Two hundred years ago Germany’s great poet and statesman performed a U-turn that some would like to see Angela Merkel copyOn a quiet street in central Athens stands the bronze, modernist facade of the Goethe Institut, which has been teaching German and spreading enlightenment about German culture since 1952. Last week, the Greek government threatened to seize the building, together with holiday homes and other German assets. Greece is claiming €341bn (£240bn) in second world war reparations from Germany – and if the government does not confiscate the Goethe Institut, there are numerous people in Athens ready to do it “from below”.With Germany on the brink of vetoing any further debt forgiveness for Greece, the logic of angering Berlin more does not look obvious. To the uninitiated, the two countries’ animosity towards each other can seem inexplicable. Yet fascination with Greece is deep in the German psyche. And the way out of the standoff may lie in the example of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe himself: Germany’s great poet and statesman underwent his own U-turn on the issue of Greece, under the pressure of geopolitical events very similar to today’s. Continue reading...
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