How times are changing! For so many years U.S. troops presence has been vital for Germany and thus Darmstadt and now I am reading in my local newspaper “Darmstädter Echo” that town officials consider U.S. troops withdrawal as “vital” for Darmstadt and as a “unique chance” for city development. Nobody seems to be sad. I am. I got used to the cars with American number plates, I liked American presence in Darmstadt. I did not feel threatened or occupied, but protected. But I seem to be quite alone. At least in Darmstadt:
„Für Darmstadt lebensnotwendig“, Darmstädter Echo, 26.09.2007, db:
Als „größte Entwicklungsmaßnahme für die Stadt Darmstadt seit dem Krieg“ hat Planungsdezernent Dieter Wenzel (SPD) die bevorstehende zivile Umnutzung der US-Kasernen und amerikanischen Wohngebiete im Stadtgebiet bezeichnet.
Die frei werdenden Flächen seien für Darmstadt „lebensnotwendig“, erklärte Wenzel am Dienstagabend. Die US-Streitkräfte haben angekündigt, die Stadt bis zum Herbst kommenden Jahres zu verlassen. (…)
Die Ausdehnungsmöglichkeiten der Stadt seien begrenzt: im Norden wegen der Fluglärm-Beschränkungen, im Westen wegen der Autobahn, im Süden und Osten gebe es Landschafts-Schutzgebiete. Die Areale der US-Streitkräfte seien daher eine einmalige Chance.
In Buedingen you get a completely different picture:
BUEDINGEN, Germany — Sixty-two years after they arrived in this medieval village — and 17 years after it ceased to be the front line in the Cold War — U.S. troops are leaving and preparing to hand their base back to the town.
The 640 soldiers in the 1st Squadron of the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Regiment will be gone by mid-August. Most have already left, the latest in a rush back to the States that’s seen American troop levels in Europe fall by about a third since 2005. The U.S. also is shutting down bases this summer in Gelnhausen, Darmstadt and Hanau and a barracks in Mannheim.
At a time when two-thirds of Germans view the U.S. unfavorably, it sounds like perfect timing. That’s not the view in Buedingen, however.
“I can’t think of a negative thing to say about America,” said lifelong resident Ursula Schmueck, who helps run a 1950s museum in town. “I don’t know anyone who could. We all love America here. I think that’s because we know it.” (…)Schmueck’s experience is shared by many people in the German towns that have played host to U.S. forces since Nazi Germany fell. Buedingen, where Americans took over old Wehrmacht barracks, fell without resistance. After the instability of the 1920s and the horrors of the Nazi era in the ’30s and ’40s, ending in the vast destruction of World War II, the town credits Germany’s rebirth to the United States. (…)
“For decades after the war, we went to sleep every night thanking God the Americans were still here, because if they’d pulled back even a little ways, we would have been under Soviet influence,” she said.
There’s also the not-inconsiderable economic impact — although town officials said they had no exact figures — for the troops had some 3,000 family members with them.
A sad “auf wiedersehen” can be heard around the region. (…)As Mayor Erich Spamer said in a speech last spring, “The soldiers brought us peace when they took Buedingen in March 1945. They gave us new perspectives and lasting support for our town. And on top of that, chewing gum. But more importantly, they met us with unbelievable friendship.” (…)
I would love to hear similar voices in Darmstadt, but so far I have not. Maybe I am living in the wrong place?
Also read: American Fence
Thanks to Bob and JJ for sending the link!