Germany celebrated a decade of unity Tuesday with speeches that dwelled on the country’s place at the heart of a unifying Europe, but a firebomb attack on a synagogue in Duesseldorf recalled darker days.
“Germany is a strong democracy at the center of Europe, globally respected, surrounded by friends,” said President Johannes Rau, whose office is largely ceremonial. “We have no reason for self-satisfaction, but can allow ourselves a bit of pride.”
It was a typically understated observation during an understated ceremony in a country wary of ostentatious celebration. No German flags adorned the interior of Dresden’s magnificent Semper Opera House, and the uplifting music of Bach was balanced with a gloomy modern composition.
Perhaps no other state would celebrate its nationhood with such modesty–President Jacques Chirac of France gave the keynote speech. But, as the attack in Duesseldorf showed, it is relentlessly difficult for Germany to escape history.
Police said assailants threw three gasoline bombs against the glass of the synagogue’s main entrance after throwing bricks at the door in a failed attempt to open it. A neighbor who saw the attack quickly extinguished the fire. Nobody was injured and the damage was minimal.
Two youths, ages 15 and 16, were arrested early Tuesday. Police said the suspects had connections to rightist groups. But they were not immediately charged, and their exact role remained unclear.
In a second attack Monday night, the police said, swastikas were scrawled on the bell tower at the former Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald in eastern Germany. More than 50,000 people died in the camp, near Weimar, during the Nazi era.
The incidents appeared to be the work of Germany’s small but well-organized rightist, anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic groups.
In his speech, Rau did not refer specifically to the Duesseldorf attack, but he said it is essential to combat “anti-foreigner sentiment” in Germany. Such sentiment is concentrated in, but not exclusive to, eastern Germany, where high unemployment and the frustrations of adapting to life in a united Germany have fed rightist movements.
The president suggested that although the country is suffering from some “self-inflicted disappointments” at the pace of integration, it has much to celebrate. “European and German unity are two sides of the same coin,” he said.
