A Slippage of Power

After four weeks of horse trading, doublecrossing and the flashing of political knives, West Germany last week emerged with a new coalition government that makes almost everybody unhappy.

To bring the Free Democrats back into his coalition, gaunt Chancellor Konrad

Adenauer had to promise that he would step down from office next September and tacitly accept as next Chancellor Dr. Ludwig Erhard, the creator of Germany's economic miracle, whom der Alte, normally a just and magnanimous man, has seen fit to block, deride and ridicule. Adenauer's own Christian Democratic party (C.D.U.) is disgruntled because four of its oldtimers were dropped from the Cabinet and only learned of their demise from newsmen or by abrupt announcement in the party caucus; Adenauer had not bothered to consult them. West Berliners are furious because Berliner Ernst Lemmer was dropped from the Ministry of All-German Affairs, marking the first time a Berliner has not held this post.

Wily Sioux. The Free Democrats rejoice at having forced the resignation of Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss, the man blamed for the ham-handed arrests of Der Spiegel executives (see below) but regret the price they had to pay: the replacement of the Ministers for Justice and Finance. Only the Socialists, as usual frozen out of the government, seem in a position to gain at the polls from the public disgust at the Spiegel affair.

As the new ministers took the oath of office last week beneath the Bundestag's plump, lead-grey German eagle, Adenauer lolled in a black leather chair, looking more than ever like a wily Sioux chieftain clad in a cutaway. Dapper, handsome Dr. Erich Mende, leader of the Free Democrats, sat perkily in a front-row seat. Pink-cheeked Dr. Erhard barely said good morning to Adenauer, and glanced casually through a newspaper during the Chancellor's brief speech.

Adenauer won bitter laughter from his own Deputies by remarking that the opposition played an "important role'' in government. He thanked all the departing ministers, specifying Strauss by name ("Treachery!" barked a Socialist backbencher), and brought roars from the house by stating, with a straight face: ''Anyone knows what it means to form a coalition government ..."

Bitter Berliners. What it has meant over the past weeks is a breathtaking display of cliff-walking by der Alte, as he alternately flirted with the potent Socialists and with the Free Democrats to find a workable coalition. What finally emerged was a 21-man Cabinet in which most of the top men, such as Economics Minister Erhard, Foreign Minister Gerhard Schroder and Special Affairs Minister Heinrich Krone, retained their old jobs. It is a Cabinet somewhat younger than the previous one, and more conservative.

Among the changes:

> Free Democrat Wolfgang Stammberger, who resigned as Justice Minister when Der Spiegel executives were arrested without his knowledge, is replaced by Free Democrat Ewald Bucher, who violently dislikes Strauss and can be expected to investigate thoroughly Strauss's meddling in the Spiegel case.

>Free Democrat Heinz Starke, who irritated Adenauer by holding out stubbornly for his own views in Cabinet meetings, is out as Finance Minister and replaced by capable Free Democrat Rolf Dahlgruen, 54, who has the difficult job of raising $1.5 billion to balance this year's budget and next.

> Rainer Barzel (C.D.U.), who has been an enthusiastic Erhard backer, becomes All-German Affairs Minister in place of Berlin's Lemmer (C.D.U.).

The key change is at the Defense Ministry, for it brings to the fore a new personality who will rival Schroder in the C.D.U. echelon below Erhard. Successor to Strauss is a North German named Kai-Uwe von Hassel,* 49, who was born in Tanganyika, Germany's former East African colony. Von Hassel's agility in C.D.U. party matters has long marked him as a comer.

Since Von Hassel needs several weeks to wind up his job as Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein, the bleak state bordering on Denmark, there was a comic confusion about who would fill the job until he arrives in Bonn. No one seemed able to decide. At first everyone assumed that Strauss's former No. 2 man in the ministry would have the interim job, but an official spokesman named another man for the job. At last came the baffling declaration that burly Franz Josef Strauss himself would return to the Defense post until Von Hassel could take over.

The chaos was symptomatic of the growing feeling in Bonn that Adenauer, at 86, has lost his leadership. In recent months, der Alte has become increasingly isolated, seldom appears in the Bundestag, or even at the caucus meetings of his C.D.U. parliamentary faction. Often at Cabinet meetings he stays for a short time, then hands affairs over to Vice Chancellor Erhard. Der Alte seems uninterested in details, no longer gets the steady stream of reports from the Foreign Ministry on every detail of West Germany's relations abroad which he once demanded. Being out of touch even with the moods in his own country, Adenauer clearly fell into the Der Spiegel affair without realizing the political dynamite it contained.

Hard Times. Despite the obvious slippage in Adenauer's power, few of his ambitious rivals are eager to put too much pressure on him or criticize him publicly. A Socialist leader explained his party's hesitancy by saying: "We cannot become known as icon smashers." In every rival's mind is the continued reverence for der Alte displayed by the German people. In a recent EMNID public opinion poll to choose the "World's Most Admired Man," 24% of the West Germans picked Adenauer. Albert Schweitzer came second with 8%, and leaders like Charles de Gaulle. Pope John XXIII, Winston Churchill and President John F. Kennedy ranged from 4% to 1%.

However Bonn's crisis of leadership is resolved, it is not likely to endanger West Germany's commitments to the European Common Market, NATO and the defense of the West. The tragedy is a domestic one, and the chief casualty is indomitable Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, whose long and honorable service to his country deserved a finer conclusion: all the current bickering can only tarnish his place in German history. Many Germans wish that der Alte had gone ahead with his plan to shift to the sedate but less active office of the presidency in 1959. As a Bundestag supporter put it, "Better two years too soon than one day too late."

* Von Hassel's unusual first names are of archaic Frisian origin and often encountered in North Germany. Uwe (pronounced oo-vuh) is similar to Oswald, while Kai (rhymes with sky) is a near-perfect name for a German politician. It means: "One who is dangerous to his enemy."

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