GERMANY: Arms & the Hessians

The big issue in current West German politics is rearmament. Christian Democratic Chancellor Konrad Adenauer wants a German army to share in West Europe’s defense. Socialist Leader Kurt Schumacher is against rearmament until German “equality” is assured by the Western allies.

This week these conflicting stands were the main question in parliamentary voting in the U.S.-zone states of Hesse and Württemberg-Baden. The trend was sharply in favor of Schumacher’s Socialists. Of 80 seats, Hessians gave 47 to Schumacher’s party, only twelve to Adenauer’s Christian Democrats. In Württemberg-Baden, the Socialists boosted their seats to 35. In both states, the Communists pulled less than 5% of the vote, will have no parliamentary seats.