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Germany mourns the loss of a great friend and statesman, but Gorbachev shaped our ultimately all too romantic image of Russia. A commentary by Georg Anastasiadis.
History loves ironic coincidences. She came up with a very special punch line for Mikhail Gorbachev: The last boss of the Soviet Union and architect of the turning point in 1989 closes his eyes forever in the year of the turning point in 2022. Just as if the great admonisher against totalitarianism no longer wanted to see the destruction of his life’s work by his successor.
The love for Gorbachev established an all too romantic image of Russia in Germany
Nobody in the world, not even in Russia, mourns more than the Germans. They rightly remember their “Gorbi” as a great and generous friend who gave them back the unity of the fatherland that had been lost 45 years earlier. But even this memory has a bitter aftertaste: it was precisely the unconditional love for Gorbachev that gave rise to an all too romantic image of Russia in Germany, which blinded many Germans and also large parts of politics to what happened in Moscow after Gorbachev and Yeltsin and eventually culminated in the catastrophe of the Ukraine War. To this day, many Germans cling to the hope of a special agreement with a regime that, 31 years after Gorbachev’s resignation as head of government, is unabashedly showing its murderous face to the world. This applies in particular to the parts of the country east of the old inner-German border, where Putinism, illiberalism and the cult of the leader develop a dangerous fascination, especially in right-wing circles.
Gorbachev, as we know from his few comments on Putin’s policies, wouldn’t like that. Even if he disapproved of the Western winner’s mentality, he stood for completely different values than today’s Kremlin leadership, for freedom, democratic participation and understanding between peoples. He remains a shining example – and a promise of a brighter future in which a different Russia will once again take its place as a respected member of the family of nations.
Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy has remained in his homeland. Now the first trip abroad is coming up. All information in the negotiation ticker on the Ukraine war.
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