The "Black Baron" and wife Stephanie in better days

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT he had finally disgraced himself for good, the man is back, his eyes on high office and generating headlines everywhere he goes. No, I’m not talking about Newt Gingrich. It’s [Dr.] Baron Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester von und zu Guttenberg. While he may be two letters down since being stripped of his phony doctorate last spring, he has gained eight new ones: Can you spell c-h-u-t-z-p-a-h?

As I have written about extensively on this blog, Baron Guttenberg was once the rising star of conservative German politics. This descendant of a long line of Franconian nobility, who is only turning forty this December, first appeared on Germany’s political scene when he was elected to the German Bundestag for the conservative Christian Social Union in 2002 in the midst of writing his dissertation on constitutional history. By 2005 the party’s telegenic rising star had already assumed a leading position on the parliament’s foreign affairs committee and began drafting German policy. He became the CSU’s general secretary in 2008. In 2009 he advanced to become Minister of Economics and Technology, only to be appointed Defense Minister a mere eight months later.

Baron Guttenberg, with his equally attractive and aristocratic wife, Stephanie von Bismarck, by his side, flourished in this role. As “Washington’s man in Berlin,” as Wikileaks describes him, he forcefully supported the NATO effort in Afghanistan, making several heavily publicized trips to German troops stationed there, and began a thorough reorganization of the Bundeswehr into a lean, rapid response force, which included the abolition of the draft. What was next for Guttenberg? The Chancellor’s office? It seemed like a logical career move.

And then came the plagiarism scandal. Last February the word got out that “Dr.” Guttenberg had largely copied his 2007 dissertation from published sources, including newspaper articles, and faked the footnotes. He had even engaged the Bundestag’s own research service to write portions of it for him at taxpayers’ expense. Doctorates are a big deal in Germany. For the middle class, those two little letters in front of one’s name represent the next best thing to an aristocratic title and usually translate into extra income and promotions. It’s not surprising that ordinary folks, including the Baron’s political colleagues, who earned their doctorates the hard way were not amused when a high aristocrat like Guttenberg started poaching on their own hunting grounds.

The fall from grace was sudden and complete. His university stripped him of his doctorate and declared him a fraud. The public prosecutor charged him with copyright infringement. On March 1, 2011 Guttenberg retired from all political functions – celebrating his departure with an elaborate torch-lit “Grand Tattoo.”

Guttenberg, his wife, and their two daughters fled the country, departing for a “political sabbatical” in Connecticut in July. There he began working as – believe it or not – a “distinguished statesman” at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Earlier this month, the public prosecutor in the city of Hof, who had been prosecuting Guttenberg for copyright violations, declared that it was dropping the case against the Baron in exchange for a one-off payment of 20,000 euros to the German Children’s Cancer Foundation. This might sound like a stack of money to you and me, but it’s scarcely even pocket change for someone like Guttenberg, who is reported to have 600 million euros in the bank. I swear I’m not making any of this up.

 
"Distinguished Statesman"?
The "new" Guttenberg in Halifax last weekend

Then, last weekend, Guttenberg delivered an address on the future of Europe at the Halifax International Security Forum, where he warned of a “crisis of political leadership in Europe.” Then, just yesterday, he unveiled his new book in a front-page article in the weekly Zeit. The book, with the bizarre title Vorerst gescheitert (not really translatable – it basically means “washed up for the time being”), consists of a series of interviews with Zeit editor Giovanni di Lorenzo. In it, he admits that the plagiarism was “the greatest stupidity imaginable,” but says “it was not fraud” and was instead do to his “chaotic work habits.” Regarding his own plans, he says “there is no question that I am a political person, a zoon politikon.” While he has no concrete plans to jump back into German politics, “I won’t rule anything out” – including a possible return before the 2013 Bundestag elections.

The baron is also sporting a new haircut and no longer wears glasses. Is it Lazik? Has he taken to wearing contacts? When asked what happened to his specs, he replied that a Greek optometrist in the US told him that “I see just as well without them.” So it’s a miracle!

For Germans seeking a new start, moving to America has been a popular option for centuries. Five million German immigrants to the USA (including my own ancestors) knew what they were up to. More recently, many intellectuals and politicians have discovered that an extended stay in the States is just the thing to whitewash a stained reputation. Just look at has-been East German star author Christa Wolf, who, faced with charges of collaboration with the communist state and informing on fellow citizens for the Stasi, spent years on the German department circuit, giving lectures and serving as “writer in residence” at various US universities. But Wolf, a bit of a phony herself, already had a special relationship with the United States: She cribbed her most celebrated quote, the opening line from the novel Kindheitsmuster – “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past” – from William Faulkner, and with nary a footnote to credit the “loan.”

So are the speech, the new book, not to mention the new look something more than a coincidence? In fact, it looks as if Guttenberg, Europe’s would-be white knight, is just now coming through the spin cycle. Only in America, the land of the eternal comeback. Maybe he should throw his hat into the Republican race? Sure, there’s that problem with his citizenship, but reality has never stopped someone like Guttenberg.

 
Guttenberg's vision:
Will Europa succumb to her White Knight's charms?