SEP-04-2002 14:09

KISSINGER ASSOCIATES

212 759 0042 P.01/08 (lc)

DIE ZEIT

WOCHENZEITUNG FÜR POLITIK • WIRTSCHAFT • WISSEN • KULTUR UND Leben

With HAK's handwritten edits to translation, on p. 6 (not sent in since eulogy wasn't needed)

Mr.
Henry Kissinger

Fax: 001-860 759 00 42

Pages: 1 + 2

Theo Sommer
Editor-at-Large

+49-(0)40-3280-210 fel

+49-(0)40-3280-550 fax

Hamburg, 4th September 2002

Dear Henry,

Thank you ever so much. You did it once again: Your piece is fair, noble and moving. I envy you for the incisiveness of your judgement and your power of the word.

I had to do the translation very hurriedly. Have a look at it. I would be very happy to entertain suggestions for improvement.

Fortunately, we did not need your eulogy and those of the others yet. Helmut seems to be not only stabilizing, but slowly recovering. We all keep our fingers crossed.

With warm personal regards and a *handkuss* for Nancy

Zeitverlag Gerd Bucertus GmbH & Co. KG

DIE ZEIT, Pressehalle, Speerstr. 1, 20095 Hamburg • Telefon: 040 / 3280-0 • Telefax: 040 / 3271 11

E-Mail: DieZeit@zeit.de • Internet: www.zeit.de • Handelsregister Hamburg, HRA 91 123 • Urn:IdNr. DE139342458
Gesellschaftsführer: Thomas Brackwitzel, Dr. Rainer Etzer • Chefredakteure: Dr. Josef Joffe, Dr. Michael Naumann

Deutsche Bank AG, Konto 08 12461, BLZ 200 700 00 • Postmark Hamburg, Konto 129000-207, BLZ 200 100 20

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KISSINGER ASSOCIATES

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<table><tr><td colspan="4">Nr.: 65/02</td></tr><tr><td>M-Zeilen:212</td><td>--L-Zeilen:200</td><td>***Unter-/-Übers.:203 Zeilen ***</td><td>Datum: 04.09 Uhr: 16:30</td></tr><tr><td>L. Ä: Benedikt 16:30</td><td>Korrigiert:</td><td>R 1:</td><td>R 2:</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2">Hinweis</td><td>Ver: 6</td><td>Pagina:</td></tr></table>

Manuskript

<table><tr><td>L 33</td><td>und meine Verbehalte gegenüber Willy Brandts</td></tr><tr><td>L 34</td><td>Ostpolitik auszuräumen. Solange er Kanzler war,</td></tr><tr><td>35</td><td>bin ich selten nach Europa gekommen, ohne mich</td></tr><tr><td>L 36</td><td>mit ihm im Kanzlerbungalow auszutauschen. Er</td></tr><tr><td>L 37</td><td>war zutiefst überzeugt, dass Deutschland und</td></tr><tr><td>L 38</td><td>Amerika in einer gemeinsamen Verantwortung</td></tr><tr><td>L 39</td><td>standen; daher beschränkte sich sein Rat nie auf</td></tr><tr><td>40</td><td>ein engstirnig definiertes deutsches Nationalinter-</td></tr><tr><td>L 41</td><td>esse. Er zögerte nicht, mich während eines Staats-</td></tr><tr><td>L 42</td><td>besuchs in Algiers anzurufen, um mir seinen</td></tr><tr><td>L 43</td><td>Freund, den neuen französischen Staatspräsiden-</td></tr><tr><td>L 44</td><td>ten Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, ans Herz zu legen.</td></tr><tr><td>L 45</td><td>Er tat dies nicht, ohne mich eindringlich zu er-</td></tr><tr><td>L 46</td><td>mahnen, um Gotteswillen einen Rückfall in die</td></tr><tr><td>L 47</td><td>herkömmlichen Streitereien zwischen Gaullisten</td></tr><tr><td>48</td><td>und Amerikanern zu vermeiden - und nicht ohne</td></tr><tr><td>49</td><td>den Zusatz, er werde uns beide scharf im Auge be-</td></tr><tr><td>50</td><td>halten.</td></tr><tr><td>51</td><td>All seine Äußerungen zur Politik hatten eine zu-</td></tr><tr><td>L 52</td><td>tiefst moralische Grundierung. „Politik ohne Ge-</td></tr><tr><td>53</td><td>wissen tendiert zum Verbrechen", sagte er einmal.</td></tr><tr><td>54</td><td>„Ich verstehe Politik als pragmatisches Handeln zu</td></tr><tr><td>L 55</td><td>moralischen Zwecken." Typisch für Helmut war</td></tr><tr><td>56</td><td>eine Unterhaltung, die ich mit ihm einige Wochen</td></tr><tr><td>57</td><td>nach dem kühlen Kommando-Unternehmen der</td></tr><tr><td>L 58</td><td>GSG-9 in Mogadischu führte. Helmut erzählte</td></tr><tr><td>59</td><td>von seiner Seelenqual in den Stunden, ehe die Er-</td></tr><tr><td>L 60</td><td>folgsnachricht kam: Wenn ihn schon, grübelte er,</td></tr><tr><td>L 61</td><td>das Schicksal von 90 Geiseln und der Stosstrupp-</td></tr><tr><td>62</td><td>Einheit, die sie rettete, dermaßen aufwühlte - wie</td></tr><tr><td>63</td><td>wirde er es je über sich bringen, eine Nato-Strate-</td></tr><tr><td>64</td><td>gie zu vollziehen, die den Einsatz von Atomwaffen</td></tr><tr><td>L 65</td><td>bedeutete? Und dennoch stimmte er einige Jahre</td></tr></table>

