Dialog International

Bonhoeffer: After Ten Years

Seventy years ago today, as dawn was breaking on the new year, Dietrich Bonhoeffer sent out a long letter to his closest friends.  A copy of this letter was later discovered in the attic of his parent's house.  The letter has been published as After Ten Years: A Reckoning made at the New Year 1943, and can be found in Widerstand und Ergebung (English: Letters and Papers from Prison) The letter is a reckoning of 10 years of Nazi rule in Germany: he speaks of how reasonable people are confronted with evil, masquerading as good, and how that evil is not ever entirely absent from within ourselves.  Bonhoeffer writes how it feels to experience events from the perspective of the persecuted, the oppressed:

We have for once learned to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcasts, the suspects, the maltreated — in short, from the perspective of those who suffer. Mere waiting and looking on is not Christian behavior. Christians are called to compassion and to action.

He then asks the question that must be answered by every Christian (and atheist, and Jew, and Muslim) even today: Are we still of any use? /Sind wir noch brauchbar?

„Wir sind stumme Zeugen böser Taten geworden..., wir haben die Künste der Verstellung und der mehrdeutigen Rede gelernt..., wir sind durch unerträgliche Konflikte mürbe und vielleicht sogar zynisch geworden – sind wir noch brauchbar? Nicht Genies, nicht Zyniker, nicht Menschenverächter, nicht raffinierte Taktiker, sondern schlichte einfach, gerade Menschen werden wir brauchen. Wird unsere innere Widerstandkraft gegen das uns Aufgezwungene stark genug und unsere Aufrichtigkeit gegen uns selbst schonungslos genug geblieben sein, daß wir den Weg zur Schlichtheit und Geradheit wiederfinden?“

(trans.) We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds: we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretence; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical. Are we still of any use? We shall not need geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but rather plain, honest, straghtforward men. Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough, and our honesty with ourselves remorseless enough, for us to find our way back to simplicity and straightforwardness?

Bonhoeffer was arrested by the Gestapo just four months after writing this letter.  He was executed in April 1945.  This year a right-wing student organization accused Dietrich Bonhoeffer of having been a "traitor to his country" (Landesverräter).

Erich Kästner - A Christmas Song / Weihnachtslied

Weihnachtslied, chemisch gereinigt (1928)

(Melodie: "Morgen, Kinder, wird's was geben!")

Morgen, Kinder, wird's nichts geben!
Nur wer hat, kriegt noch geschenkt.
Mutter schenkte Euch das Leben.
Das genügt, wenn man's bedenkt.
Einmal kommt auch eure Zeit.
Morgen ist's noch nicht soweit.

Doch ihr dürft nicht traurig werden.
Reiche haben Armut gern.
Gänsebraten macht Beschwerden.
Puppen sind nicht mehr modern.
Morgen kommt der Weihnachtsmann.
Allerdings nur nebenan.

Lauft ein bisschen durch die Straßen!
Dort gibt's Weihnachtsfest genug.
Christentum, vom Turm geblasen,
macht die kleinsten Kinder klug.
Kopf gut schütteln vor Gebrauch!
Ohne Christbaum geht es auch.

Tannengrün mit Osrambirnen –
Lernt drauf pfeifen! Werdet stolz!
Reißt die Bretter von den Stirnen,
denn im Ofen fehlt's an Holz!
Stille Nacht und heil'ge Nacht –
Weint, wenn's geht, nicht! Sondern lacht!

Morgen, Kinder, wird's nichts geben!
Wer nichts kriegt, der kriegt Geduld!
Morgen, Kinder, lernt fürs Leben!
Gott ist nicht allein dran schuld.
Gottes Güte reicht so weit ...
Ach, du liebe Weihnachtszeit!

