Weizsäcker is considered the most popular of Germany's presidents,[1] held in high regard particularly for his impartiality.[2][3] His demeanor often saw him at odds with his party colleagues, particularly longtimeChancellorHelmut Kohl. He was famous for his speeches, especially one he delivered at the 40th anniversary of the end of theSecond World War in Europe on 8 May 1985. Upon his death, his life and political work were widely praised, withThe New York Times calling him "a guardian of his nation's moral conscience".[4]
Richard von Weizsäcker (left) with his father at the latter's post-war trial
Richard von Weizsäcker was born on 15 April 1920 in theNew Palace inStuttgart,[5] the son of diplomatErnst von Weizsäcker, a member of theWeizsäcker family, and his wife Marianne von Graevenitz, a daughter of Friedrich von Graevenitz (1861–1922), a General of the Infantry of theKingdom of Württemberg.[6] Ernst von Weizsäcker was a career diplomat who served as State Secretary at the Foreign Office for Nazi Germany and as Nazi Germany’s ambassador to the Holy See[7].[8] The youngest of four children, Weizsäcker had two brothers, the physicist and philosopherCarl Friedrich von Weizsäcker and Heinrich von Weizsäcker who fell as a soldier in Poland at the beginning of World War II. The sister Adelheid (1916–2004) married Botho-Ernst Graf zu Eulenburg-Wicken (1903–1944), a landowner inEast Prussia. Richard's grandfatherKarl von Weizsäcker had been Prime Minister of theKingdom of Württemberg, and was ennobled in 1897 and raised to the hereditary title ofBaron (Freiherr) in 1916.[9] His term in office ended in 1918, shortly before the monarchy was abolished in theGerman Revolution of 1918–1919. However, during the following years, he still occupied an apartment in the former royal palace where his grandson was born in an attic room.
Because his father was a career diplomat, Weizsäcker spent much of his childhood inSwitzerland andScandinavia. The family lived inBasel 1920–24, inCopenhagen 1924–26, and inBern 1933–36, where Richard attended the Swiss Gymnasium Kirchenfeld. The family lived inBerlin, in an apartment in the Fasanenstraße inWilmersdorf, between 1929 and 1933 and again from 1936 until the end of the Second World War.[10] Weizsäcker was able to miss the third class of his elementary school, and entered a secondary school at the young age of nine, theBismarck-Gymnasium (now theGoethe-Gymnasium) in Wilmersdorf.[11] When he was 17 years old, Weizsäcker travelled to England to study philosophy and history atBalliol College, Oxford. InLondon, he witnessed the coronation ofKing George VI.[12] He spent the winter semester of 1937/38 at theUniversity of Grenoble inFrance to improve his French.[13] He wasmustered for the army there in 1938 and moved back to Germany the same year to start hisReichsarbeitsdienst.[14]
After the outbreak of theSecond World War, Weizsäcker joined theWehrmacht, ultimately rising to the rank of captain in the reserves. He joined his brother Heinrich's regiment, theInfantry Regiment 9 Potsdam. He crossed over the border toPoland with his regiment on the very first day of the war.[15] His brother Heinrich was killed about a hundred meters away from him on the second day. Weizsäcker watched over his brother's body through the night, until he was able to bury him the next morning.[16] His regiment, consisting in a large part of noble and conservative Prussians, played a significant part in the20 July plot, with no fewer than nineteen of its officers involved in the conspiracy againstHitler.[17] Weizsäcker himself helped his friendAxel von dem Bussche in an attempt to kill Hitler at a uniform inspection in December 1943, providing Bussche with travel papers toBerlin. The attempt had to be called off when the uniforms were destroyed by an air raid. Upon meeting Bussche in June 1944, Weizsäcker was also informed of the imminent plans for 20 July and assured him of his support, but the plan ultimately failed.[18] Weizsäcker later described the last nine months of the war as "agony".[19] He was wounded inEast Prussia in 1945 and was transported home to Stuttgart, to see out the end of the war on a family farm atLake Constance.[20]
Weizsäcker, his wifeMarianne and daughter Beatrice inMoscow, 1987