["SEP-04-2002 14:10", "KISSINGER ASSOCIATES", "212 759 0042", "P. 04/08", "Rossinger H.", "Autor: H. Kissinger", "Bearbeiter:", "Reformwerkstatt", "Seite: 3/7", "Nr.: 55/02", "-M-Zellen:212•", "**L-Zellen:200•", "***Unter-/Übers.:203 Zellen •••", "Datum: 04.09 Uhr: 16:30", "L. Ä: Benedikt 16:30", "Korrigiert:", "R 1:", "R 2:", "Hinweis", "Ver: 6", "Pagina:", "Manuskript", "<table><tbody><tr><td>L</td><td>66</td><td>später der Stationierung von amerikanischen Mittelstreckenwaffen auf deutschem Boden zu - weil er glaubte, dies sei seine Pflicht, wo es um die Ver- teidigung der Freiheit ging.</td></tr><tr><td>L</td><td>70</td><td>Dieser Wesenszug des leidenschaftlichen Politikers stand in offenkundigem Gegensatz zu Helmutts hanseatischer Haltung, die ihm selbst im An- gesicht von Freunden und Mitarbeitern verbot, persönliche Gefühle an den Tag zu legen. Das letzte Mal, als ich Marion Dönhoff sah, geschah dies beim Abendessen mit Helmut und Loki in deren Langenhornenz Haus. Marion litt große Schmerzen, von denen sie sich nichts anmerken ließ. Helmut ehrte ihre preußische Selbstkontrolle, indem er ihre Krankheit nicht ein einziges Mal erwähnte.</td></tr><tr><td>L</td><td>80</td><td>Marion und Helmut waren einander in tiefer Freundschaft verbunden, doch sie duzten sich ebensowenig, wie ich ihn duzte. Bei Helmut bedurfte Freundschaft nicht solcher ausdrücklichen Unterstreichung und Betonung. Sie war ihm in sich selbst genug.</td></tr><tr><td>L</td><td>87</td><td>Den Staatssmann Helmut Schmidt zeichnete vor allem eines aus: Charakter. Er besaß die Fähigkeit, fest zu stehen, wenn die Stürme tobten. Man konnte sich auf ihn verlassen, was immer der äußere Anschein sein mochte. Er war ein Mann großen Formats, herbischer Taten fähig. Wenige Staatenlenker - wenn überhaupt welche - waren auf so vielen Feldern so gut auf ihre Ämter vorbereitet.</td></tr><tr><td>L</td><td>92</td><td>Die Geschichte hat ihm freilich nicht die Gelegenheit verschafft, die von Willy Brandt begonnene Versöhnung zwischen Ost und West zu vollen-<br>ne Versöhnung zwischen Ost und West zu v

SEP-03-2002 20:53

KISSINGER ASSOCIATES

212 759 0042

P.01.09

1137 words
(not including
German insert)

9/3/02-3

Eulogy for Helmut Schmidt

One of the few disagreements between Helmut Schmidt and me concerned how we met. He claimed that our first encounter was at a conference at Harvard University where we argued about nuclear strategy. I have been convinced that our paths crossed a few months earlier in Hamburg, when he was introduced to me as a promising young political leader. I like to think that the difference of opinion arose from the pride we felt in our relationship: each of us wanted to take credit for having discovered the other.

As the years went by, we became close friends. I had the good fortune of being Helmut's colleague for nearly a decade when he was Defense Minister, Finance Minister, and Chancellor. And, when we were both out of office, we remained in close contact with frequent

09-03-02 19:53 TO:

FROM:212 759 0042

P01

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P.02 09

meetings and an active correspondence. We shared each other's
intellectual interests, attended each other's important birthdays, and
overcame our occasional disagreements.

There was no other statesman I trusted more and few whom I
trusted as much as Helmut. When he was Defense Minister, he played
a decisive role in overcoming President Nixon's and my reservations
about Willy Brandt's *ostpolitik*. When he was Chancellor, I rarely
traveled to or through Europe without staying with him at the
Bungalow to exchange ideas. Convinced as he was that Germany and
America shared a common responsibility, Helmut did not confine his
advice to matters of the German national interest narrowly defined.
He did not hesitate to telephone me while I was on an official visit to
Algiers to introduce his friend, the new French President Valery Giscard
d'Estaing, with an injunction to avoid sliding into traditional Gaullist-

09-03-02 19:53 TO:

FROM:212 759 0042

P02

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P.03.09

American quarrels and a warning that he would keep an eye on both of us.

Through all of Helmut's conversations on politics ran a profound moral concern. "Politics without a conscience tends toward criminality," he said on one occasion. "I understand politics as pragmatic action for moral purposes". Typical is [was] a conversation I had with Helmut a few weeks after a German commando unit undertook a daring raid to rescue German hostages held captive on an airplane hijacked to Mogadishu. Helmut recounted his anguish in the hours before he knew the raid had been successful. If he could be so moved, he mused, about the fate of eighty-six hostages and the commando unit that rescued them, how would he ever be able to bring himself to implement a NATO strategy involving nuclear weapons? And yet, a few years later, Helmut agreed to deploy medium-range

09-03-02 19:53 TO:

FROM:212 759 0042

P03

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P.04 09

American missiles on German soil - because he thought it was his duty
in the defense of freedom.

That passionate aspect of Helmut's nature was in seeming
contrast to Helmut's Hanseatic surface which avoided to make
[avoided making] a display of personal emotion a claim on his friends ✓
or associates. The last time I saw Marion Dönhoff, I was at dinner
with Helmut and Loki at Schmidt's home. Marion was in great pain of
which she gave no sign, and Helmut honored her Prussian self-control
by never referring to her illness. Marion's and Helmut's friendship was
profound and deeply felt, yet they never used the personal "du"
anymore than I did in my relations with him. For Helmut, friendship
required no underlining or special emphasis. It was its own meaning.

As a statesman, Helmut's distinguishing attribute was character:
the ability to stand fast when the storms rage, to be able to be
counted on whatever the appearances. He was a man of great

09-03-02 19:54 TO:

FROM:212 759 0042

P04

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P.05/09

stature, capable of heroic deeds. Few, if any leaders, were as well prepared as he in so many fields. Yet for a leader to achieve mythic recognition, the popular stature requires the opportunity for a heroic response. And history did not vouchsafe him the opportunities to repeat the drama of East-West reconciliation of Willy Brandt or the national fulfillment of Helmut Köhl. He conducted the affairs of his country with intelligence, skill, and flair. He guided Germany's transition from its past as a divided and occupied country to its future as the strongest nation in Europe, from its obsession with security to a leading role in constructing a global system, from transforming European unification as a means of containing a resurgent Germany to becoming a leader of a new European entity.

And, out of office, more than any statesman of the last half-century, Helmut made a seminal intellectual contribution as he tirelessly traveled around the world to lecture and devotedly worked at

09-03-02 19:54 TO:

FROM:212 759 0042

P05

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P.06.09

home to enhance his intellectual reach. Whether as advocate of Western defense or of reconciliation with Russia, as a proponent of responsible domestic economic policy, or as the spokesman for a new structure of international financial management, Helmut was always at the cutting edge of global issues. One of his last speeches on June 8, 2002 - a Global Tour d'Horizon to the Interaction Council that he [had?] founded - showed the scope of Helmut's concerns: population explosion, global warming, economic globalization, the international financial system, the World Bank, Kashmir, and the war on terrorism.

He did not repeat the slogans of conventional wisdom but, in his eighties, he devoted time, effort, and intellectual energy to recall the world to a sense of responsibility. And twenty years out of office, he was a kind of conscience to our time - though he would never make this claim for himself.