(Tomorrow, children, nothing will happen! / Those who have will get some more. / Mother gave you your life / That's enough on second thought / Your time will surely come / but it's not tomorrow. (2) No need to be sad / the rich enjoy poverty / roast goose is cause for trouble. / Dolls are no longer modern. / Tomorrow, Santa is coming. / However, only next door. (3) Run through the streets! / To see Christmas celebrations galore. / Christianity, gloated from the tower / makes any child a clever one. / Shake your heads well before use! / Will have to do without a Christmas tree. (4) Green firs with Osram bulbs - / learn to be proud without! / Remove the logs from your eyes! / There is not enough wood for the fire! / Silent night, holy night - / don't cry! Be merry and laugh! (5) Tomorrow, children, nothing will happen! / Those with nothing will receive patience! / Tomorrow, children, learn for life! / It's not all god's fault. / God's grace extends so far … / O, merry Christmas season!)

Ich wünsche allen Lesern frohe Weihnachten und ein gutes Neues Jahr! 

Happy Holidays!

 

Listen, Germany! Thomas Mann on the firebombing of Lübeck

Beginning in October 1940, Thomas Mann, living in Pacific Palisades, California, recorded a series of radio broadcasts for the German language propaganda effort of the BBC.  The short addresses were usually broadcast each month until June of 1945, and Mann began each one with the exhortation Deutsche Hörer!  The collaboration with the BBC was not without some friction: the British wanted 5 minute speeches, wHile Mann insisted on going 8 minutes, or even longer.  The BBC was hoping for a more conciliatory tone in an effort to woo Germans, but Thomas Mann's addresses are dripping with sarcasm and seething with hatred of his Nazi adversaries. 

It is not known how many Germans listened to Thomas Mann's radio broadcasts.  Schwarzhören, or listening to foreign radio broadcasts, was strictly forbidden in Nazi Germany - punishable by death.  Still, millions tuned into the German language programming of the BBC. 

On the night of Palm Sunday 1942 the Royal Airforce firebombed the old city of Lübeck - a city with little strategic value.  This was Mann's home town, and the Buddenbrooks House was completely destroyed, although, as Mann noted, the Nazis had renamed it as the Wullenweber House in an effort to erase the memory of Thomas Mann.   A few days later, Mann speaks about the bombing of his beloved city in a BBC Broadcast (note: this is one of several Deutsche Hörer! broadcasts available on YouTube): 

Mann starts off speaking about the bombing of Coventry a year earlier, as well as the Nazi aerial war in Spain and Poland and the the destruction of Rotterdam. 

Partial Transcript: 

Die Zeit kommt und ist schon da, wo Deutschland zu schluchzen hat auch über das, was es erlei­det, und dieses Rührungsmotiv wird überhandnehmen in dem Maß, wie eine Welt, die von solcher Art Dienst an der Menschheit nichts hatte wissen wollen und nicht darauf vorbereitet war, in ihre Verteidigungsaufgabe hineinwächst und den Lehrling abgibt, der den Meister überflügelt.

Hat Deutschland geglaubt, es werde für die Untaten, die sein Vorsprung in der Barbarei ihm gestattete, niemals zu zah­len haben? Es hat kaum zu zahlen begonnen – über dem Kanal und in Rußland. Auch was die Royal Air Force in Köln, Düsseldorf, Essen, Hamburg und andern Städten bis heute zuwege gebracht hat, ist nur ein Anfang.

Hitler prahlt, sein Reich sei bereit zu einem zehn-, ja zwanzigjäh­rigen Kriege. Ich nehme an, daß ihr Deutsche euch euer Teil dabei denkt – zum Beispiel, daß in Deutschland nach einem Bruchteil dieser Zeit kein Stein mehr auf dem andern wäre.

(Now the time nears and is already here, when Germany must sob about its own sufferings, ahd this cause for sobbing will increase while a world which did not want such service to humanity , and was not prepared for it, adapts itself to its task of defense and becomes the apprentice  who surpasses the master.  Did Germany believe that it would never have to pay for the misdeeds which its lead in barbarism enabled it to commit?  It has barely begun to pay  - over the Channel and in Russia.  Also, what the Royal Air Force has accomplished so far in Cologne, DUesseldorf, Essen, Hamburg and other cities is only a beginning.  Hitler is boasting that his Riech is ready for ten, even twenty years of war.  I assume that you Germans have your own ideas about that - for example, that after a fraction of this time no stone will stand on top an another in Germany.)

