Evening star., 1961-10-29
PORTRAIT OF WILHELM GREWE
German Envoy Takes Long-Range View

1t Is too easy an explanation to
say that Ambassador Grewe
shares with the rest of West Ger
many's leadership the feeling that
West German American relations
have not been quite the same
since Mr.. Dulles death. The AM
basSador has no public COM
plants about present American
foreign policy but he is willing
to acknowledge that the longer
he had an opportunity to know
Mr.. Dulles and to do business with
him, the more he appreciated his
systematic thinking and precise
way Of formulating positions.
Admiration for Dulles
While sincerely avoiding all
comparisons, particularly with
Mr.. Dulles two successors in the
State Department, Ambassador
Grewe freely acknowledges his
own admiration for the Dulles
efficiency.
After conferring with some dip
lomats for two hours, the Am
bassador says, he can return to
his office and send a two-page
report to his government; after
spending only Is minutes with
others, he can sometimes write
10 or IL pages. Mr.. Dulles usually
stimulated q long report to the
German Foreign Office. =
DR.. Grewe would not like 10
attribute this admiration for Mr..
Dulles to parallel backgrounds IN
law. Some State Department
people believe I am a legalistic-
minded man." he says, and I
don't like that
On occasional speaking tours in
the West, in Alaska and in Mex
leo, Ambassador Grewe has de-
veloped an interest in the early
inhabitants of the North Ameri-
can continent, before the Euro
peans came. He has collected a
variety Of textiles, trinkets and
sculpture on these trips.
In Alaska recently he became
interested in what the United
States is doing to improve the
living standards of Indians and
Eskimos. He visited their schools
in Alaska and brought back speci-
mems Of their art.
These are only momentary di-
versions, however, in the Ambas-
sador's nearly total absorption
with West Germany's return to a
position Of world leadership, this
time, he hopes, on the side of the
angels. He was the key working
level negotiator for the Federal
Republic when it was removed
from occupation status and when
it Joined the Western European
Union and the NATO alliance. He
was the top German observer at
the Berlin Foreign Ministers con-
ference Of 1854, at the 1855 sum-
init conference and the later
Geneva Foreign Ministers meeting,
and the 1859 Geneva Foreign
Ministers conference at Berlin.
Quiet Patience
Through it all he has built a
reputation for quiet patience but
stubborn logic. willingness to
listen, eagerneSs to explain as
often as necessary. unwillingness
to raise his voice to win an argu-
ment. HIS tools are not only logic
but personal contact. He perhaps
knows as many diplomats, re-
porters and public figures in this
country as any other Ambassador
in town. II he has ever been in q
hurry he has seldom shown it.
He has as much time for the gar
dener as for the Secretary of
State for Miss Universe, a
girl from East Germany who got
out through West Berlin last year
before The Wall went UP.
He got from her fresh, first
hand confirmation of what he has
been stressing without letup,
both before The Wall and after.
1t is normal, she reported, that in
each class of the secondary
schools in East Germany there are
one, or possibly two, convinced
Communist students. The ratio
averages about one to 80. This
means that the young East Ger
mans have to be careful what
they say, but that the vast ma
jority behind The Wall are wait
ing for. it to come down, for a
chance to bring down the COM
regime and reunite with
the Germans, of the West.
Ambassador Grewe counts him
self among the old-fashioned
German diplomats who still be-
lieve that reunification is a goal
that should be pressed, despite
the dim hopes for achieving it
soon.