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DFW

(54,047 posts)
Fri Aug 26, 2016, 01:19 AM Aug 2016

RIP Herr Bundespräsident. Walter Scheel dead at 97.

Elevated to the largely ceremonial post of President of what was then West Germany from 1974 to 1979, he led the small Free Democratic Party into a coalition with the Social Democrats under Willy Brandt in 1969, and thus, as foreign minister, led West Germany into a period of some diplomatic reconciliation with the Soviet-dominated states of Eastern Europe.

A really personable Rheinländer, he was once caught on video tape singing some folk song, and it became a runaway cult hit for a while.

One time in either the late 1980s or 1990s, after he had retired, but before Schengen, I was on a commuter plane from Amsterdam to Düsseldorf, and I thought I recognized the guy sitting next to me. He had no security guys with him, so I first thought, nah, it can't be. But I asked him if he wasn't Walter Scheel, and sure enough it was. I couldn't believe it. I told him I hung out in Washington a lot, and he said "oh, yeah, when I was still working, I was there a lot, too." Not "when I was in office," but just "when I was still working." A real prince of a guy, completely down to earth and unaffected for a guy whose role in post-war German history was not exactly insignificant.

In those days, the Germans, as detail-obsessed as ever, used to type your profession into your passport. Scheel was first off the plane in Düsseldorf, and I was right behind him. He opened his passport to show the German border police, and sure enough, they had typed in, where it said profession, "Former President." Well DUH! They couldn't even dispense with the requirement for a former president whom everyone in the country knew? Anyway, when he got to the border police, they waved him on, saying, "yes, Mr. President, we know who you are." He then turned to me and said, "Take it easy, and say hello to Washington for me!" I said the German equivalent of "You got it! Good to see ya!" The border guards were clueless, but didn't dare be disrespectful to someone who was obviously (hah!) a friend of their former president. They asked, "you know our Präsident Scheel?" Scheel was already on his way out by now, and here I was with my American passport. I just said, "of course!" as if we had been old friends for decades. They said, "oh, well, in that case, we don't need to check your passport either (never underestimate the power of the Force)," and they waved me on through, too although I could tell they were a little concerned that they hadn't the faintest idea who I was. I told my wife (who is German) about it, and we still laugh about it.

RIP to a great guy who was the perfect man for his time, and his people knew it.

12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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RIP Herr Bundespräsident. Walter Scheel dead at 97. (Original Post) DFW Aug 2016 OP
That's an incredible story. Beartracks Aug 2016 #1
Few in the USA ever hear about the postwar era DFW Aug 2016 #3
As always, you help us be part of the story. My German surname has been here for a long time, NBachers Aug 2016 #2
I have some German ancestry DFW Aug 2016 #4
Omigod, my dear DFW! Here's another one of your great stories! CaliforniaPeggy Aug 2016 #5
Oh, I'll retire some day. I figure in 25 years, max DFW Aug 2016 #6
Peggy, keep one thing in mind DFW Aug 2016 #7
I'd like to add: OldEurope Aug 2016 #8
That is correct DFW Aug 2016 #11
Did you ask him why he joined the NSDAP? rug Aug 2016 #9
I didn't have to DFW Aug 2016 #10
He was 23 when he joined the NSDAP. rug Aug 2016 #12

Beartracks

(12,761 posts)
1. That's an incredible story.
Fri Aug 26, 2016, 01:49 AM
Aug 2016

Thank you for sharing that. I didn't know anything about Mr. Scheel, since his leadership was before my adult years.

==================

DFW

(54,047 posts)
3. Few in the USA ever hear about the postwar era
Fri Aug 26, 2016, 04:31 PM
Aug 2016

If you lived through it, especially on location, it takes on a whole new meaning.

NBachers

(16,998 posts)
2. As always, you help us be part of the story. My German surname has been here for a long time,
Fri Aug 26, 2016, 03:07 AM
Aug 2016

but I still enjoy hearing stories and history from the country of my distant ancestors. I think the genetic pull is stronger than we realize.

DFW

(54,047 posts)
4. I have some German ancestry
Fri Aug 26, 2016, 04:34 PM
Aug 2016

But I never had any connection to it. Like Russian, I learned much of what I know in college and the rest in direct contact with the (usually) friendly natives.