At the end of the war Weizsäcker continued his study of history inGöttingen and went on to study law,[21] but he also attended lectures in physics and theology.[22] In 1947, when his father Ernst von Weizsäcker was a defendant in theMinistries Trial for his role in the deportation of Jews from occupied France, Richard von Weizsäcker served as his assistant defence counsel.[23][24] He took his first legalStaatsexamen in 1950, his second in 1953, and finally earned his doctorate (doctor juris) in 1955. In 1953 he marriedMarianne von Kretschmann. They had met when she was an 18-year-old schoolgirl and he was thirty. In 2010, Weizsäcker described the marriage as "the best and smartest decision of my life".[25] They had four children:[26]Robert Klaus von Weizsäcker, a professor of economics at theTechnical University of Munich,[27] Andreas von Weizsäcker, an art professor at theAcademy of Fine Arts Munich,[28] Beatrice von Weizsäcker, a lawyer and journalist,[29] andFritz Eckhart von Weizsäcker [de], chief physician at the Schlosspark-Klinik in Berlin.[30][31] In the late 1970s, his son Andreas was a student at theOdenwaldschule. When reports about sexual abuse there surfaced in 2010, it was speculated in the media that Andreas might have been one of the victims, but this was denied by the family.[32] Andreas died of cancer in June 2008, aged 51.[28] Weizsäcker's son Fritz was murdered by a man armed with a knife on 19 November 2019, while holding a lecture at the Schlosspark-Klinik in Berlin, where he worked.[33][34]
Weizsäcker worked forMannesmann between 1950 and 1958, as a scientific assistant until 1953, as a legal counsel from 1953, and as head of the department for economic policy from 1957.[35] From 1958 to 1962, he was head of the Waldthausen Bank, a bank owned by relatives of his wife. From 1962 to 1966, he served on the board of directors ofBoehringer Ingelheim, a pharmaceutical company.[36] It was involved in production of theAgent Orange. This fact is speculated to be the motive behind the murder of his son in 2019, though the suspect has been sent to a secure hospital unit due to a "delusional general aversion" against the victim's family.[37][38]
Between 1964 and 1970, Weizsäcker served as president of theGerman Evangelical Church Assembly. He was also a member of the Synod and the Council of theProtestant Church in Germany from 1967 to 1984.[39] During his early tenure as president, he wrote a newspaper article supporting a memorandum written by German evangelical intellectuals includingWerner Heisenberg and his brotherCarl Friedrich von Weizsäcker who had spoken out in favour of accepting theOder–Neisse line as the western border ofPoland as an indispensable precondition for lasting peace in Europe. While this was met by negative reactions from politicians, especially in Weizsäcker's own party, he nevertheless led the Evangelical Church on a way to promoting reconciliation with Poland, leading to a memorandum by the Church in both West andEast Germany. The paper was widely discussed and met with a significantly more positive response.[40]
In 1974, Weizsäcker was the Presidential candidate of his party for the first time, but he lost toWalter Scheel of the FDP, who was supported by the ruling center-left coalition.[43] Ahead of the1976 elections, CDU chairmanHelmut Kohl included him in hisshadow cabinet for the party's campaign to unseat incumbentHelmut Schmidt as chancellor. Between 1979 and 1981, Weizsäcker served asVice President of the Bundestag.[5]
Weizsäcker served as the Governing Mayor (Regierender Bürgermeister) ofWest Berlin from 1981 to 1984. During his years in office, he tried to keep alive the idea of Germany as a cultural nation, divided into two states. In his speeches and writings, he repeatedly urged his compatriots in the Federal Republic to look upon themselves as a nation firmly anchored in the Western alliance, but with special obligations and interests in the East.[43] Weizsäcker irritated theUnited States,France andBritain, the half-city's occupying powers, by breaking with protocol and visitingErich Honecker, theEast German Communist Party chief, in East Berlin.[44]
From 1981 to 1983, Weizsäcker headed aminority government in West Berlin, after the CDU had only won 48 percent of seats in the state assembly. His government was tolerated by theFree Democratic Party, who were in a coalition with theSocial Democrats at the federal level at the time. AfterHelmut Kohl had won thefederal election in 1983 and had formed a government with the Free Democrats, Weizsäcker did the same in West Berlin.[45]
President of the Federal Republic of Germany (1984–94)
Richard von Weizsäcker took office as president on 1 July 1984. In his inaugural address, he appealed to his nation's special consciousness, saying: "Our situation, which differs from that of most other nations, is no reason to deny ourselves a national consciousness. To do so would be unhealthy for ourselves and eerie to our neighbors."[47] He dedicated his first years in office mainly to foreign policy, travelling widely withForeign MinisterHans-Dietrich Genscher and choosing formerForeign Office employees as his personal advisors.[48]
Speech on the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II
