The German government is mourning the death of former Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher. Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany had lost a statesman who was respected the world over. She paid particular tribute to Genscher’s role in the reunification of Germany.
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Hans-Dietrich Genscher served as a federal minister for 23 years, said Chancellor Merkel, 18 of them as Minister of Foreign Affairs. "He shaped this role like no other, worked tirelessly to make connections around the world and won trust in our country."
Hans-Dietrich Genscher devoted his life to the pursuit of two things: the process of European détente and German reunification, Merkel added. "He played a leading role in the drawing up of the Helsinki Final Act of the CSCE, which provided a voice to the calls for human rights and free movement which could no longer be ignored – and to me, like millions of people in East Germany and Eastern Europe, gave hope that change would come."
Born in Halle in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, Hans-Dietrich Genscher never accepted the injustice of Germany’s division, Merkel said. Seizing the historic moment, he and Chancellor Helmut Kohl had a major part in bringing down the Berlin Wall and ending to the lack of freedom. Genscher’s appearance on the balcony of the German embassy in Prague on the evening of 30 September 1989 was unforgettable. It was there he was able to announce to the thousands of people from East Germany who had fled their country and were trapped on the grounds of the embassy that they were free to leave.
The images of that scene on the balcony were seen around the world. The granting of permission to leave to these East German citizens is regarded as one of the milestones on the road to the fall of the Wall on 9 November 1989.
After the Wall came down, Hans-Dietrich Genscher had a key role in laying the international foundations for reunification in freedom and agreement with all partners and allies, the Chancellor said. "The Two plus Four Treaty, which sets the seal on external aspects of German unification, is his lasting legacy and the crowning of his political career," explained Merkel.
"I bow in deep respect for the lifework of this great liberal patriot and European, and am personally grateful for all the conversations and meetings, in which, until recent years, I was able to draw from his worldly experience and wisdom."
Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier also remembered Hans-Dietrich Genscher. In a statement he said that over the course of his long and eventful life Genscher had "literally made history – that of our country, Germany, and of Europe". His life-long task had been to overcome the division of Germany and the rift in Europe. "He was fortunate enough to play a role in German reunification, his life’s great political goal, and to guide and support the completion of German unification during his own lifetime."
Hans-Dietrich Genscher was born in Reideburg near Halle (Saale) on 21 March 1927. He served as foreign minister from 1974 to 1992, during which time he played a leading role in negotiations to secure German unification. A member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), he became world-famous on 30 September 1989 when he announced from the balcony of the German embassy in Prague to East German citizens who had fled their country: "My dear fellow Germans, we have come to tell you that you are free to leave..." The rest of the sentence was drowned out by the cheers of the East Germans camped on the grounds of the embassy. Genscher first took ministerial office in 1969, when he was made Minister of the Interior. It was while he was in this post that Israeli athletes were taken hostage and murdered by Arab terrorists during the Munich Olympic Games in September 1972. Genscher later set up the GSG 9, Germany’s counter-terrorism and special operations unit.