertheless it is outweighed by the bad news showing that Germany is being driven into a pro-war mindset. (https://raymcgovern.com/2022/05/06/germany-bad-news-far-outweighs-the-good/)
“Albrecht Müller was chief of planning for [SPD Chancellors] Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt and also a member of the Bundestag from 1987 to 1994 (and the author of bestsellers),” McGovern writes. “Not surprisingly, he is distraught at what has happened to the SPD (Social Democratic Party) and to the media—and the dangers posed to peace in Europe. This is the bad news, just as the 77th anniversary of VE Day is about to be celebrated in Moscow and elsewhere. Has it taken Germany only two generations to forget the horrors of the war inflicted by the Nazis under Hitler? The Russians, having lost 26 million during that war, have not forgotten. This is a combustible mixture.”
McGovern continues: “I found Albrecht Müller’s observations about the captive, one-sided press so much on point that I translated them into English, including the detailed critique he gives to his regional newspaper on May 1.” He then quotes Müller’s conclusions that follow NachDenkSeiten’s translation of the May 1 VIPS Memo to President Biden.
Under the subhead “From ‘Nie Wieder Krieg’ to ‘War? No Problem!’” Müller wrote in his conclusion: “After the end of the horrible Second World War there was at least a large consensus: War Never Again! (Nie Wieder Krieg!) This avowal came also from people who were connected with the Nazis and/or with the German military. The shock of the many killed, the destroyed cities, and the millions of refugees at least had the result that the lust for war and for the military shrunk to almost zero. Nie Wieder Krieg was the common watchword. By the way, even in 1980 there was clearly a majority for this attitude, and the SPD on May 11 of that year won the Landtag [state legislature] election in Nordrhein Westphalia with an absolute majority precisely with this avowal: Nie Wieder Krieg.
