"Ambassador Ischinger's commitments and priorities, his astonishing career and its global consequences, truly represent the highest ideals of our people. It would be difficult to identify a more worthy recipient than Ambassador Ischinger", said Frank Mecklenburg of the Leo Baeck Institute.
"Recommitting ourselves to greater tolerance"
In his acceptance speech on December 2, Ischinger payed tribute to the German diplomatic service, and its commitment to keeping the memory of the Shoa alive. He also told his listeners that we should be doing more globally to ensure a peaceful and tolerant future.
Excerpts from Wolfgang Ischinger's speech:
I would like to pay tribute to the German diplomatic service, the "Auswärtiger Dienst" of which I have been a member now for over 33 years. I am actually quite proud to be a member of my generation of German diplomats, a generation which acknowledges the crimes committed in the name of German diplomacy during the Nazi period, a generation which accepts our responsibility for the Shoa, this most inhumane and brutal part of our history, a generation which is committed to keeping the memory of the Shoa alive, because we understand that we can assume responsibility for the future only if we accept responsibility for the past. I accept the award with pride and humility, but I would like to accept it also on behalf of my many friends and colleagues in the Auswärtige Dienst – those few present here tonight, and the many serving around the world.
When Leo Baeck came to Berlin as Rabbi, in 1912, he came to a city that had a flair for innovation and risk-taking. Those were heady days for Berlin, a booming business centre as well as a hub of scientific and cultural progress. Leo Baeck and his contemporaries benefitted from a long struggle that had finally, in 1871, brought liberation from the ghettoes, and full and equal rights for the Jews in Germany. The Jewish community – and Germany as a whole – began to flourish as never before. As Fritz Stern put it, "German Jews made an unprecedented leap to achievement, prominence, and wealth within only three generations." It was a time of exciting new developments to which Jews made outstanding contributions. Everybody is familiar with Albert Einstein, many have heard of Walter Rathenau whose memory and whose vision was recently honored in Berlin by Chancellor Merkel in a remarkable speech. Not so many will remember the name of Eugen Gutmann, one of the founding fathers of Dresdner Bank, and one of the greatest and most innovative bankers of his generation. As a matter of fact, my Allianz Berlin office is in the beautiful Eugen-Gutmann-Haus on Pariser Platz, directly opposite the new US Embassy.
In those days, eleven Jewish scientists won Nobel prizes and helped build Germany's reputation in the natural sciences. And the "Institut für Sozialforschung", to name just one example, did the same in the humanities.
After the Great War, despite political and economic crises, the Weimar Republic was again a period of vibrant academic, cultural, and business activities in which Jewish artists, writers, journalists, and business leaders played a leading part.
And then came 1933, and with it the descent into catastrophe for the Jewish community, and for Germany as a whole. Rabbi Baeck refused to leave. He fought hard to save Germany's Jews, until he was deported to Theresienstadt in 1943.
Ruth Klüger, a fellow inmate, wrote about Leo Baeck's role in the camp, and I quote, "I was riveted ... as we sat on those bare boards by the ideas he put across in such simple yet persuasive words. He gave us back our heritage, interpreting the Bible in the spirit of the Enlightenment. He showed us we could have both, the ancient myth as well as modern science."
With the expulsion and murder of the Jews, Germany also destroyed itself, its identity and its values, its very soul. A human und cultural void followed and created wounds which pain Berlin, and Germany, to this day.
Please allow me to quote Fritz Stern again: "Though modern German history offers lessons in both disaster and recovery, the principal lesson speaks of the fragility of democracy, the fatality of civic passivity or indifference. German history teaches us that malice and simplicity have their own appeal, that force impresses, and that nothing in the public realm is inevitable."
But Fritz also coined the generous term "second chance", a chance Germany was offered at the close of the murderous 20th century, a chance to build a strong and lasting European Union, and a chance to building an even stronger and even more resilient democracy at home.
Best use of second chance?
If there is, in fact, a "second chance", are we making the best use of it today?
In my view, our second chance is, in essence, a chance to recommit ourselves, at home and abroad, to the values of the Enlightenment about which Leo Baeck talked in Theresienstadt.