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FROM:212 759 0042

P06

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P.07 09

A word must be said about Helmut's special relationship to
America. When I was in government, I knew no more reliable a friend
of the United States. As the decades went by, Helmut became
increasingly critical of certain tendencies in American politics and life.
Superficial observers interpreted these observations as anti-
Americanism. His admirers knew better. Helmut was part of the
immediate postwar generation that looked to America for special
qualities of leadership as the best, at first, the only hope of the free
peoples. He therefore tended to judge America by special standards
and found American shortcomings more difficult to accept than those
of societies toward which his expectations were lower. And, in the
process, he considered it an act of trust to call attention to challenges
in need of urgent attention. Helmut's relations to America were those
of a somewhat strict uncle intolerant of intellectual sloth, insistent on
high-performance, convinced that Europe and Germany contributed

09-03-02 19:54 TO:

FROM:212 759 0042

P07

SEP-03-2002 20:55

KISSINGER ASSOCIATES

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P.08 09

more to the common good ~~by assessing their own intellectual~~ responsibility than by simply becoming spectators or executors of the design of others.

A world without Helmut is an emptier and lonelier place. I shall miss his friendship, his reliability, his decency, his dedication, and his analytic gifts.

In a moving speech in 1998, he summed up the qualities that seemed important to him. What matters, he said, in a slight paraphrase, is:

das freiheitliche und das demokratische Credo,
getragen von den Leitideen der Aufklärung, die 1776
die Grundlage der amerikanischen Verfassung
geworden sind, die schließlich seit 1949 auch in
Deutschland helmisch wurden und die Grundlage
unserer Verfassung sind,

das innere Pflichtbewußtsein, zuvor so
rational wie möglich zu analysieren, ehe man handelt
oder ehe man einen Rat gibt. Es ist auch die
Rückhaltlosigkeit, im privaten und persönlichen
Gespräch wahrhaftig und zur Gänze nur das zu sagen,
was man wirklich denkt – und nicht etwas, das
vielleicht der andere gerne hören würde.

09-03-02 19:54 TO:

FROM:212 759 0042

P08

9/3/02-3

Eulogy for Helmut Schmidt

2

3

4

American missiles on German soil – because he thought it was his duty
in the defense of freedom.

That passionate aspect of Helmut's nature was in seeming
contrast to Helmut's Hanseatic surface which avoided to make
[avoided making] a display of personal emotion a claim on his friends
or associates. The last time I saw Marion Dönhoff, I was at dinner
with Helmut and Loki at Schmidt's home. Marion was in great pain of
which she gave no sign, and Helmut honored her Prussian self-control
by never referring to her illness. Marion's and Helmut's friendship was
profound and deeply felt, yet they never used the personal "du"
anymore than I did in my relations with him. For Helmut, friendship
required no underlining or special emphasis. It was its own meaning.

stature, capable of heroic deeds. Few, if any leaders, were as well prepared as he in so many fields. Yet for a leader to achieve mythic popular stature requires the opportunity for a heroic response. And history did not vouchsafe him the opportunities to repeat the drama of East-West reconciliation of Willy Brandt or the national fulfillment of Helmut Köhl. He conducted the affairs of his country with intelligence, skill, and flair. He guided Germany's transition from its past as a divided and occupied country to its future as the strongest nation in Europe, from its obsession with security to a leading role in constructing a global system, from transforming European unification as a means of containing a resurgent Germany to becoming a leader of a new European entity.

6

7

A word must be said about Helmut's special relationship to America. When I was in government, I knew no more reliable a friend of the United States. As the decades went by, Helmut became increasingly critical of certain tendencies in American politics and life. Superficial observers interpreted these observations - as anti-Americanism. His admirers knew better. Helmut was part of the immediate postwar generation that looked to America for special qualities of leadership as the best, at first, the only hope of the free peoples. He therefore tended to judge America by special standards and found American shortcomings more difficult to accept than those of societies toward which his expectations were lower. And, in the process, he considered it an act of trust to call attention to challenges in need of urgent attention. Helmut's relations to America were those of a somewhat strict uncle intolerant of intellectual sloth, insistent on high performance, convinced that Europe and Germany contributed

8

more to the common good by assessing their own intellectual
responsibility than by simply becoming spectators or executors of the
design of others.

das freiheitliche und das demokratische Credo,
getragen von den Leitideen der Aufklärung, die 1776
die Grundlage der amerikanischen Verfassung
geworden sind, die schließlich seit 1949 auch in
Deutschland heimisch wurden und die Grundlage
unserer Verfassung sind,
das innere Pflichtbewußtsein, zuvor so
rational wie möglich zu analysieren, ehe man handelt
oder ehe man einen Rat gibt. Es ist auch die
Rückhaltlosigkeit, im privaten und persönlichen
Gespräch wahrhaftig und zur Gänze nur das zu sagen,
was man wirklich denkt – und nicht etwas, das
vielleicht der andere gerne hören würde.

9

letztlich ist es in der Politik,
in der internationalen wie in der Innenpolitik, ebenso
wie in unser aller alltäglichem Leben: Aus
gegenseitiger Sympathie kann Freundschaft entstehen.
Aber nur dann wird die Freundschaft standhalten, wenn
jeder sich auf des anderen Zuverlässigkeit und
Wahrhaftigkeit verlassen kann.

It was a privilege to be Helmut's contemporary and an honor to
be his friend.

Sep 03 02 07:11p

KAI

212-759-0153

1331 words
(not including
German insert)

9/3/02-2

Eulogy for Helmut Schmidt

One of the few disagreements between Helmut Schmidt and me concerned how we met. He claimed that our first encounter was at a conference at Harvard University where we argued about nuclear strategy. I have been convinced that our paths crossed a few months earlier in Hamburg when he was introduced to me as a promising young political leader. I like to think that the difference of opinion arose from the pride we felt in our relationship: each of us wanted to take credit for having discovered the other.

As the years went by, we became close friends. We had both served in the armies of our respective countries when America and Germany were adversaries. The subject never came up in our conversations. We were products of a postwar period determined to

09-03-02 18:11 TO:

P01/10

ID:212 4215882

09-03-02 18:45

Sep 03 02 07:11p

KAI

212-759-0153

overcome the hatreds of the past by working to build a world of peace
and freedom. For Germany, this meant a long march away from its
immediate past; for America, a journey away from its isolationist

proconceptions. When I met Helmut, German cities were still marked

by the ruins of war. A new common danger had just appeared in the
center of the continent. From then on, Helmut devoted his thoughts
and energies to shaping all the issues that would affect our future. I
had the good fortune of being Helmut's colleague for nearly a decade
when he was Defense Minister, Finance Minister, and Chancellor. And
when we were both out of office, we remained in close contact with
frequent meetings and an active correspondence. We shared each
other's intellectual interests, attended each other's important
birthdays, and overcame our occasional disagreements.

