Paying tribute

As Germany's longest serving foreign minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher enjoyed a long political friendship with the late Czech president Vaclav Havel. Genscher who was in office between 1974 and 1992 has paid tribute to the anti-communist hero who died on Sunday. Europe will be "united in mourning," the ex-foreign minister told Deutsche Welle.　

DW: Mr. Genscher, when did you last speak to Vaclav Havel?

Hans-Dietrich Genscher:

It was either this year or last year. We saw quite a lot of each other - even before the revolution in 1989 - but of course much more during his time in office. But we also still kept in touch after we both had left office. I had direct a contact with him for many years through two of his colleagues who worked on "Charter 77" with him.

Do you remember your first encounter with Vaclav Havel?

Yes, it was at a meeting in the German embassy in Prague. And I must say that - as was the case during subsequent meetings with him - I was on the one hand impressed by his modesty and on the other hand by his strong charismatic personality and the clarity of his reasoning. Above all, however, I was impressed by his persuasive powers.

When you first met Havel, he had already been a writer for many years. In that sense he was not a professional politician, but an artist. What role did that play in his commitment to politics?

Commitment to freedom was a way of life for him. But as a poet he was able to convey his beliefs through the power of words. And it was with the power of words that he challenged the communist regime in former Czechoslovakia and ultimately brought it to an end. He was a source of encouragement to the people of the Czech Republic and Slovakia in their fight for freedom and democracy.

During a speech at an awards ceremony two years ago, you said that Havel defeated oppression with the power of his spirit. Do you still stand by that?

Yes, I do. He challenged those in power and in the end defeated them using the power of words and the power of his spirit. It is well documented that he represented a challenge for the regime at the time, with all its restrictions and limitations and also, of course, for the apparatus of repression. The fact that his words were heard, even when they came from the prison cell, led to the end.

Thinking back to the revolution in 1989, the image that comes to mind for many people is of Havel on the balcony of the embassy in Prague. Which image of Vaclav Havel has particularly stuck in your memory?

A whole series of images come to mind, even those taken when you could see how distressed and restricted he was by his terrible disease. And yet you could still see his fighting spirit and the courage he had shown during times of persecution. The former federal German President Richard von Weizsäcker's first visit to the official residence of the Czech president in Prague was also particularly special because the man who was formerly persecuted could receive guests from Germany as the president of Czechoslovakia.

People often refer to a "political friendship" when the talk about the relationship the two of you shared. You have said yourself that you continued to see Havel even after your political career had ended. Was it a political friendship or was it more than that?

We were certainly in tune with one another on many basic issues, but there was also a very human affection, which probably should always be the case. It was the case here. Perhaps the fact that we had both experienced life under communist regimes played a part. He experienced it in Prague and I had experienced communism while living in the soviet occupation zone and then the German Democratic Republic between 1945 and 1952, before I left for West Germany.　

What will you miss most about Vaclav Havel?

The death of Vaclav Havel has made Europe a lot poorer. We have lost a great European and I think that many Europeans will be united in mourning today, at any rate, the Germans and the Czechs.

Interviewer: Michael Borgers / ccp
Editor: Richard Connor