Germany's World Cups: less cold war, more commerce than in 1974 (FT)

Few people are in a better position than Bernd Bransch to welcome as a "refreshing change for Germany" the flag-waving that is accompanying the national team's progress through the football World Cup.

The imposing defender who captained communist East Germany's team in the 1974 cup - the last time the competition was staged in Germany - remembers no displays of "such relaxed patriotism" back then, in either the west or the east.

"Things were much more restrained back then" as memories of the country's Nazi past were still relatively fresh, he recalls in an interview at his home football ground in Halle, south-west of Berlin.

As for Mr Bransch, Germany's success so far in this year's tournament has for many of his compatriots revived memories of 1974. Now as the team prepares for tomorrow's semi-final match against Italy in the western industrial city of Dortmund, many Germans in both the east and west are recognising anew the radical changes the country has gone through over these three decades.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the euphoria of unification of east and west in 1990, and Germany's emergence as a "normal" European country that has become a vital player on the world stage, are just some of the staging-posts of the last 16 years.

In Angela Merkel, Germany has its first female chancellor. She is also the first leader from the former East Germany - a personal history she shares with Michael Ballack, captain of the national team.

Some trace the overwhelmingly positive atmosphere in Germany since the tournament opened last month at least in part to these historic transformations.
"The whole background to the [German] bid for the World Cup was to show the world that Germany has changed. The warm welcome [this month] for the foreign fans, and the flags waved by ordinary Germans, suggests this is working," says Ulrich Hesse-Lichtenberger, author of a social history of German football.

For Mr Bransch, it was the "cold war atmosphere" of the 1974 tournament that stands out in contrast with today. In particular, West Germany was "absolutely convinced" they would thrash his eastern team. In fact East Germany shocked the sporting and political world with a 1-0 victory.

The communist regime "used the victory to score points in the class war with the west", he says. The historic match was the only time the West and East German sides met for a full international game. Despite the defeat in the tournament's qualifying stage, West Germany went on to beat Holland in the final.

Mr Hesse-Lichtenberger says there are parallels in the security worries in both 1974 and 2006. The 1974 event came only two years after Palestinian terrorists killed Israeli hostages at the Munich Olympics, while al-Qaeda - and football hooligans - are the main threat today.

Yet politics aside, the focus in the 1974 tournament "was really on the matches, on football. In contrast, in this year's competition that is only one of many considerations [for the organisers]", he says, pointing for instance, to the central role of business and of Germany's image campaign in shaping the event.

For Jürgen Croy, East Germany's goalkeeper in 1974, the turning point in this transformation process was the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

In frequent job changes that mirror broader patterns in eastern Germany since unification, he has turned to business and politics, working at times for Puma, the sports goods maker, and as mayor of Zwickau, his home town south of Leipzig. "I've been glad to meet new challenges," he says.

Mr Bransch is pleased history appears to be coming full circle. The German football association has given East Germany's 1974 team free tickets for some World Cup matches, and Mr Bransch is attending tomorrow's semi-final.

He hopes for a win, of course - but knows that, even if Germany lose, he will have his own, rather special memories to hang on to.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006