 (HT Rena Jacob)

 

Newtown Massacre: America's pain, Austria's gain

When I first heard that 20 children had been murdered by a madman in Newtown, Connecticut I knew instinctively that a Glock semiautomatic pistol would be found at the school.  Glocks are the weapon of choice for lunatics intent on mass killings. So while Austria mourns the sensless slaughter of innocent life along with the rest of the world, they are shedding crocodile tears.

Reinhard Göweil writes about Austria's Doppelmoral in today's Wiener Zeitung: 

Österreich profitiert von diesem Wahn der Amerikaner - und das nicht zu wenig. Zu den beliebtesten Waffen der USA zählen Pistolen der Marke Glock. Der heimische Unternehmer beschäftigt in seinen österreichischen Werken 600 Mitarbeiter. 42 Millionen investiert der Industrielle im Werk Ferlach, das Land Kärnten fördert dies mit 1,7 Millionen Euro. 40 Beschäftigte bringt das, zusätzlich zu 330 bestehenden Arbeitsplätzen. Nicht nur Glock, auch andere Waffenproduzenten sichern in Österreich Arbeitsplätze. Das Scharfschützen-Gewehr von Mannlicher erfreut sich hoher Reputation in der Branche. Die vielfältige Munition von Hirtenberger gilt ebenso als technologisch "ausgereift". Wenn Österreich also - solidarisch mit Newtown - den Übeltätern in den USA die Pest wünscht, so sollte doch klar sein, dass Österreich eines der Länder ist, die zu deren Bewaffnung beitragen - und das nicht zu knapp.

(Austria profits from this American craze - and not just a little. Glock pistols are among the most popular weapons in the US. The Austrian company employs 600 workers in its factories here at home. It is investing 42 million in the Ferlach plant, which is receiving subsidies from the state of Carinthia to the tune of 1.7 million euros. This will create 40 new jobs, in addition to the current 330. And not just Glock but also other weapons manufacturers create jobs in Austria. Rifles by Mannlicher have an excellent reputation in the sector. And the many types of munition produced by Hirtenberger are also considered technologically 'state of the art'. So if Austria wishes to show solidarity with Newtown and wishes the worst for evildoers in the US, it should be clear that it itself  is one of the countries that helps to arm them - and again, not just a little.)

Deutsche Bank has an ethics problem - not an image problem

Last week the Frankfurt headquarters of Deutsche Bank was raided by German authorities investigating massive tax fraud.  An outraged Co-Chief Executive Officer Juergen Fitschen called Volker Bouffier, the prime minister of the state of Hesse, to complain about the impact television pictures of the raids would have on the bank’s reputation.  The state was tarnishing the image of Germany's most powerful financial institution - symbol of German strength and solidity.

As the TAZ points out, such phone calls might have worked in the past - even several years ago as Germany's head of state celebrated Josef Ackermann's birthday.  But today the public, the state, and even the shareholders, have had enough of Deutsche Bank's unethical - and probably illegal - buisness practices: 

Die neueste Affäre der Deutschen Bank verweist auf ein Grundproblem: Ihr gesamtes Geschäftsmodell beruht auf Plünderei. Jeder wird geschröpft – nicht nur der Staat, sondern auch die eigenen Aktionäre.

Kürzlich kam ein unabhängiges Gutachten zu dem Ergebnis, dass die Deutsche-Bank-Aktionäre im letzten Jahrzehnt keinen Gewinn gesehen haben. Zwar wurden 19,6 Milliarden Euro ausgeschüttet, gleichzeitig mussten sie aber 27 Milliarden Euro an Kapital zuschießen. Zudem sank der Wert der Bank, weil 19,3 Milliarden Euro an stillen Reserven aufgelöst wurden.

