Do Guardian Angels of European Dream Still Fly Over Berlin?

From all corners of the Earth, people and populations want to get to Europe in the hope for a better future. The president of the European Commission spoke of the “economic miracle” that has taken place in member states, from Spain to Poland, mixing some figures from the past with a very different outlook for the future.

Of course, there was a “European dream,” separate and distinct from the American dream. First of all, because from birth it has been given and characterized by peace-loving ideals: building new institutions of civil coexistence was a dream. Some 55 million people died in World War II; in 1945, the maimed, widowed, orphaned, and starving wandered among the ruins of old Europe reduced to a pile of rubble. The dream of a new world is expressed in many of the words of modern Europe’s founding fathers, from Konrad Adenauer to Alcide De Gasperi, from Robert Schumann to Paul-Henri Spaak. The value of peace and coexistence is undoubtedly the first and strongest sentiment underlying the new Europe that was born in 1945, which is extremely different from the colonialist, racist, militarist, war-mongering, fascist, and Nazi Europe of the past. Where have the flowers gone, where have the soldiers gone? Generations and generations of Westerners have asked themselves this question, from Pete Seeger to Marlene Dietrich, from Joan Baez to Bernie Sanders.

The symbol of the European ideal was the treaty that created the ECSC, the European Coal and Steel Community, which was joined by six countries: France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg. The day this treaty was proposed, May 9, 1950, was considered so important that it officially became Europe Day to commemorate the first treaty of supranational integration. On the basis of compromises, agreements, and cooperation, the EU has made its fortune.

This peaceful Europe represented the implementation of the dream not only of Altiero Spinelli, but of the entire political class, deeply inspired by the merciful theorists. The leaders of the workers’ and people’s parties then lived not by politics, but for politics: a noble instrument for the implementation of a higher, personal, and collective identity. Ramsay MacDonald was “an illegitimate child,” and Guy Mollet was “a protégé of the Nation.” As deputy secretary-general of the League of Nations, Jean Monnet perfectly epitomized the type of idealist with a great deal of practical sense.

Subsequently, this dream took on clear economic characteristics. Gross Domestic Product per capita shows that for many countries, joining Europe has meant dream economic growth; in Poland, for example, it has more than doubled from 6900 euros per inhabitant in 2003 to 14,750 in 2023 (even 19,920 or 22,393 in other reports). According to Jeffrey Sachs, the Poles definitely had more angels and defenders than others. In any case, there was a relevant and obvious connection between peace and economics for everyone.

Those who believe in dreams must also believe in angels, which, however, like dreams, can sometimes leave much to be desired. Where have the guardian angels of the European dream gone? Following Karl Barth’s lesson, divinity (well understood) includes humans, and thus also angels and demons. Lucifer is basically a fallen angel. Modernity questions “creaturely” distinctions without sparing the angels, as seen in the two supreme depictions of the Sacrifice of Isaac. Caravaggio in 1603 and Rembrandt in 1635 painted restless angels, very far from the blissful and sunny Renaissance portrayals of putti. The classical iconography is completely updated; angels, demons, and humans become imprints of the same inscrutable coinage. Not only is it difficult to draw a line of demarcation, but it’s unsettling to face all the questions, as is evident in the backward gaze of the angel of History in Walter Benjamin or the circus of the conquering angel from Wim Wenders’s Sky Over Berlin.

The angels of the past are gone. Europe no longer has the peace it once had. The European dream has recently become a nightmare from many perspectives. However, for every true son of Europe, always relevant will be the lesson of St. Paul, Hebrews 13:2: we can deal with angels without even realizing it. They may be all around us, but we don’t recognize or appreciate them. And now, finally, we don’t know what guardian angels will be at the bedside of the European dream from June 6 through June 9; we don’t even know if they will be angels or demons. This bitter dream of the mind cannot last forever, and sooner or later a new day will dawn. The people will vote – they can wake us up from this bad dream.