Correspondence

T o the Editors: Gert Krell Harald Miiller Matthew Evangelista JeffreyHerf I agree with Jeffrey Herf ("War, Peace, and the Intellectuals: The West German Peace Movement," IS, Vol. 10, No. 4 [Spring 19861, pp. 172-200) that there was strong opposition in West Germany to the deployment of Pershing I1 and cruise missiles. (There was strong opposition in other West European countries as well, even some with no peace research institutes.) However, I regard Herf 's analysis of the political process in Germany as highly misleadMy disagreements begin first with Herf's description of the movements and institutions that formed the core of that opposition. It is a mistake to focus exclusively on the new left if one wants to understand the depth of sentiment in the peace movement. I see a much broader coalition and social basis underlying that sentiment, which included the old anti-military or propeace left (very small or tiny groups: the Communists, Communist-influenced and non-Communist peace groups), the new left springing from the student movement of the 1960s, the ecological movement (which is by no means identical to the new left although there is some overlap), the churches or Christian groups, and the SPD and FDP left. This very heterogeneous coalition gradually united on only one issue: preventing deployment of new missiles in Germany. The debate in the churches in particular, which had nothing to do with capitalism or anti-capitalism,is an important link missing from Herf 's frame of analysis. Secondly, Herf has magnified the size and influence of the peace research institutions in West Germany out of all proportion. His statement that these institutes support "several hundred 'counter-experts'" is a grandiose fantasy. About 120 to 150 people in West Germany regard themselves as peace researchers ; about 40 of these work in peace research institutes. About 20 to 30 deal at least to some extent with defense and arms control issues, and not ing. Gut Krell is Executive Director of the Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (PeaceResearch Institute, Frankfurt). Harald Miiller is Senior Research Fellow in charge of the security program at the Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels. Matthew Evangelista teaches Soviet and world politics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Jeffrey Herf teaches in the Political Science Department of Holy Cross College, Worcester, Massachusetts. ~ International Securzty, Fall 1986 (Vol 11, No 2) 0 1986by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and of the Massachusetts Inshtute of Technology 293 lnternational Security I 194 all of them see themselves as counter-experts. Altogether, 15 to 20 peace researchers wrote books and articles about the deployment issue. Of course, many other scholars and scientists expressed opinions on these issues, but they were in no way supported by or connected with peace research money or institutions. Furthermore, Herf oversimplifies and mischaracterizesthe views and roles of the institutions and people he describes. He suggests a unity of purpose that would be something like lumping Sam Nunn, Gary Hart, Edward Kennedy , and Ronald Dellums all in the same category, just because they are Democrats. For example, Bahro and Baudissin have little more in common than the capital "B" in their names. As for the SPD, one must be careful to distinguish between arms controllers such as Karsten Voigt and unilateralists such as Oskar Lafontaine. The peace researchers, whom Herf describes as a well-organized anti-defense intelligentsia, had and still have quite different views about the INF double-track decision and about the LRTNF balance in Europe. Count Baudissin, then director of the Hamburg institute, favored the double-track decision, as did Klaus von Schubert, the new director at Heidelberg, who was previously a professor at a Bundeswehr university. Carl Friedrich von Weizsacker, the director of the Starnberg institute, opposed land-basing, but not other forms of deployment. The Frankfurt institute was divided on the issue. The most active opposition came from former colonel of the West German air force and former CSU member Alfred Mechtersheimer , who founded his own Institute of Peace Politics, which is not state-subsidized but supported by hundreds of rank-and-file members. Herf depicted our Frankfurt institute as one of the centers of the campaign...