Wo die vielen Milliarden geblieben sind? Bei den angestellten Investmentbankern. Die Deutsche Bank wird von ihren Top-Bediensteten geplündert. Zu dieser Kultur passt natürlich bestens, dass auch der Staat ausgeraubt wird.

(Deutsche Bank's most recent scandal underscores the basic problem: the entire business model is based on plunder. Everybody gets fleeced - not just the state, but also the shareholders.

A recent independent study came to the conclusion that DB shareholders have not seen any profits in the past decade. Even though 19.8 billion in dividends were paid out, the bank neexed 27 billion euros in additional capital. At the same time the market valuation declined, since 19.3 billion euros in silent reserves were released.

Where are these billions?  They were pocketed by DB's own investment bankers.  Deutsche Bank was plundered by its own top officials. And it fits this culture perfectly that the state is robbed as well.)

Deutsche Bank may have played a positive role in Germany's postwar reconstruction, financing the economic miracle with its lending power as the capital markets were being reconstituted, but those times have long since passed.  The bank's practices today can only be described as destructive. 

UPDATE: Jakob Augstein: Break Up Deutsche Bank!

Social inequality reinforced by Germany's education system

In a knowledge-centered economy, education provides the ticket to achieving or retaining a middle-class economic status.  The German education tracks students on a permanent path beginning in the seventh grade.  That is when schools decide who will have the chance to later enter the gymnasium and they go on to the university.  Unfortunately, the tracking system penalizes immigrants and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.  It is an unjust system:

Jahr um Jahr, Studie um Studie haben die Fachleute bemängelt, Pädagogen ließen sich in ihrem Urteil zu sehr von der sozialen Herkunft der Kinder leiten. Nun zeigt sich: es hat sich nichts gebessert. Der Nachwuchs aus bildungsbürgerlichem Hause hat eine fast dreieinhalb Mal so hohe Chance, fürs Gymnasium vorgeschlagen zu werden, als Kevin oder Murat aus dem Arbeiter- oder Hartz-IV-Haushalt. Bei gleicher Leistung wohlgemerkt.

(Year after year in study after study the experts have found fault with the fact that teachers have been overly influenced by the social background of the children.  Recent studies show that things have not improved.  Children from upper middle class homes have a 3 and a half better chance of being recommended for the Gymnasium than a Kevin or Murat from a working class or welfare household.  Even given similar levels of achievement.)

Could there possibly be a correlation between economic discrimination in schools and this report on Germany's shrinking middle class? 

Die Mittelschicht in Deutschland schrumpft. Seit 1997 ist ihr Anteil an der Gesamtbevölkerung um 5,5 Millionen Menschen oder von 65 auf 58 Prozent zurückgegangen. Besonders ausgeprägt ist dieser Rückgang in der unteren Hälfte der Einkommensmittelschichten, deren Anteil sogar um 15 Prozent geringer ist. Umgekehrt ist der Anteil der Menschen in den unteren und untersten Einkommensschichten um knapp vier Millionen Personen gewachsen. Gleichzeitig macht sich in den Mittelschichten inzwischen jeder Vierte latente Sorgen, seinen heutigen Status zu verlieren. Das sind deutlich mehr Deutsche als noch vor 10 Jahren. Der Grund für die Entwicklung: Immer weniger Menschen gelingt der Aufstieg aus den unteren Einkommen in die Mittelschicht. Und selbst eine gute Ausbildung ist heute kein Garant mehr für ein Leben in gesichertem Wohlstand.

(The middle class in Germany is shrinking. Since 1997 its percentage of the total population has decreased by 5.5 million people, or from 65% to 58%.  This development is especially pronounced among the the bottom half of the middle class income groups, where the proportion is even 15% lower.  On the other hand the percentage of people in the lower and bottom income levels has increased by 4 million people. At the same time, within the middle class, one in four expresses concern of losing his social status. That represents considerably more Germans than ten years ago.  The reason for this development is that fewer and fewer people are able to climb from the lower income levels into the middle class. And even a good educations is today no longer a guarantee for a more secure prosperity.)

