Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger dies at 100

Henry Kissinger fled to the USA from the Nazis as a 15-year-old – an experience that showed him how important freedom is. After his death, he is remembered as a tough and influential politician.

Hardly anyone influenced US foreign policy in the 20th century as much as he did: Henry Kissinger. In 1923 he was born Heinz Alfred Kissinger in Fürth, Central Franconia, the son of a Jewish family. In his childhood, Heinz loved playing football and reading German classics. He once said: “We didn’t have a radio and I read a lot. I read Schiller with great enthusiasm. Goethe too, but I was still too young to understand him.”

At the age of 15, he fled to the USA

Then the Nazis come to power in Germany. At the age of 15, Heinz and his parents and brother were able to escape persecution by the National Socialists just in time.

In his new home of New York, Heinz Kissinger becomes Henry Kissinger. But he never completely gives up his German origins. Throughout his life he retained a strong German accent in English. During the Second World War, Kissinger returned to Germany – as a US soldier.

He once said: “I was lucky that I was allowed to work on things that were so crucial to me: how to help rebuild a country like I was in the occupation as a young soldier.” And then, step by step, he worked from higher positions to prevent these disasters from occurring again, says Kissinger.

Studied at Harvard

Back in the USA, Kissinger studied at the elite Harvard University, taught there and made a name for himself as a specialist in international politics. At the end of the 1960s, Republican President Richard Nixon brought him to the White House as national security adviser. Kissinger later became Foreign Minister.

This also includes war and experiencing very complex and dangerous situations, says Kissinger. “I have developed the belief that this extraordinary fate is an obligation to do my best.”

A tough, passionate politician

In his political offices, Kissinger aggressively enforces the interests of the USA. Critics accuse him of acting unscrupulously. Among other things, Kissinger is said to have supported the military coup in Chile in 1973. His critics also hold him partly responsible for US bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. A topic that he didn’t like to talk about until the end. “We used drones and all sorts of weapons to bomb every guerrilla unit that opposed us. That was the case in every government, regardless of party. That was a necessary step back then.”

In 1973, Kissinger received the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating a ceasefire in the Vietnam War. The Nobel Committee’s decision is highly controversial. But Kissinger also made a name for himself by advocating detente between the USA and the Soviet Union and a cautious rapprochement with China.

Kissinger stays more influential Advisor

Kissinger’s term of office ends in 1977. The Republican remained an influential advisor, wrote books and repeatedly intervened in political debates until the end. Former US President George W. Bush said on Kissinger’s death: The US had “lost one of the most reliable and distinctive voices in foreign policy.”