It is the Enlightenment which gave us the concept of the dignity of the individual human being, of freedom, of equality, and of other fundamental human rights, as well as the concept of mutually balancing and separated powers, of the rule of law, and of tolerance and non-discrimination. It is the legacy of the Enlightenment which gave us common and universal values. It is the legacy of the Enlightenment which encourages us to combat racism, and anti - semitism at home, and to foster religious and political tolerance and non-discrimination abroad. It is the idea of the Enlightenment upon which the West, as a political and moral concept, is built.
Since 9/11, however, the Atlantic Ocean has tended to become wider, not narrower. An estrangement appears to have taken place. Does the West still exist? Are we continuing to be committed to the same values? My two older children , Christoph and Caroline, – they are here with me tonight, and I am delighted that they are able to share this evening with the Leo Baeck Community – my own children have questioned our attachment to identical Western values during the Iraq intervention and its aftermath, including Guantanamo, and Abu Ghraib.
Actions are to be measured by highest possible moral standards
If we want to assert and revive the concept of the West as I believe we should, the transatlantic community needs to recommit itself, without reservation, to the values of the Enlightenment. Only if we allow our actions to be measured by the highest possible moral standards, only if we try to regain the moral high ground, only then will the West, will the United States and Europe together be able to regain respect and sympathy around the world. My hope is for a renewal on still firmer ground of the West as a trans-atlantic community of liberal democracies, open to self-correction and reform.
I happen to believe that the recent presidential elections in this country offer a perfect opportunity to do exactly that – beginning on January 21, 2009. What a historic opportunity – it must not be missed!
Because so much can be achieved through Western cohesion and joint leadership – and very little will be achieved if we cannot define a common stand on the key challenges ahead: whether it is the challenge of an Iranian nuclear weapons capacity, the challenge of moving towards a Arab-Israeli peace settlement, or the challenge of shaping a sustainable global coalition against international terrorism and extremism, including anti-semitism.
But our task to shape a more peaceful and tolerant future does not stop there. I would like to address one issue in particular:
Many speeches have been made, and quite a bit of funding has been provided internationally to eradicate hatred, racism, and intolerance from college text books. Germany and France have been particularly successful with a History Book Commission which has played an important role in forging a new friendship between our two nations.
We are not doing enough
But are we doing enough, globally? My answer is clear: We are not doing enough. To this day, kindergarten children in the Balkans are taught songs which spell hatred and resentment, and things are even worse when we look at the problem of the madrassas education system in countries like Pakistan. It is not at the universities, but at kindergarten level that hatred and discrimination are bred, and intolerance is learned. Much more needs to be done, in Europe, but also in many other regions, to ensure that there will be no place for racism in the minds of the next generations.
Not only university text books require attention, but also the kindergarten song book. That's where it all starts, and that's where we must start combating racism!
Finally, a word about that most precious asset of diplomacy, but also of the relationship between individual human beings: trust. In the words of Franz Rosenzweig: "Vertrauen ist ein grosses Wort. Es ist der Same, daraus Glaube, Hoffnung und Liebe wachsen, und die Frucht, die aus ihnen reift. Es ist das Allereinfachste und grade darum das Schwerste." (Trust ist a big word. It is the seed from which grow faith, hope, and love, as well as their fruit. It is the very simplest and therefore also the most difficult")
Without trust diplomatic negotiation won't lead to success
Without the element of trust, no diplomatic negotiation will lead to sustained success. Without trust, there could not be today again a prospering and growing Jewish community in Germany, and without trust, Germany could not be – in the words of the former Ambassador of Israel in Berlin, "Israel's second most important friend in the world."
The Leo Baeck Institute has admirably served as the key trust-builder between Germans and Jews, between Germans and Americans, and between Germans and Israelis. I feel deeply honored by the trust you are expressing in me personally today, and in the diplomacy of Germany my generation represents. There can be no prouder sense of achievement for a German today than that of being trusted, respected, and even honored by those whose families and friends suffered the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust.
Thank you for your trust and friendship. It means more to me – personally and professionally – than you can possibly imagine.
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