There was no other statesman I trusted more and few whom I
trusted as much as Helmut. When he was [Defense/Finance] Minister,

09-03-02 18:11 TO:

P02/10

ID=212 4215882

FROM:212 250 01:00

09-03-02 18:45

Sep 03 02 07:12P

KAI

212-759-0153

he played a decisive role in overcoming [President] Nixon's and my reservations about Willy Brandt's *ostpolitik*. When he was Chancellor, I never traveled to or through Europe without staying with him at the Bungalow to exchange ideas. Convinced as he was that Germany and America shared a common responsibility, Helmut did not confine his advice to matters of the German national interest narrowly defined.

He did not hesitate to telephone me while I was on an official visit to Algiers to introduce his friend, the new French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, with an injunction [not to slide in] traditional Gaullist-American quarrels and a warning that he would keep an eye on both of us.

Through all of Helmut's conversations on politics ran a streak of profound moral concern. "Politics without a conscience tends toward criminality," he said on one occasion. "I understand politics as pragmatic action for moral purposes".

09-03-02 18:12 TO:

P03/10

ID=212 4215882

09-03-02 18:46

Sep 03 02 07:12P

KAI

212-759-0153

I will never forget a conversation I had with Helmut a few weeks after a German commando unit undertook a daring raid to rescue German hostages held captive on an airplane hijacked to Mogadishu. Helmut recounted his anguish in the hours before he knew the raid had been successful. If he could be so moved, he mused, about the fate of eighty-six hostages and the commando unit that rescued them, how would he ever be able to bring himself to implement a NATO strategy involving nuclear weapons? And yet, a few years later, Helmut overcame those inhibitions and agreed to deploy medium-range American missiles on German soil - because he thought it was his duty in the defense of freedom.

That passionate aspect of Helmut's nature was in seeming contrast to Helmut's haughty surface which avoided all costs to make a display of personal emotion a claim on his friends or associates. The last time I saw Marion Dönhoff, I was at dinner with

09-03-02 18:12 TO:

P04/10

ID:212 4215882

FROM:212 759 0153

09-03-02 18:46

Sep 03 02 07:12p

KAI

212-759-0153

5

Helmut and Loki at Schmidt's [their] home. Marion was in great pain of which she gave no sign, and Helmut honored her Prussian self-control by never referring to her illness. Yet he exhibited compassion and care in his bearing, and extraordinary gentleness. Marion's and Helmut's friendship was undoubtedly profound, yet they never used the personal "du" anymore than I did in my relations with him. For Helmut, friendship required no underlining or special emphasis. It was its own meaning.

As a statesman, Helmut's distinguishing attribute was character: the ability to stand fast when the storms rage; to be able to be counted on whatever the appearances. He was a man of great stature, capable of heroic deeds. Few, if any leaders, were as well prepared as he in so many fields. Yet for a leader to achieve mythic popular stature requires the opportunity for a heroic response. And history did not vouchsafe him the opportunities to repeat the drama of East-West

09-03-02 18:12 TO:

P05/10

ID=212 4215882

09-03-02 18:46

Sep 03 02 07:12P

KAI

212-759-0153

6

reconciliation of Brandt or the national fulfillment of Helmut Köhl. He
conducted the affairs of his country with intelligence, skill, and flair.

He guided Germany's transition from its past as a divided and occupied
country to its future as the strongest nation in Europe; from its
obsession with security to a leading role in constructing a global
system; from transforming European unification as a means of
containing a resurgent Germany to becoming a leader of a new

European entity Helmut made a seminal contribution to all these

tasks, not only by his leadership in office but by remaining at the

cutting edge of these issues for two decades afterwards, as he

tirelessly traveled around the world to lecture and devotedly worked at
home to enhance his intellectual reach. Whether as advocate of

09-03-02 18:12 TO:

P06/10

ID=212 4215882

09-03-02 18:47

Sep 03 02 07:12P

KAI

212-759-0153

at the cultural edge of global mines,
not at the cultural edge of
thoughtful, well-prepared, and persistent. One of his last speeches on
June 8, 2002 - a Global Tour d'Horizon to the Interaction Council of
retired world leaders that he had founded - showed the scope of

Helmut's concerns: population explosion, global warming, economic globalization, the international financial system, the World Bank, Kashmir, and the war on terrorism. Whether I agreed with all of it is less important than the consciousness that here was a man who cared, He did not simply to repeat the slogans of conventional wisdom but to spend, Le shorten in his eighties time, effort, and intellectual energy to recall the world to a sense of responsibility. And twenty years out of office, he was always in demand - a kind of conscience to our time - though he would never make this claim for himself.

09-03-02 18:12 TO:

P07/10

ID=212 4215882

FROM:212 759 9152

09-03-02 18:47

Sep 03 02 07:13p

KAI

212-759-0153

P.H.

But I never doubted nor should anyone have - that he had
disavowed what he considered, after all, part of his family.

In a moving speech in 1998, he summed up the qualities that
seemed important to him. What matter, he said, in a slight
paraphrase:

das freiheitliche und das demokratische Credo,
getragen von den Leitideen der Aufklärung, die 1776
die Grundlage der amerikanischen Verfassung
geworden sind, die schließlich seit 1949 auch in
Deutschland heimisch wurden und die Grundlage
unserer Verfassung sind,

das innere Pflichtbewußtsein, zuvor so
rational wie möglich zu analysieren, ehe man handelt
oder ehe man einen Rat gibt. Es ist auch die
Rückhaltlosigkeit, im privaten und persönlichen
Gespräch wahrhaftig und zur Gänze nur das zu sagen,
was man wirklich denkt - und nicht etwas, das
vielleicht der andere gerne hören würde.

09-03-02 18:13 TO:

P09/10

ID=212 4215882

FROM:212 759 9152

09-03-02 18:47

9/3/02-2

Eulogy for Helmut Schmidt

As the years went by, we became close friends. We had both served in the armies of our [respective] countries when America and Germany were adversaries. The subject never came up in our conversations. We were products of a postwar period determined to

2

overcome the hatreds of the past by working to build a world of peace
and freedom. For Germany, this meant a long march away from its
immediate past; for America, a journey away from its isolationist
preconceptions. When I met Helmut, German cities were still marked
by the ruins of war. A new common danger had just appeared in the
center of the continent. From then on, Helmut devoted his thoughts
and energies to shaping all the issues that would affect our future. I
had the good fortune of being Helmut's colleague for nearly a decade
when he was Defense Minister, Finance Minister, and Chancellor. And
when we were both out of office, we remained in close contact with
frequent meetings and an active correspondence. We shared each
other's intellectual interests, attended each other's important
birthdays, and overcame our occasional disagreements.

3

he played a decisive role in overcoming [President] Nixon's and my
reservations about Willy Brandt's *ostpolitik*. When he was Chancellor,
I never traveled to or through Europe without staying with him at the
Bungalow to exchange ideas. Convinced as he was that Germany and
America shared a common responsibility, Helmut did not confine his
advice to matters of the German national interest narrowly defined.
He did not hesitate to telephone me while I was on an official visit to
Algiers to introduce his friend, the new French President Valery Giscard
d'Estaing, with an injunction not to slide in[to] traditional Gaullist-
American quarrels and a warning that he would keep an eye on both of
us.

