Bonn - "What Kind of Government Runs Germany Today? Monarchy? Socialist? Democracy? Fascist? Communist?"
Jason Turner, Martinsville City Public Schools

Many American students have very little understanding of German history since 1945. Knowledge of modern governmental structure and politics in Germany is often omitted from social studies courses. In fact, some children believe that Germany, since 1945, has been an occupied state waiting for a return to a militaristic regime. To help these students understand Germany's role as a strong constitutional democracy, our group met with members of Germany's two largest parties, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Representatives from both of these organizations helped us to comprehend the modern parliamentary and federal systems within the government. Later in the day, we were also given the opportunity to order enormous amounts of educational supplies from the government information agency Inter Nationes.

"At the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (Konrad Adenauer Foundation)"

Our first meeting on June 30 was with members of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Here, we were greeted by Dr. Stefan Eisel who informed us of the history and policies of the CDU. The CDU (Christian Democratic Union) is one of the two strongest parties in German politics. It originated with the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II. Its first Chancellor was Konrad Adenauer, for whom the foundation is named. This organization was created in the 1960's in West Germany as a "think tank" for the CDU to make diplomatic relations with groups from foreign nations and to influence domestic policy. The CDU supports democracy and human rights on a world-wide scale. In domestic policy, the Foundation tends to favor private enterprise more than other German parties.

German politics and government are complicated but, in many ways, similar to systems in the United States. Dr. Eisel, a former speech writer for Helmut Kohl, explained the system in detail. Germany is a parliamentary democratic nation with a written constitution. It is divided into 16 "Länder," or states. This is very similar to the American model of many states sharing power within the federal government. This system was created in 1949. The government breaks down into many smaller levels. They range from local, state, and federal with the highest being the European level. The federal government collects taxes and then distributes them to the state and local levels.

The structure of power is held by a President, Chancellor, the Bundestag, and the Bundesrat. The president is elected to supervise the workings of the government, sign treaties and laws, as well as other diplomatic functions. However, the real power rests with the Chancellor. He is the elected leader of the ruling political party. For the last 16 years, Helmut Kohl of the CDU held this position. Recently, when the SPD gained seats from the CDU, Gerhard Schröder became Chancellor. The legislature consists of two houses, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat. The Bundestag is the parliament that is elected every four years. The Bundesrat is a council formed from government members of the federal states. Like the American House of Representatives, the number of members each state has in the Bundesrat is based upon its population. However, its function is more like the American Senate. As a whole, the Bundesrat, Bundestag, Chancellor, and President, provide a system of checks and balances for the government.

The spectrum of political parties in Germany is very different from the party system in the United States. Unlike the American two-party system, in which either the Republican or Democratic candidates dominate, the Germans have a multi-party system. The two strongest parties are the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). There are other smaller parties that take an active role in politics, such as the environmentally responsible Greens. Since six parties are now active in the German government, coalitions are necessary. The most famous of these in recent times has been the alliance with the Greens and the powerful SPD. Even though they may not always agree, the alliance is important, especially for a small group like the Greens. The reason for this is the five percent hurdle. In Germany, a party must win five percent of the votes to hold seats in the government. Parties that are directly opposed to democracy, such as Nazi and Communists, are not allowed. However, many the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) as a new branch of the former East German Communist Party. The entire spectrum of German political parties is shifted more to the left than American parties. The CDU and the SPD do not match exactly with Republicans and Democrats in the U.S.A. The Christian Democrats would be somewhere between our Republicans and Democrats, with most of the major parties being further to the left.

The current party dominating the German federal government is the SPD. Later in the afternoon we were able to talk to Peter Treichel, a Social Democrat, about the history and purpose of the party. The SPD is one of Germany's oldest parties going back to German unification under Bismarck in the 1870s. Herr Treichel showed us a long gallery of photographs that included Social Democratic leaders preceding World War I. Two of them, Hermann Müller and Otto Wels, were killed by the Nazis as political enemies. The photographs concluded with one of Willi Brandt, a popular SPD Chancellor of the late twentieth century. The Social Democrats regained control of the government this year after 16 years of being the opposition. Many see this as a desire for change on the part of the electorate.

One issue that Dr. Eisel clarified for our group was the link between church and state in Germany. Income taxes include a small portion that go to the churches, which is unheard of in America. The citizen registers as either Catholic or Protestant. Then, a portion of his/her taxes goes directly to the church. This service is provided by the government for the church, but the church has to pay for this service. Nonreligious people do not have to pay this tax. Jews may also pay the tax to support organized Judaism in Germany. Muslims do not pay, because their religion is not centrally organized in Germany. Of course, cults and pagan sects are not recognized religions by the state, and, therefore, do not receive this service.

After having a generous lunch with Dr. Eisel at the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, we met with Martina Müller of Inter Nationes about educational materials. Inter Nationes is an information agency that was founded in 1952 to help inform foreign nations about Germany. However, social studies teaching materials are also supplied. Frau Müller allowed us to see their showroom and catalogs. We were all very much impressed with their selections. These included numerous books and workbooks that could be used in teaching courses in German language, culture, geography, government, and history. A wide variety of films, slides, political and geographic maps also added to visual learning tools. Many of us placed orders before we left. By the end of June 30th, we had learned much about the German government and found the teaching resources needed to teach about it.

For more information contact: The Konrad Adenauer Foundation:, www.kas.de/fremd/englisch/frameset.html . This address will provide links to Dr. Stefan Eisel and CDU information.

The Social Democratic Party www.spd.de/english/index.htm. This address will provide links to Peter Treichel and the SPD.

Inter Nationes: besucherdienst @ inter-nationes.de; www.inter-nationes.de/index-e.html. These links will show a wide variety of teaching materials that may be purchased for classroom use.