CaliforniaPeggy

(149,296 posts)
5. Omigod, my dear DFW! Here's another one of your great stories!
Fri Aug 26, 2016, 05:24 PM
Aug 2016

I love it.

Someday, when you're retired (Ha!) you must write these down so posterity can know your contribution.



DFW

(54,047 posts)
6. Oh, I'll retire some day. I figure in 25 years, max
Sat Aug 27, 2016, 03:50 AM
Aug 2016

I'll be 89 then, and that'll be enough for me. Full time, anyway.

I just (as in less than 3 hours ago) landed back in Düsseldorf, and it is just as hot here as it was in Washington yesterday. One of the uniformed customs inspectors at the airport that I have known for something like 30 years was on duty. We chatted for a while, and I remarked that I hadn't seen him for a while. He said there was a good reason for it. He had been through a year's treatment for lung cancer (!!!). He had most of a lung taken out and had gone through radiation, but had been lucky enough to be one of the few (the docs said less than 5%) who were diagnosed before it had metastasized to the point of being incurable. He has always been a really nice guy, and I was happy to hear that fate had decided to spare one of the good guys for once. He said he was at over 500 days without a cigarette and counting. He said he still felt cravings, even after over one and a half years, but he craved life even more (now THAT is MY definition of "pro-life&quot .

DFW

(54,047 posts)
7. Peggy, keep one thing in mind
Sat Aug 27, 2016, 04:37 AM
Aug 2016

The reason I run into and chat with people like Walter Scheel, is that I keep myself informed enough to know who these guys are. If I happen to be sitting next to them, that means nothing if I don't know who they are.

Last year, I was on a train from Washington to New York, and I saw Carl Bernstein a few rows ahead. He had known of my dad from the time they were both prominent members of the Washington Print Press.

But how many of us still know Carl's name as one of the two young reporters who broke and pursued the Watergate story from 1972 to 1974, in part under great duress, and were instrumental in bringing Nixon down? Not many, I'll bet. And among those who DO remember his name, how many of those would recognize him if you found yourself sitting next to him on a train?

OldEurope

(1,273 posts)
8. I'd like to add:
Sat Aug 27, 2016, 07:32 AM
Aug 2016

The folk song was not recorded randomly, it was a charity plot. All revenue went to "Aktion Mensch" which helps disabled persons.

DFW

(54,047 posts)
11. That is correct
Sat Aug 27, 2016, 10:33 AM
Aug 2016

What was random was the national popularity of the song and video, not the taping itself. Thanks for the correction!

DFW

(54,047 posts)
10. I didn't have to
Sat Aug 27, 2016, 10:29 AM
Aug 2016

In those days, it was pretty much the only game in town that let you keep your head attached to your neck. That's like asking someone in the Soviet Union in 1937 why they joined the Communist Party.

A friend of my wife's parents was ten when he joined the Hitler Youth in 1940. He freely tells of the total brainwashing they got, and how they never were given the chance to know anything else. No one gave them the chance to realize what was done to them until after their ideological masters were gone. It's like someone who has only heard Fox "News" their whole life, and never knew there was any other source of information. The worst of the bad guys were the indoctrinators, who knew exactly what they were doing.

For that matter, my wife's mom, 6 or 7 years older than the friend mentioned above, had joined the BDM when she was little just to irk her parents. Her dad used to listen to the British radio during the war although the penalty for that was death. A neighbor, who had been a friend before the war, knew he was doing it, but didn't give him up to the Gestapo. After the war, the friend pleaded, "I didn't get you killed for listening to British radio, please don't denounce me to the British for having been a Nazi." He didn't. One of her older brothers had volunteered for the Wehrmacht, full of patriotism instilled in the young people of the time. When he came back on leave, he was about ready to desert, and he was killed about 5 days before the war ended. My mom's dad was 17 when he was drafted off his farm. All he ever wanted to be was a farmer. He came back from Stalingrad a year later minus a leg. He was never a great patriot to begin with, and his most fervent wish later on was for all his grandchildren to be girls so they would never be subject to compulsory military service. Fate was kind enough to grant him that wish.

 

rug

(82,333 posts)
12. He was 23 when he joined the NSDAP.
Sat Aug 27, 2016, 11:10 PM
Aug 2016

He served in the Luftwaffe with Martin Drewes who shot down 53 Allied planes.

Even at the height of Hitler's Reich, 90% of Germans were not Nazis.

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