4

I will never forget a conversation [I had] with Helmut a few
weeks after a German commando unit undertook a daring raid to
rescue German hostages held captive on an airplane hijacked to
Mogadishu. Helmut recounted his anguish in the hours before he
knew the raid had been successful. If he could be so emotional, he
mused, about the fate of eighty-six hostages and the commando unit
that rescued them, how would he ever be able to bring himself to
implement a NATO strategy involving nuclear weapons? And yet, a
few years later, Helmut overcame these inhibitions and agreed to
deploy medium-range American missiles on German soil – because he
thought it was his duty in the defense of freedom.

That passionate aspect of Helmut's nature was in seeming
contrast to Helmut's Haemostatic surface which avoided at all costs to
make a display of personal emotion a claim on his friends or
associates. The last time I saw Marion Dönhoff, I was at dinner with

5

Helmut and Loki at Schmidt's [their] home. Marion was in great pain of which she gave no sign, and Helmut honored her Prussian self-control by never referring to her illness. Yet he exuded compassion and care in his bearing and extraordinary gentleness. Marion's and Helmut's friendship was undoubtedly profound, yet they never used the personal "du" anymore than I did in my relations with him. For Helmut, friendship required no underlining or special emphasis. It was its own meaning.

As a statesman, Helmut's distinguishing attribute was character: the ability to stand fast when the storms rage; to be able to be counted on whatever the appearances. He was a man of great stature, capable of heroic deeds. Few, if any leaders, were as well prepared as he in so many fields. Yet for a leader to achieve mythic stature requires the opportunity for a heroic response. And history did not vouchsafe him the opportunities to repeat the drama of East-West

6

He guided Germany's transition from its past as a divided and occupied
country to its future as the strongest nation in Europe; from its
obsession with security to a leading role in constructing a global
system; from transforming European unification as a means of
containing a resurgent Germany to becoming a leader of a new
European entity. Helmut made a seminal contribution to all these
tasks, not only by his leadership in office but by remaining at the
cutting edge of these issues for two decades afterwards, as he
tirelessly traveled around the world to lecture and devotedly worked at
home to enhance his intellectual reach. Whether as advocate of
Western defense or of reconciliation with Russia, as a proponent of
responsible domestic economic policy, or as the spokesman for a new
structure of international financial management, Helmut was always

7

thoughtful, well prepared, and persistent. One of his last speeches on
June 8, 2002 - a Global Tour d'Horizon to the Interaction Council of
retired world leaders that he had founded - showed the scope of
Helmut's concerns: population explosion, global warming, economic
globalization, the international financial system, the World Bank,
Kashmir, and the war on terrorism. Whether I agreed with all of it is
less important than the consciousness that here was a man who cared,
not simply to repeat the slogans of conventional wisdom but to spend,
in his eighties, time, effort, and intellectual energy to recall the world
to a sense of responsibility. And twenty years out of office, he was
always in demand - a kind of conscience to our time - though he
would never make this claim for himself.

A word must be said about Helmut's special relationship to
America. When I was in government, I knew no more reliable [a]
friend of the United States. As the decades went by, Helmut became

8

Some interpreted these - superficially - as anti-Americanism. They were the opposite. Helmut shared the view of the immediate postwar generation that looked to America for special qualities of leadership as the best, at first, the only hope of the free peoples. He therefore tended to judge America by special standards and found American shortcomings more difficult to accept than those of societies toward which his expectations were lower. And in the process, he called attention to problems America needs to deal with as a new world order is emerging. In all these efforts, I looked at Helmut like a somewhat strict uncle intolerant of intellectual sloth, insistent on high performance, convinced that Europe and Germany contributed more to the common good by assuring their own intellectual responsibility than by simply becoming spectators or executors of the design of others.

9

But I never doubted - nor should anyone have - that he had
disavowed what he considered, after all, part of his family.

10

It was an honor to be Helmut's contemporary and a privilege to
be his friend.

KISSINGER ASSOCIATES

212 759 0042

P.01/05

994 words through
handwritten page 3

Eulogy for Helmut Schmidt

One of the few disagreements between Helmut Schmidt and me concerned how we met. He claimed that our first encounter was at a Harvard University where we some conference in Cambridge when I was pointed out to him as a agreed upon nuclear strategy promising young intellectual. I have been convinced that our paths crossed in Hamburg when he was introduced to me as a promising young political leader. I like to think that the difference of opinion arose from the pride we felt in our relationship: each of us wanted to take credit for having discovered the other.

As the years went by, we became close friends. We had both served in the armies of our countries when American and Germany were adversaries. The subject never came up in our conversation(s). We were products of a post-war period determined to overcome the hatreds of the past by working to build a world of peace and freedom.

001

→ NY OFFICE

HAK KENT

09/03/2002 15:40 FAX 860 927 0065

SEP-03-2002 13:46

KISSINGER ASSOCIATES

212 759 0042

P.03/05

There was no other statesman I trusted more and few whom I trusted as much as Helmut. When he was Minister, he played a decisive role in overcoming Nixon's and my reservations about Willy Brandt's *ostpolitik*. When he was Chancellor, I never traveled to or through Europe without staying with him at the Bungalow to exchange ideas. Convinced as he was that Germany and America shared a common responsibility, Helmut did not confine his advice to matters of the German national interest narrowly defined. He did not hesitate to telephone me while I was on an official visit to Algiers to introduce his friend, the next French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, with an injunction not to slide in traditional Gaullist-American quarrels and a warning that he would keep an eye on both of us.

Through all of Schmidt's conversations on politics ran a streak of profound moral concern. "Politics without a conscience tends toward

003

→ NY OFFICE

HAK KENT

09/03/2002 15:41 FAX 860 927 0065

I will never forget a conversation with Helmut a few weeks after
a German commando unit undertook a daring raid to rescue German
hostages held captive on an airplane hijacked to Mogadishu. Helmut
recounted his anguish in the hours before he knew the raid had been
successful. If he could be so emotional, he mused, about the fate of
eighty-six hostages and the commando unit that rescued them, how
would he ever be able to bring himself to implement a NATO strategy
involving nuclear weapons? And yet, a few years later, Helmut
overcame these inhibitions and agreed to deploy medium-range
American missiles on German soil - because he thought it was his duty
in the defense of freedom.

