In 23 May 1949 the Parliamentary Council in Bonn ratified the German Basic Law and by doing so brought the Federal Republic of Germany into being. The German Federal Republic was built up on the ashes of the totalitarian dictatorship. Back then many doubted the Germans' capability to be democratic; 40 years later the Berlin Wall fell which paved the way to an All-German Democracy. Today it can be stated that Germany's democracy is among the most stable ones in the world. Yet the joy over this is spoilt by the increase of radicalism on the right as well as on the left, by undermining of data protection due to fighting terrorism, by figures that cause concerns like: Only 60% of the German population still trust in democracy as form of government. These facts educate us that democracy is a process we are never done with and which requires our all engagement.
Last weekend in ZDF (German TV program under public law) Hildegard Hamm-Brücher launched the latest book she published together with Norbert Schreiber. The title is: Demokratie, das sind wir alle (Democracy that is all of us). She, the Grand Dame of German post war era, has always been a fighter. She was there, when it all started. Born in 1921 and of Jewish decent she lost both her parents during the Nazi regime, when she was only 10 years of age. At Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München she joined the student resistance movement Weiße Rose. After the war she gained her PhD in chemistry and took up a lightning political career starting in Munich's City Council, then in the Bavarian State Parliament, then German Federal Parliament, finally working as Minister of State with the Ministry of Education. She is a witness of our 60 year old democratic Germany.
It is the above mentioned issues that made Hamm-Brücher publish a remarkable number of books. Most of them on democracy and society. In her recent publication she gathered essays written by contemporary witnesses of Germany's last 60 years. And she did so in the spirit of passing on values from them to the coming generations. She says: "... without models democracy does not work. That refers to democracy as form of government as well as to democracy as form of life, of attitude. Meaning: we need to be willing to contribute to it wherever we are. We do not all have to become politicians, but [...] we can contribute to that. There is no other way."
It is her knowledge that it takes democrats to form a stable democracy: "I have lived in times when citizens failed to contribute. But we want to remind people that [democracy] does not just so fall from heaven, but that there is no democracy with out citizens. We experienced that before the Nazi Regime.
Democracy was not unknown in Germany. It was as early as 1919 that it was the state form already, back then named Weimarer Republik, but there were no democrats then and nobody back then defended democracy really. This must never happen again, this has been my main concern over the last 60 years."
It is however true that it takes education, formation and courage to become a responsible democrat. We all well know that many times it is a lot easier and more comfortable to lean back and consume the chestnuts that others pull out of the fire for us. We enjoy all the advantages and liberties of democracy, but how and what do we do when it comes defend these advantages and liberties? Would we be strong enough to stand up for these values? Would we dare to show, that we are ready to fight for those? Do we at least participate in elections? Or do we at times consider even that as of minor importance? Or even worse: Do we sell our vote?
"What is the difference between democracy and everything else? - Everything else is easier!"
That is what Hildegard Hamm-Brücher wants to tell us. Democracy is "work" and this work needs all of us. We all are called to stand up for democracy. We are called to take good care and shelter democracy.
But how would we do that we might ask. We, who are not politicians? I think it is our responsibility to at least inform ourselves and make up our minds on what is going on in our society, in our community, in our place. We are to become aware of structures, rules, procedures in our society, our economy, our politics. Only the one well informed can contribute well. This is something we all can do.
It is the German history that educated us that democracy can not be decreed from above, but must be lived by responsible, contributing and intervening citizens. If the citizens are too careless, then dictators and despots can easily take over. And many times they can even hide in the coat of democracy, as long as nobody notices, due to nobody caring.
Democracy that is all of us. If or not we live in democracy, it is due to us living or not living democracy.