Despite the shock of the recent Trump-Putin telephone call, a peace deal can neither be implemented without Ukraine nor without the EU’s participation. However, the future of Europe depends to a great degree on Germany’s evolving position towards Ukraine and Russia. Any new German government should use the historical chance this weekend’s federal elections bring to renew the country’s commitment to Ukraine and put its foundation on a fresh and rooted footing.
This would be wise, pragmatic, and far-sighted as the German-Ukrainian relationship will be central to Europe. It will have a shaping impact on the future European security order. In addition, it can be a way to demonstrate to Russian President Vladimir Putin the limits of his escalation game.
For Germany, the necessity to pursue a broader and re-defined agenda with new foreign policy and a leadership role is obvious for several reasons.
Firstly, Ukraine will continue to play a pivotal geostrategic role in Europe, independent of whether it is a war-torn amputated country or a prospering and democratic country. Secondly, Germany is, and will remain, a powerful country in the heart of Europe. Thirdly, for the sake of Eastern European security as well as for Germany’s own security, the smaller states between Russia and Germany will need to have more of a say than they do currently. Finally, a close German-Ukrainian relationship will automatically affect a re-emerging German-Russian relationship after the war.
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However, renewing Berlin’s commitment to Ukraine only at the political level while simultaneously delivering more weapons, will not suffice to address the profound challenges that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has confronted Germany with.
While Russia has retreated to applying military force as a foreign policy tool, leaving Ukraine no choice but to do the same, Germany remains cowering and wavering on the role and use of military means. Therefore, to become a security provider for the benefit of Europe, Germany needs to go through a change in awareness.
To overcome the country’s ongoing paralysis dilemma, which is revealed in German foreign and security policy, the underlying theme of how Germany can translate its historical legacy into positive action must be addressed.
Having said that, one must bear in mind that while a strategic culture can change, its direction cannot be deduced solely from the external environment. It also demands an inner attitude and readiness to be able to take risks. In the case of Germany, dealing with the role of strategy in the face of a Russian military aggression touches inevitably on the role of power, strength and military means.
Zivilmacht and the possible fourth maxim “never again ignore”
In practice, Germany’s first task should be to re-visit its concept of “civilian power” (Zivilmacht) and its three core maxims of “never again,” “never again alone,” and “never again Auschwitz”, marking the country’s antimilitaristic, multilateral and normative approach to shaping and pursuing its foreign and security relations.
“Zivilmacht” was derived from German memory culture’s main message of having to live up to “historical responsibility” in international relations to atone for the heinous crimes of the Nazi ancestors. However, since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Zivilmacht was gradually turned into a concept of avoidance.
Adding “never again ignore” as a new and fourth maxim and concept to its foreign and security policy would provide Germany with a tool to eventually give Zivilmacht new life. “Never again ignore” is born out of Germany’s ignorance of Ukraine since 1991. It draws on history as its non-material source and deals with the additional and undealt parts of German history – the German Nazi occupation of Ukraine and the role Ukraine played in Nazi strategic and military thinking. Both are elements which have largely been ignored by German memory culture.
By acknowledging this part of German history in Ukraine, “never again ignore” helps German policymakers prepare the ground to employ the common historical experience of Nazi domination of Ukraine, and also of Eastern Europe, to re-define the self of German identity, its narrative and its role as an international actor.
Thereby, the maxim and concept of “never again ignore” would act as an ideational and intellectual foundation upon which re-visiting what power, strength and the use of military force mean. This process would take place in the light of re-building Germany’s relationship with Ukraine and Eastern European states by basing it on a commonly shared world view. In addition, the issues of how a big state builds relations with smaller states and what makes good team playing would be tackled.
Over time, the return of strategic thinking and a sense of inclusion as well as pragmatism would naturally affect how Germany’s relationships with states at the international system would be shaped in the future.
As for the role of military means, “never again ignore” is a concept which addresses the deep-seated “fear of losing one’s innocence again” around the “use of force.” It reveals how Germans today unconsciously attempt to mark a distinct mental and emotional difference and distance between themselves and their ancestors.
However, by continuing to neglect undealt parts of German Nazi history in Ukraine, including the role Ukraine played in Nazi military and strategic thinking, Germans today actually keep a moral connection with their ancestors and stay at the other end of the extreme.
In contrast, “never again ignore” offers to Germans today to choose to say: “we want to be measured by our own deeds and not by those of our Nazi ancestors.” Thereby, an inner pathway opens up along which an emancipation from the Nazi heritage, as well as an empowerment, can become possible. This can be done while maintaining an inner awareness, as an inner sense of the right measure, for what lessons should be drawn from German history.
Historical responsibility
A positive side-effect of “never again ignore” is that it identifies and corrects two asymmetries. The first is that the country’s vaunted memory culture – with its deeply entrenched message of “historical responsibility” – was as asymmetric as it was incomplete. It focused mainly on the Holocaust and forgot largely about the other victims of Nazi occupation in the former Soviet Union, for example in Ukraine. This resulted in German memory culture’s asymmetry being mirrored in flawed and inadequate assessments of Russia which, in return, produced a second asymmetry.
The latter is reflected in the country’s insufficient foreign and security policy concept with regards to Russia and Ukraine. Russian realities and intentions were ignored by German policymakers in favor of pursuing a “Russia-first” policy. Their overriding priority was to keep peace with Russia at all costs. Thus, Germany to this day has failed to derive from its sense of “historical responsibility” an adequate international role or a sufficient foreign and security policy towards Russia and Ukraine.
Against that, “never again ignore” is a tool which enables the return of strategic thinking into Germany’s foreign and security concept. It provides the ideational and intellectual foundation of looking with fresh eyes at the geopolitical landscape of Europe, clearly recognizing the role and weight of Ukraine as well as the smaller Eastern European states.
In practice, the new maxim would prepare German policymakers to take up, for example, the idea of former Ukrainian foreign minister Borys Tarasyuk, who in 1994 proposed to form a “security arc between Germany, Poland, and Ukraine.” Thirty years later, Poland and Ukraine are set to become the two major future European military powers. Inviting Britain, France and Italy to join would turn the “security arc” into a credible deterrent in Europe. Over time, Germany could even give a new life to its Zivilmacht.
With hindsight, “never again ignore” marks a step forward towards a more grounded and balanced pro-active policy and leadership role of Germany as it explains what drove German policymakers to ignore the security concern of new independent Ukraine since 1991. Like Zivilmacht, it draws on the country’s history as a non-material source for expanding the purpose of Germany’s security identity, thereby re-shaping the contours of its narrative and its foreign and security policy.
In conclusion, “never again ignore” offers a platform to Germans today to re-employ their historical legacy to become a force for the good. By dealing with the blind spots of their history, Germans today can find an inner empowerment which is needed to build a new foundation for Germany to take on a leadership role and become a genuine security provider in Europe.
Thus, a “special relationship” between Ukraine (a young, vibrant democracy) and Germany (an older, more experienced democracy) would present a cornerstone in the new European security landscape. Unfortunately, the urgency for this can no longer be ignored, as was highlighted by Bruno Kahl in late 2024, the German president of the Federal Intelligence Service: in only five to eight years, Russia will be able to attack a NATO member country.
Monika Jung-Mounib is a German writer and journalist, a former foreign correspondent in Ukraine for Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and a news editor for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Her areas of expertise are Russian-Ukrainian relations, European security and German memory culture.
The views expressed are the author’s and not necessarily of Kyiv Post.
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