212 759 0042

P.04/05

004

→ NY OFFICE

HAK KENT

make a display of personal emotion a burden on his environment. The
last time I saw Marion Dönhoff, I was at dinner with Helmut and Loki
at Schmidt's home. Marion was in great pain of which she gave no
sign, and Helmut honored her Prussian self-control by never referring

to her illness. Yet he extended compassion and care. Their friendship
was undoubtedly profound, yet they never used the personal "du"

TOTAL P.05

Sep 03 02 02:18p

KAI

212-759-0153

P.2

(Y)

make a display of personal emotion a burden on his environment. The
last time I saw Marion Donhoff, I was at dinner with Helmut and Loki
at Schmidt's home. Marion was in great pain of which she gave no
sign, and Helmut honored her Prussian self-control by never referring
to her illness. Yet he extended compassion and care. Their friendship
was undoubtedly profound, yet they never used the personal "du"
anymore than I did in my relations with him. For Helmut, friendship
required no underlining or special emphasis. It was its own meaning.

As a statement Helmut's position [where we left off.] The most important quality of a statesman is character, to distinguish attribute mes character: ability & stand fast when the storms rage; to be able to be counted on whatever the appearances. Helmut had these qualities in abundance. Historical circumstance was not kind to Helmut. He was a man of great stature capable of heroic deeds. Few, if any leaders, were as well prepared as he in so many fields. Yet to achieve greatness, a leader must have not only talent but the opportunity for a heroic response. Schmidt had it.

006

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HAK KENT

09/03/2002 15:42 FAX 860 927 0065

Sep 03 02 02:18p

KAI

212-759-0153

P.3

the attributes for greatness. But history did not vouchsafe him the opportunities to repeat the drama of Brandt or the national fulfillment of Helmut Köhl. He conducted the affairs of his country with intelligence, skill, and flair. He guided Germany's transition from its past as a divided and occupied country to its future as the strongest nation in Europe; from its obsession with security to a leading role in constructing a global economic system; from transforming European unification as a means of containing a resurgent Germany to becoming a leader of a new European entity. Schmidt made a seminal contribution to all these tasks, not only by his leadership in office but by remaining at the cutting edge of these issues for two decades afterwards, as he tirelessly traveled around the world to lecture and devotedly worked at home to maintain his intellectual edge. Whether as advocate of Western defense or of reconciliation with Russia, as a proponent of ~~respectable~~ domestic economic policy, or as the

007

→ NY OFFICE

HAK KENT

Sep 03 02 02:18p

KAI

212-759-0153

7

Schmidt was always thoughtful, well prepared, and persistent. One of

his last speeches on June 8, 2002 - a Global Tour d'Liberté to the

energy to broaden his horizons and to deepen the world's sense of

make this claim for himself.

008

→ NY OFFICE

HAK KENT

Sep 03 02 02:18p

KAI

212-759-0153

8

America. When I was in government, I knew no more reliable friend of

superficially

also

the word means

This could only be specifically interpreted as anti-Americanism. For

some interpreted this - superficially -

they were the

opposite

also

justified

influenced

not strict

009

→ NY OFFICE

HAK KENT

Sep 03 02 02:18p

KAI

212-759-0153

p.6

9

good by assuring their own intellectual responsibility than by simply
becoming spectators at the design of others. But I never doubted -
nor should anyone have - that he had disavowed what he considered,
after all, part of his family. And the article he wrote in *Die Zeit* days
after September 11 testifies to this feeling.

In a moving speech in 1998, he summed up the qualities that
*What matters he said in a*
seemed important to him *which I paraphrase only slightly. What*

*Subject paragraph*
*matters in life, he said, is this:*

010

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09/03/2002 15:43 FAX 860 927 0065

Sep 03 02 02:23p

KAI

212-759-0153

P. 1

10

Meine Damen und Herren, (letztlich ist es in der Politik,
in der internationalen wie in der Innenpolitik, ebenso
wie in unser aller alltäglichem Leben: Aus
gegenseitiger Sympathie kann Freundschaft entstehen.
Aber nur dann wird die Freundschaft standhalten, wenn
jeder sich auf des anderen Zuverlässigkeit und
Wahrhaftigkeit verlassen kann.

be his friend.

011

→ NY OFFICE

HAK KENT

1386 words

9/3/02

# Eulogy for Helmut Schmidt

One of the few disagreements between Helmut Schmidt and me concerned how we met. He claimed that our first encounter was at some conference in Cambridge when I was pointed out to him as a promising young intellectual. I have been convinced that our paths crossed at Hamburg in ______ when he was introduced to me as a promising young political leader. I like to think that the difference of opinion arose from the pride we felt in our relationship: each of us wanted to take credit for having discovered the other.

As the years went by, we became close friends. We had both served in the armies of our countries when American and Germany were adversaries. The subject never came up in our conversation[s]. We were products of a post-war period determined to overcome the hatreds of the past by working to build a world of peace and freedom.

2

When I met Helmut, Germany was still marked by the scions [?] of
war. A new common danger had just appeared in the center of the
continent. Helmut devoted himself to a lifetime of action and
reflection on all the ______ that would affect our future: on the
social implications of the Cold War; on the impact of a global world; on
the role of his country; and on the future of a unified Europe. I had
the good fortune of being Helmut's colleague for nearly a decade when
he was Defense Minister, Finance Minister, and Chancellor. And when
we were both out of office, we remained in close contact with frequent
meetings and an active correspondence. We shared each other's
intellectual interests, attended each other's important birthdays, and
overcame our occasional disagreements.

3

(N)

4

I will never forget a conversation with Helmut a few weeks after a German commando unit undertook a daring raid to rescue German hostages held captive on an airplane hijacked to Mogadishu. Helmut recounted his anguish in the hours before he knew the raid had been successful. If he could be so emotional, he mused, about the fate of eighty-six hostages and the commando unit that rescued them, how would he ever be able to bring himself to implement a NATO strategy involving nuclear weapons? And yet, a few years later, Helmut overcame these inhibitions and agreed to deploy medium-range American missiles on German soil – because he thought it was his duty in the defense of freedom.

5

make a display of personal emotion a burden on his environment. The
last time I saw Marion Dönhoff, I was at dinner with Helmut and Loki
at Schmidt's home. Marion was in great pain of which she gave no
sign, and Helmut honored her Prussian self-control by never referring
to her illness. Yet he extended compassion and care. Their friendship
was undoubtedly profound, yet they never used the personal "du"
anymore than I did in my relations with him. For Helmut, friendship
required no underlining or special emphasis. It was its own meaning.

The most important quality of a statesman is character: to
stand fast when the storms rage; to be able to be counted on whatever
the appearances. Helmut had these qualities in abundance. Historical
circumstance was not kind to Helmut. He was a man of great stature
capable of heroic deeds. Few, if any leaders, were as well prepared as
he in so many fields. Yet to achieve greatness, a leader must have not
only talent but the opportunity for a heroic response. Schmidt had all

[Where we left off.]