Of course, in the US we frown on such rigid "tracking" of students and pretend we have a pure meritocracy: the smartest kids can always go on the university, no matter how much money their parents earn.  The fact is, kids from poorer school districts get an inferior education.  And the result is the same as in Germany: a shrinking middle class.

 

Review: Rainald Goetz's Johann Holtrop

Several years ago the literary critic Richard Kämmerlings complained in the pages of the FAZ that German writers were too focused on the private sphere.  Where are the novels of social satire - along the lines of Tom Wolfe's Bonfires of the Vanities?  How many writers write about the workings of the economy and the broader impact on society?  How many venture into the office buildings where millions of people make their living?  Martin Kessel pioneered the "office novel" with his 1924 Zeitroman Herrn Brechers Fiasko; Walter Richartz's 1974 novel Buroroman was a brilliant satire on the hellish existence of lower-middle management (see my review here).  Now, in his new novel Johann Holtrop, Rainald Goetz takes us into the executive suites of Germany's best-known enterprises - including Bertelsmann (fictionalized here as Assperg AG), Deutsche Bank, and Der Spiegel.  

In his novel, which is hilariously funny and appalling at the same time, Goetz shows us a world that is dysfunctional, ruled by egomaniacs who spend most of their waking time plotting the destruction of their colleagues - often with disastrous consequences for the enterprise and the broader society (the book's subtitle is Abriss der Gesellschaft ("Demolition of Society")). The novel deals with the decade beginning with the Dot-Com bust and ending with the global financial meltdown at the end of the last decade.  The reader follows the self-destructive career path of Assperg AG's CEO Johann Holtropp (modeled on the ex-CEO of Bertelsmann Thomas Middelhoff) who goes from Master of the Universe (the darling of the financial press) to outcast and pariah. 

Johann Holtrop is a perfect sociopath, incapable of a normal relationship with another human being. To Holtrop, other humans, even those who support him, are a threat, a potential barrier to his success. "Dieser Mensch muss weg" ("I have to get rid of this person.") is Holtrop's default reaction when he comes into contact with his colleagues and subordinates. And one of the best scenes occurs early on when he fires his long-time second-in-command Thewe - an act that would later have terrible consequences both for Thewe and Holtrop.  Many of us have had bosses like this: arrogant and fundamentally incompetent (Holtrop is barely able to read a balance sheet), more feared than admired.  Holtrop built his empire at Assperg AG by making one (usually failed) acquisition after another as opposed to actually operating an enterprise.  The fact that his mismanagement is wrecking the group's financial viability is of no consequence. Capital (debt) is there for the asking in an unlimited supply. 

Despite is obvious failures as a manager, Holtrop considers himself a business visionary; appears on the talkshows and gives speeches replete with ridiculous platitudes every chance he gets.  Worse, the German media establishment hangs on his every word. The press stalks him like a rock star.

But Holtrop is only an extreme example of the damaged men (there are no women; this is Germany, after all) we encounter in the C-suite. There is a memorable scene where the Deutsche Bank managing board member (Vorstand) are sitting in a meeting gazing out the window:

Jeder von ihnen wollte dorthin: hinaus, weg von da, wo er war.  Sie waren oben angekommen, Bankvorstand, sogar in Vorstand der legendären Deutschen Bank, aber sie waren traurige, vom Apparat und der schon lo lange laufendedn Karriere im Apparart traurig zusammengefaltete Existenzen. Bauer ware die Inbegriffsgestalt dieser Topfigurentraurigkeit. Auch er war, was er immer hatte werden wollen: Bankchef, Topmanager. Aber wo bleibt das Glück? Wo bleiben die Millionen? [...] Das war so etwa die Stimmung: [...] die geistige Obdachlosigkeit ganz oben.

