GERMANY: A Much-Perplexed People

Are the Nazis coming back? Last week, commenting on West Germany's local elections, some foreign newsmen seemed to think they are. New York Timesman Drew Middleton, who has been making predictions of a Nazi revival for years, reported the specter of German fascism overhanging every ballot box. Bonn protested "splash headlines" and "one-sided reporting" by foreign correspondents. Conditions in Germany, said Konrad Adenauer's press chief, are "extraordinarily stable"; the election proved that both left and right extremists are "steadily sinking in numbers."

Actually, the election itself—a purely local scramble for 100,000 council seats—proved very little. Three facts stood out: 1)...

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