Splitting the German Government: Expellee Leader Steinbach Puts Merkel in a Tight Spot

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As hysterical and unfair as the reactions of some Polish politicians to Steinbach are, a good relationship with Germany's eastern neighbor is ultimately more important than the staffing of a foundation's board of directors. Even some in the CDU see it this way. Speaking at a SPIEGEL event at the University of Potsdam last week, former German President Richard von Weizsäcker said that he was opposed to Steinbach's becoming a member of the foundation board.

But Merkel shies away from making such clear statements. As chancellor in the former "grand coalition" government of the CDU and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), Merkel delegated the task of preventing Steinbach from joining the foundation's board to then-Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a member of the SPD.

But then came the election campaign. To avoid losing conservative voters, Merkel gave in to pressure from Horst Seehofer, the chairman of the CSU, who demanded a clear expression of support for Steinbach in the CDU/CSU's campaign platform.

According to their campaign platform, the "CDU and CSU conclude that the associations of German expellees from their homelands can decide for themselves when it comes to their representation in the Flight, Expulsion and Reconciliation Foundation." This sentence is now a millstone around Merkel's neck.

Close advisers had warned Merkel that such a clear commitment to Steinbach could encumber the new administration in its early stages, particularly after FDP leader Guido Westerwelle had announced during the campaign that he did not want to see Steinbach on the foundation's board.

When Seehofer was about to take Steinbach's side during the coalition negotiations, Merkel took him aside and said that it was not necessary to provoke a dispute with Westerwelle. She also said that she planned to make giving up the claim to membership of the foundation's board more appealing to Steinbach by awarding her a job in the new government. That attempt, however, was a complete failure.

'Test of Democracy'

Now the BdV can invoke the CDU/CSU's campaign platform. When the group's steering committee met in Frankfurt last week, a number of members argued that Steinbach should be proposed as a member of the foundation board immediately. "It's time that we finally made up our minds," said Christian Knauer, vice president of the federation and the district administrator of Aichach-Friedberg, a district near Munich.

In the end, anxious not to give Westerwelle the satisfaction of dealing a fatal blow to her ambitions during the cabinet's recent two-day retreat at Meseberg Palace near Berlin, it was Steinbach herself who managed to postpone the decision. But Steinbach wouldn't be Steinbach if she hadn't embellished the decision with a dig against Merkel.

The government's stance on the BdV, she said, would be a "test of democracy." She could not have been more direct in her call for a clear decision from the chancellor. But Merkel doesn't intend to raise the issue in the cabinet until the BdV has decided for itself how it wants to handle Steinbach's claim.

Criticism of Merkel

The two women have a difficult relationship. In the spring, Merkel attended the BdV's annual reception. In the weeks leading up to the event, Steinbach was sharply attacked by Polish politicians, while Merkel said nothing in her defense.

At the reception, held at the Berlin State Opera, the chancellor had to stand and listen to Steinbach's opening remarks. Steinbach formally welcomed the state-level ministers and high-ranking church officials present and she even found the time to mention local officials. But she neglected to name one important person in the audience: the chancellor.

Merkel's expression became increasingly frosty, and people in the audience began to talk about a "scandal." Then -- at the end of her speech, after 15 excruciating minutes -- Steinbach said that, even as a young girl, she had always kept the best for last, before finally saying: "Welcome, Chancellor Merkel."

In late August, Merkel was invited to an event in Berlin called "Homeland Day." In her speech, the chancellor made a special effort to win over the expellees. Still, on that day, the federation awarded its badge of honor, not to Merkel, but to former Interior Minister Otto Schily, a Social Democrat. "You have always had an open ear for people's fate and the concerns of our federation," Steinbach said. The sentence was intended as praise for Schily -- but it could also be interpreted as a veiled criticism of Merkel.

Sensitive Issue

Now Merkel comes across as a politician who has no opinion on what is currently the most controversial political issue related to the important and omnipresent debate about how Germany should deal with its past. Westerwelle is intent on standing in Steinbach's way; the issue is a welcome opportunity for him to raise his profile as foreign minister. There are few other areas in which he can so easily and successfully oppose the chancellor.

However, on Monday, Westerwelle seemed to strike a more conciliatory tone, saying that he was prepared to meet with Steinbach to discuss the issue. "I never said I would refuse to talk to her and I would also not do that," he told reporters in Berlin.

CSU Chairman Seehofer, for his part, is upset because Merkel hasn't managed to settle this sensitive issue quietly. This puts him in the position of having to stand behind Steinbach to avoid being seen as soft by his conservative voters.

Moderate members of the BdV steering committee are now saying in private that the situation is so messy that it's time to start thinking about a foundation without Steinbach. Senior federation officials are already thinking about ways to make it up to Steinbach, such as offering subsidies for local expellees' associations or expanding the planned documentation center in the historic Deutschlandhaus office building in Berlin.

But even if Steinbach does agree to abandon her claim to board membership, there is no guarantee that this will resolve all the problems. The Sudeten Germans, the largest group in the BdV, have already threatened to withdraw from the foundation if Steinbach is ousted. "Only with Steinbach's seal of approval does the foundation make any sense," says Bernd Posselt, the spokesman of the Sudeten Germans.

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• Part 1: Expellee Leader Steinbach Puts Merkel in a Tight Spot
• Part 2: Hysterical Reactions