(Each one of them wanted to be out there: far away from where he was just then.  They had reached the top, the managing board, the board of the legendary Deutsche Bank, but they were sorry creatures, beaten down by the apparatus and their long careers within the apparatus. Bauer was the prime example of this top-figure sadness.  He, too, was that which he always wanted to be: head of a bank, top manager. But where was the happiness?  And what happened to millions he would make? ...That was the mood...the spiritual homelessness at the top.)

Johann Hoitrop starts out as a novel of corporate intrigue, a legal thriller along the lines of the 2007 feature film Michael Clayton. The reader expects that some great crime has been committed and will be uncovered in the course of the novel.  And indeed a great crime has been committed, but everyone - from Johann Holtrop, to the Vorstand of Deutsche Bank, to the editors of Der Spiegel to the artists whose paintings hang in the Deutsche Bank headquarters - is complicit in committing and then attempting to cover up the crime, which in the end is too big to cover up, since the entire system is corrupt. And that is why the Master of the Universe Johann Holtrop, when he is finally forced out of Assperg AG (by the deliciously evil Kate Assperg - wife of the firm's founder) is shunned by his former colleagues and the press that, prior to his fall, had celebrated him as a visionary for the New Age of Commerce.

Wer mitmachte bei der systematisch organisierten Chefkorruption im oberen und obersten Management der grossen Wirtschftsunternehmen, war akzeptiert, weil er sich durch eigene Vorteilsnahme mit dem System einverstanden erklärte und damit selber genügend korrumpierte. Kein Nichtkorumpierter sollte in ihren Kreisen verkehren, darüber wachte ängstlich die Gesellschaft der Feiglinge ganz oben. Das war der Mechanismus, dessen Opfer Holtrop nach seinem Sturz geworden war.

(Whoever went along with systematically organized executive corruption in upper and top management in the big corporate enterprises was accepted, since he indicated his approval by taking advantage of the system himself and therefore was himself sufficiently corrupted.  Anyone who was not corrupted was not permitted into their circle, and the group of cowards at the top watched carefully over this. Holtrop became a victim of this mechanism after his fall. )

Is there any way out of this swamp of corruption and was anything learned by all the mistakes and failures? Absurdly, Johann Holtrop is given another opportunity to ruin a major enterprise as CEO, which he accomplishes in short order.  Rainald Goetz has the good sense to kill off his protagonist at the end of the novel; last I heard, Thomas Middelhoff is plotting yet another comeback  and wants to find yet another firm that he can run into the ground. 

 

Did Deutsche Bank Hide $12 Billion in Losses?

Anyone who follows this blog knows that I have covered extensively the role played by Deutsche Bank - especially its US operation - in the 2008 financial crisis, as well as its illegal forceclosure practices which have thrown thousands of American homeowners out of their residences.  So I was not surprised at all when the Financial Times reported this week on accusations brought forth by former Deutsche Bank American employees that the bank hid $12 billion in losses from regulators to avoid a government bailout:

Deutsche Bank failed to recognise up to $12bn of paper losses during the financial crisis, helping the bank avoid a government bail-out, three former bank employees have alleged in complaints to US regulators.

The three complaints, made to regulators including the US Securities and Exchange Commission, claim that Deutsche misvalued a giant position in derivatives structures known as leveraged super senior trades, according to people familiar with the complaint.

All three allege that if Deutsche had accounted properly for its positions – worth $130bn on a notional level – its capital would have fallen to dangerous levels during the financial crisis and it might have required a government bail-out to survive.

