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Highlight for me: >WEIZSÄCKER: I don't think we ought to make excuses now because we did not succeed, but we must admit that we didn't want to succeed. If we h
by sanqui 8y ago
Highlight for me:
>WEIZSÄCKER: I don't think we ought to make excuses now because we did not succeed, but we must admit that we didn't want to succeed. If we had put the same energy into it as the Americans and had wanted it as they did, it is quite certain that we would not have succeeded as they would have smashed up the factories.
>WEIZSÄCKER: One can say it might have been a much greater tragedy for the world if Germany had had the uranium bomb. Just imagine, if we had destroyed LONDON with uranium bombs it would not have ended the war, and when the war did end, it is still doubtful whether it would have been a good thing.
- matt4077 8y agoVon Weizsäcker, and his family, are extremely interesting. The father was a somewhat reluctant ambassador to Britain. The four brothers all were highly successful, as a physicist, a politician (President of Germany in the 90s), an economist, and a political scientist. I had the honor to study with the economist. I rarely get the explicit idea that someone is smarter or dumber than me. But with him, it was so obvious I skipped right over jealousy straight to awe and enjoyment. There is also a play, “Copenhagen”, featuring three or four possible versions of a meeting of WeizsÄcker. Heisenberg, and Bohr.
- mgoetzke 8y agoRichard von Weizsäcker (President of Germany) was fabulous. Every interview worth reading, every word well chosen. Nobody since has lived up to that high standard yet in my opinion.
- olaf 8y agoNo coin without flipside: "... Er war - für die Bundesrepublik in dieser Form bis heute einmalig - der intellektuelle Gegenentwurf zum Kanzler, und er hat diese Rolle auch gerne angenommen. Im privaten Leben war er zwar oft unbeherrscht, hochfahrend und anmaßend. Untergebene schurigelte er zuweilen aus nichtigem Anlass. Doch seine öffentlichen Auftritte inszenierte Weizsäcker untadelig. ..." Source [german]: http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/richard-von-weizsaecker-im-alter-von-94-jahren-gestorben-a-1016056.html http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/richard-von-weizsa...
- dash2 8y agoTranslation: "He was - uniquely to this day for the Federal Republic - the intellectual counterbalance to the Chancellor [Kohl?], and happily played this role. In private life, he was often uncontrolled, arrogant and overbearing. He sometimes bullied his staff for trivial reasons. But Weizsäcker played his public appearances flawlessly."
- maxnoe 8y agoRead his speach for 40 years end of WWII in Germany: http://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Reden/DE/Richard-von-Weizsaecker/Reden/1985/05/19850508_Rede.html http://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Reden/DE/Richard-v...
- maxnoe 8y agoEnglish version: http://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Reden/2015/02/150202-RvW-Rede-8-Mai-1985-englisch.pdf;jsessionid=8A4EA5A909058E25DE1A1F6EEC812DEC.2_cid362?__blob=publicationFile http://www.bundespraesident.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Reden...