Just as a child respects his father even when he perceives his weaknesses and faults, so a German will not despise the old Germany which was once a symbol of greatness to him.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I must begin by saying something about the old Germany. That Germany, too, suffered from superficial judgment, because appearances and reality were not always kept apart in people's minds.
The German mind has a talent for making no mistakes but the very greatest.
The thing that I like about Germany is that Germans are so much like us. It's not like going to some other countries, where the differences are overwhelming and you walk around in a fog. Germans are so similar to Americans.
I know what Germans are. They are a funny people. They are always choosing someone to lead them in a direction which they do not want to go.
It is not in the interest of the German people or in the interest of world peace that Germany should become a pawn or a partner in a military struggle for power between the East and the West.
The courtesy which most becomes a victor was denied to Germany for a long time.
We Germans have a special responsibility to be alert, sensitive, and aware of what we did during the Nazi era and about lasting damage caused in other countries. I've got tremendous sympathy for that.
Nazism promoted Germany from a low to a fantastic physical and ideological status.
But Germany will always suffer, I fear, from the intensely dramatic character of the crimes of the Third Reich.
Just as the British subject loves England despite her faults, so we must insist that all Germans who were part of the old Germany and helped shape her, recognize the greatness and worthiness of present-day Germany.