These are indeed very serious allegations, and there is no question that Deutsche Bank engaged in deceptive trading practices in New York and London during the tenure of Joseph Ackermann.  But in this particular instance I'm inclined to side with DB against the whistleblowers.  Why? To fully understand what's at play here takes us into the arcane world of senior super leveraged trades.  In this case, DB traders bought credit insurance on a portfolio of very safe companies from Canadian pension funds. At the same time the bankers were taking another position where they sold a slightly different insurance contract where they were paid slightly more than what they paid out to the Canadians.  DB was simply taking advantage of a market anomaly where the the market deemed DB as less risky than the Canadian pension funds.  DB created a revenue stream for itself without really creating any new risk, since if you have to pay out on the one contract, you are getting paid on the other. In other words, the $12 billion in losses at the time were not really losses at all. 

Felix Salmon at Reuters studied the senior super leveraged trades and concludes: 

It’s pretty clear that the world is a better place for Deutsche Bank not having taken a gratuitous writedown on the grounds that even though it had billions of dollars of collateral from the Canadians, that might not be enough to cover what they owed if the crisis got even worse. I remember those crisis days vividly; they were characterized by policymakers on every continent doing everything they possibly could to boost the liquidity and confidence in the financial system.

So in this case we can be grateful that US taxpayers were not forced to bail out DB the way they were forced bail out Citi, Bank of America, and others.  Still, DB practices at the time resulted in German taxpayers bailing out IKB Bank to the tune of 9 billion euros - and that sorry chapter has never been fully investigated. 

Henry Kissinger and the Conspiracy Against Willy Brandt

Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was the most famous member of the July 20m 1944 plot to kill Hitler.  Twenty-six years later his cousin, Hans Christoph Freiherr von Stauffenberg, was involved in a conspiracy to take down another head of state - Willy Brandt, the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.  That is just one of the fascinating facts uncovered by Stefanie Waske, a graduate student in political science. 

Stefanie Waske summarizes some of her key findings in Die Zeit.  Willy Brandt was always viewed as a traitor by the political right since he had fled Nazi Germany for Norway and was active in the anti-Nazi resistance.  When he became Chancellor in 1969 a group of reactionaries in the CDU/CSU - primarily aristocrats like Stauffenberg - immediately begin to plot his demise.  Brandt's foreign policy of Ostpolitik - the rapprochement with East Germany and Soviet Bloc, only enraged the activists further, so much so  that they formed a private secret espionage organization that operated independently from the BND. 

What really interests me is the role that Henry Kissinger played in this extra-legal espionage episode. Already in 1969 the leader of the CDU, Rainer Barzel, traveled to Washington to discuss what to do about Brandt.  Then Brandt's secretary of state, Egon Bahr, sought Kissinger's blessing to start the Ostpolitik initiatives, and Bahr and Kissinger agreed on a secret communication backchannel that circumvented the respective government bureaucracies.  In 1970 an unnamed operative of the CDU's secret operation ( informally known as the "Informationsdienstes für die Opposition") met with Kissinger to discuss plans for toppling Brandt.  In contrast to his directives against Allende in Chile, Kissinger urged caution in this case:

"Es mag möglich sein, die gegenwärtige Regierung zu stürzen, offen bleibt aber, ob hierfür nicht Risiken eingehandelt werden, die eine CDU/CSU-Regierung in größte Schwierigkeiten bringen kann (sic!)."

(It is entirely possible to topple the current government, but it is also possible that this could be too risky and cause big problems for a CDU/CSU government.) 

But from that point on Kissinger apparently shared Bahr's confidential communications with the CDU "Informationsdienst". 

Much of this story is still murky.  Who was the operative who met with Kissinger?  Kissinger won't say. Where did the band of aristocrats get the financing for this secret program? We don't know, but there is speculation that Axel Springer may have had a hand in this. 

Kissinger would later pursue his own path of rapprochement with the Soviet Union, but much still needs to be known about what role, if any, the US played in sabotaging the Brandt administration.

Stefanie Waske's book on her research - Nach Lektüre vernichten! Der geheime Nachrichtendienst von CDU und CSU im Kalten Krieg  ("Destroy after Reading! The Secret Spy Agency of the CDU and CSU in the Cold War")  - will appear early 2013.