You spoke about John Foster Dulles, the US Secretary of State (1953-1959),
and classified him as a "Cold War warrior".
Without wanting to be derogatory.
I was one too. What else should I have been?
That´s what I wanted to ask you without being derogatory.
After all, in this respect you had a lot in common
with Konrad Adenauer at that time.
Of course ...
the local situation plays a role in that.
The experience within the Soviet zone around Berlin
plays a role in that too.
And it plays a role the anger felt by a Social Democrat towards the fact
that a number of his friends
who had been in jail under Hitler
were imprisoned again,
because they wouldn't let themselves be brought into line by the communists.
But then as one of the voices of Berlin
that became the voice of Berlin during a decade ...
What else could one do, I ask myself sometimes,
but defend oneself vigorously?
And to do one's best for the city one was in charge of?
In retrospect, I know
that it was understood on the Soviet side
that we had taken this stance.