6

the attributes for greatness. But history did not vouchsafe him the opportunities to repeat the drama of Brandt or the national fulfillment of Helmut Köhl. He conducted the affairs of his country with intelligence, skill, and flair. He guided Germany's transition from its past as a divided and occupied country to its future as the strongest nation in Europe; from its obsession with security to a leading role in constructing a global economic system; from transforming European unification as a means of containing a resurgent Germany to becoming a leader of a new European entity. Schmidt made a seminal contribution to all these tasks, not only by his leadership in office but by remaining at the cutting edge of these issues for two decades afterwards, as he tirelessly traveled around the world to lecture and devotedly worked at home to maintain his intellectual edge. Whether as advocate of Western defense or of reconciliation with Russia, as a proponent of respectable domestic economic policy, or as the

7

his last speeches on June 8, 2002 - a Global Tour d'Houjen to the

make this claim for himself.

8

A word must be said about Helmut's special relationship to
America. When I was in government, I knew no more reliable friend of
the United States. As the decades went by, Helmut became
increasingly critical of certain tendencies in American politics and life.
This could only be specifically interpreted as anti-Americanism. For
Helmut shared the view of the immediate postwar generation that
looked to America for special qualities of leadership as the best, at
first, the only hope of the free peoples. He therefore tended to judge
America by special standards and found American shortcomings more
difficult to accept than those of societies toward which his expectations
were lower. And in the process, he called attention to problems
America needs to deal with as a new world order is emerging. In all
these efforts, I looked at Helmut like a somewhat strict uncle
intolerant of intellectual sloth, insistent on high performance,
convinced that Europe and Germany contributed more to the common

9

In a moving speech in 1998, he summed up the qualities that
seemed important to him which I paraphrase only slightly. What
matters in life, he said, is in _________:

10

(N)

Meine Damen und Herren, letztlich ist es in der Politik,
in der internationalen wie in der Innenpolitik, ebenso
wie in unser aller alltäglichem Leben: Aus
gegenseitiger Sympathie kann Freundschaft entstehen.
Aber nur dann wird die Freundschaft standhalten, wenn
jeder sich auf des anderen Zuverlässigkeit und
Wahrhaftigkeit verlassen kann.

be his friend.

SEP-03-2002 08:46

KISSINGER ASSOCIATES

212 759 0042

P.02/04

In dreißig Jahren wird China 1600 Millionen Menschen umfassen; Chinas Anteil am Welthandel wird dann dem Anteil der USA entsprechen, und die chinesische Währung wird ähnlich wichtig sein. wie Dollar und Euro. Und Indien – heute bereits eine Milliarde Menschen – wird ziemlich schnell nachfolgen. Natürlich bleibt auch Rußland eine Weltmacht, trotz aller seiner inneren Schwierigkeiten. Es ist wahrlich an der Zeit, sich an Henry Kissingers Gleichgewichtskonzepte zu erinnern!

Lieber Henry, lassen Sie mich diesen Tag nutzen, um nicht nur meine Bewunderung für Ihre Urteilskraft auszudrücken, sondern ebenso meine Dankbarkeit für Ihre Freundschaft. Was mich mit Ihnen verbindet, das ist das freiheitliche und das demokratische Credo, getragen von den Leitideen der Aufklärung, die 1776 die Grundlage der amerikanischen Verfassung geworden sind, die schließlich seit 1949 auch in Deutschland heimisch wurden und die Grundlage unserer Verfassung sind, ~~Was ich mit Ihnen verbindet, das ist auch das innere Pflichtbewußtsein, zuvor so rational wie möglich zu analysieren, ehe man handelt oder ehe man einen Rat gibt. Es ist auch die Rückhaltlosigkeit, im privaten und persönlichen Gespräch wahrhaftig und zur Gänze nur das zu sagen,~~

6

Helmut Schmidt

Fürth, 20. Mai 1998

Ehrenbürgerwürde
für Henry Kissinger

Dear Henry,

In just a week's time you will enjoy an outstanding
anniversary of your birthday. But being aware of the
widespread superstition that one never should express
congratulations in advance of a happy event, I will
cautiously abstain from so doing. But I do not feel the
slightest inhibition to tell you how much I am delighted
over the fact that the city of Fürth, where you were born
three quarters of a century ago, bestows on you its
honorary citizenship today. My heartfelt
congratulations!

Of course, no honors and no praise nor eulogy can
ever make up for the criminal evils that your parents
and family and you yourself were exposed to whilst
you were living here during the first fifteen years of
your life. But I do hope: You and your American fellow
citizens will take the event this morning as a token
proof that we Germans indeed have once again become

(L)

a rational, a democratic people and a nation that is
adhering to the basic moral principles which we did
have in common with America until 1933 and which we
again do have in common since the rebirth of Germany
after World War II and since the end of the Nazi
dictatorship.

Meine Damen und Herren!

Es ehrt Sie und Ihre Stadt, daß Henry Kissinger die ihm
zugedachte Ehrenbürgerschaft annimmt. Ich bin diesem
Manne seit über vier Jahrzehnten in Freundschaft
verbunden. Als wir uns in der zweiten Hälfte der
fünfziger Jahre das erste Mal in der Harvard University
begegnet sind, da war soeben Henry Kissingers Buch
über atomare Waffen im Rahmen der Außenpolitik
erschienen, ein Buch von luzider Klarheit, das damals
in der ganzen Welt – mit Recht! – sorgfältig gelesen
wurde. Ich selbst war zu jener Zeit ein Gegner der
offiziellen Strategie der atomaren Vergeltung und
plädierte statt dessen für die konventionelle
Verteidigungsfähigkeit Europas. Aber Henry Kissinger –
neben ihm auch einige andere amerikanische Fachleute
– haben mir damals geholfen, meine eigenen
strategischen Vorstellungen in Gestalt eines Buches zu
konzipieren und zu veröffentlichen.

2

(c)

Als ich knapp ein Jahrzehnt später Verteidigungs-
minister geworden war, habe ich als erstes jenen
amerikanischen Plan zu Fall gebracht, der diesseits des
Stacheldrahts, aber parallel zum Stacheldraht, einen
Gürtel atomarer Landminen quer durch Deutschland
ziehen wollte. Meine damaligen amerikanischen
Kollegen Melvin Laird und Henry Kissinger – der eine
Nixons Verteidigungsminister und der andere sein
Sicherheitsberater – haben mich gewähren lassen. Sie
verstanden, daß keine militärische Strategie sich über
die vitalen Interessen der deutschen Nation
hinwegsetzen darf.

