The German experience, as you can see, did move me very much. Seeing that terrible destruction and seeing the miserable state of the people, how they had been beaten down by the war through no fault of their own probably.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
During the past few years I have led a sometimes hard battle for German foreign policy.
Very little changed fundamentally, except that the proud German soldier had turned into a defeated bundle of misery and the great German army had disintegrated.
When I was in Paris, all of the German refugees began to flow in and it was a very sad time.
In Germany, they all thought I was a bit mental, very emotional.
I grew up in the time of Germany after the war.
Naturally enough, I couldn't have foreseen the vast sea change which has come upon that scene as a result of German reunification and associated events.
The war, as I felt it and a lot of my compatriots felt it, was a creative act.
During the course of 1989, more and more East Germans lost their fears of the state's repression and chicanery and went out on the streets. There was no turning back then. It is thanks to their courage the Wall was opened.
I am imprinted with the whole sense of European history, especially German history, going back to World War I, which really destroyed all the old values and culture. My grandparents had been reasonably well-off but they became quite poor, living in an attic apartment.
My stay in Munich was the scene of my complete liberation.