Auch später, als Finanzminister zur Zeit der von den
USA betriebenen Aufhebung des Weltsystems fester
Wechselkurse und zur Zeit der ersten Welt-Ölpreis-
Krise, wie auch danach, als Bundeskanzler, habe ich
immer engen Kontakt zu Kissinger gehalten. Auch als
er anfangs 1977 durch Cyrus Vance abgelöst worden
war. Und auch in allen Jahren seither. Wir waren gar
nicht immer einig, aber ich habe vielerlei Einsichten von
Kissinger gelernt. Und umgekehrt konnte ich ihm – und
seiner damaligen Regierung – die Zweifel an Willy
Brandts Ostpolitik zerstreuen, genauer gesagt: den

3

(c)

Argwohn nehmen, daß unsere Ostpolitik im Ergebnis
eine Abwendung von den USA bedeuten würde.

Damals, in den sechziger und siebziger Jahren,
genügten ein Abend in New York – etwa ein Gespräch
mit John McCloy – und ein Tag in Washington – ein
Gespräch mit Henry Kissinger und dazu ein weiteres
Gespräch mit George Shultz oder Arthur Burns –, um
als deutscher Politiker ausreichend klar erkennen zu
können, worauf Amerikas Politik gerichtet war und wie
sie sich entfalten würde. Heute ist das leider anders.
Zwar hören in Washington auch heute noch alle klugen
Leute zu oder sie lesen, wenn Henry über eine
außenpolitische oder eine strategische Frage spricht
oder schreibt.

Aber es gibt nicht mehr so viele kluge Leute. Genauer
gesagt: Amerika besitzt heute keine homogene
außenpolitische Elite. Einige der außenpolitisch
Einflußreichen wollen am liebsten Rußland mit der
NATO verheiraten und dadurch Amerikas Macht bis an
Chinas Grenzen ausdehnen. Andere meinen umgekehrt,
Rußland als quantité négligeable behandeln zu dürfen.
Es gibt heute keine klare Rußland-Politik in
Washington. Andere möchten die NATO zu einer
weltweit einsetzbaren Feuerwehr unter amerikanischer

4

0/0

Führung machen. Es gibt auch keine klare China-Politik, keine klare Japan-Politik. Niemand scheint darauf vorbereitet, größenwahnsinnig werdenden Investmentbankern und der Habgier die dringend notwendigen Zügel anzulegen, damit solche die Weltwirtschaft gefährdenden Ereignisse beherrschbar bleiben, wie wir sie gegenwärtig in Ost- und Südostasien erleben. Statt dessen breitet sich ein supranationaler Raubtier-Kapitalismus aus. Keiner kümmert sich darum. Gleichzeitig weigert sich der Kongreß, Amerikas Beitragsschulden bei der UN zu bezahlen.

Bei alledem ist allerdings Amerikas Vitalität ungebrochen. Aber oft genug wünsche ich mir Henry Kissinger oder George Shultz zurück in das State Department!

Nicht, lieber Herr Kinkel, daß ich etwa vom außenpolitischen oder vom finanzpolitischen Weitblick der europäischen Staatslenker eine höhere Meinung hätte; sie haben sich seit Maastricht 1992 noch viel weniger der zukünftigen Weltentwicklung bewußt verhalten als die USA.

5

(LC)

Lieber Henry, lassen Sie mich diesen Tag nutzen, um
nicht nur meine Bewunderung für Ihre Urteilskraft
auszudrücken, sondern ebenso meine Dankbarkeit für
Ihre Freundschaft. Was mich mit Ihnen verbindet, das
ist das freiheitliche und das demokratische Credo,
getragen von den Leitideen der Aufklärung, die 1776
die Grundlage der amerikanischen Verfassung
geworden sind, die schließlich seit 1949 auch in
Deutschland heimisch wurden und die Grundlage
unserer Verfassung sind. Was mich mit Ihnen verbindet,
das ist auch das innere Pflichtbewußtsein, zuvor so
rational wie möglich zu analysieren, ehe man handelt
oder ehe man einen Rat gibt. Es ist auch die
Rückhaltlosigkeit, im privaten und persönlichen
Gespräch wahrhaftig und zur Gänze nur das zu sagen,

6

00

(lc)

Henry Kissinger steht im Geiste selbstverständlich
immer noch im Dienst seines amerikanischen
Vaterlandes. Aber zugleich ist er ein stetiger,
zuverlässiger Freund der Deutschen. Als 1989/90
François Mitterrand und Margaret Thatcher ernsthaft
versuchten, die sich anbahnende deutsche
Vereinigung zu stören, hat Henry Kissinger in den USA
öffentlich hörbar und sichtbar uns Deutschen die
Stange gehalten.

Nicht nur ich persönlich, sondern – ungleich wichtiger!
– wir alle, wir Deutschen haben Grund zur Dankbarkeit
gegenüber diesem großen Amerikaner, der heute vor
sechzig Jahren Deutschland unter akuter Lebensgefahr
seiner jüdischen Religion wegen hat verlassen müssen.

7

00

30/08/2002 14:40

+49-40-3280550

5. 01/01

DIE ZEIT

WOCHENZEITUNG FÜR POLITIK • WIRTSCHAFT • WISSEN • KULTUR UND LISEN

Dr. Henry A. Kissinger
Twenty-Sixth Floor
350 Park Avenue
New York
New York 10022
USA

Theo Sommer
Editor-in-Large

+49-(0)40-3280-210 tel

+49-(0)40-3280-550 fax

Hamburg, 30 August 2002

Fax: 001-212-759-0042 - Pages: 1

Dear Henry,

As you may have heard, Helmut Schmidt suffered a severe heart attack last Saturday. He underwent open-heart surgery on Sunday and received four bypasses. As of now, he is still in intensive care. The doctors say that his condition is stable. But while there has been no deterioration, there hasn't been any improvement either.

As the worst cannot be excluded, DIE ZEIT is preparing a special obituary supplement. You have been close to him for many years, and he has always valued your friendship. We would be truly grateful to you if you found it possible to contribute a short eulogy highlighting your personal relationship with him.

The piece should be no longer than 400 words, if possible, and should reach us by
Monday, 2 September - also if possible.

We all keep praying for Helmut and hope for the best. Still, the paper which he has been associated with for almost twenty years now must be prepared for the worst. Your contribution would be greatly appreciated.

With warm personal regards,
Yours sincerely,

Zeitverlag Gerd Bucurius GmbH & Co. KG
DIE ZEIT, Pressehaus, Speersori 1, 20095 Hamburg • Telefon: 040 / 3280-0 • Telefax: 040 / 32 71 11
E-Mail: DieZeit@zeit.de • Internet: www.zeit.do • Handelregisseur Hamburg, HRA 91 123 • Ust-IdNr. DE189342458
Geschäftsfuhrer: Thomas Brackvogel, Dr. Rainer Esser • Chefredakteure: Dr. Josef Jaffe, Dr. Michael Naumann
Deutsche Bank AG, Konto 08 12461, BLZ 200 700 00 • Postbank Hamburg, Konto 129000-207, BLZ 200 100 20