Weizsäcker, who was known as a great speaker,[49] delivered his most famous speech in 1985, marking the 40th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe on 8 May 1945.[50][51] This came at a difficult time in West German politics. The country was caught up in a debate about whetherHolocaust denial should be criminalized. At the same time, chancellorHelmut Kohl had accepted an invitation to visit a congress of theSilesian association ofexpellees which was to take place under the slogan "Silesia is ours!" ("Schlesien ist unser!"). This seemed to contradict the official position of the federal diet and government so that Kohl needed to lobby for the intended slogan to be changed.[52][53]
It was originally planned thatUnited States PresidentRonald Reagan should take part in the Second World War memorial event in theBundestag, shifting the emphasis from remembering the past to highlighting West Germany in its partnership with theWestern Bloc. On Weizsäcker's strong urging, the occasion was marked without Reagan, who visited West Germany several days earlier instead, surrounding theG7–summit inBonn.[53] Reagan's visit nevertheless sparked controversy, especially in theUnited States. In an attempt to reproduce the gesture made by Kohl andFrench PresidentFrançois Mitterrand a year earlier atVerdun, wherethey held hands in a symbolic moment, the chancellor and Reagan were set to visit the military cemetery inBitburg. This raised objections, since the cemetery included the last resting place for several members of theWaffen-SS.[52][54]
It was in this climate that Weizsäcker addressed parliament on 8 May 1985. Here, he articulated the historic responsibility of Germany and Germans for the crimes of Nazism. In contrast to the way the end of the war was still perceived by a majority of people in Germany at the time, he defined 8 May as a "day of liberation".[55] Weizsäcker pointed out the inseparable link between the Nazi takeover of Germany and the tragedies caused by the Second World War.[50] In a passage of striking boldness, he took issue with one of the most cherished defenses of older Germans. "When the unspeakable truth of the Holocaust became known at the end of the war," he said, "all too many of us claimed they had not known anything about it or even suspected anything."[55]
We must not regard the end of the war as the cause of flight, expulsion and deprivation of freedom. The cause goes back to the start of the tyranny that brought about war. We must not separate 8 May 1945 from 30 January 1933.[50]
Weizsäcker during his speech on 8 May 1985
Most notably, Weizsäcker spoke of the danger of forgetting and distorting the past. "There is no such thing as the guilt or innocence of an entire nation. Guilt is, like innocence, not collective but personal. There is discovered or concealed individual guilt. There is guilt which people acknowledge or deny. [...] All of us, whether guilty or not, whether young or old, must accept the past. We are all affected by the consequences and liable for it. [...] We Germans must look truth straight in the eye – without embellishment and without distortion. [...] There can be no reconciliation without remembrance."[55]
Weizsäcker declared that younger generations of Germans "cannot profess a guilt of their own for crimes they did not commit."[44] With his speech, Weizsäcker was also one of the first representatives of Germany to remember thehomosexual victims of Nazism as a "victim group."[56] This was also the case with his recognition of theSinti and Roma as another victim group, a fact that was highlighted by the long-time head of theCentral Council of German Sinti and Roma,Romani Rose.[57]
Weizsäcker's speech was praised both nationally and internationally.[58]The New York Times called it a "sober message of hope to the uneasy generations of young West Germans".[55] The president of theCentral Council of Jews in Germany,Werner Nachmann, thanked Weizsäcker for his strong words,[59] as didKarl Ibach, a former member of theGerman Resistance, who called his speech a "moment of glory (Sternstunde) of our republic".[60] Weizsäcker was however criticized for some of his remarks by members of his own party.Lorenz Niegel, a politician of the sister partyCSU, who had not taken part in the ceremony, objected to the term "day of liberation", referring to it instead as a "day of deepest humiliation".[61] TheGreens were also absent during the speech, choosing instead to visitAuschwitz.[61] A year later, the Green politicianPetra Kelly called the speech "correct, but not more than self-evident", pointing to speeches presidentGustav Heinemann had made during his presidency.[62] The harshest criticism came from theFederation of Expellees, whose presidentHerbert Czaja, while thanking the president for highlighting the expellees' fate,[63] criticized his remark that "conflicting legal claims must be subordinated under the imperative of reconciliation".[64]
The speech was later released onvinyl and sold around 60,000 copies. Two million printed copies of its text were distributed globally, translated into thirteen languages, with 40,000 being sold inJapan alone. This does not include copies of the speech printed in newspapers, such asThe New York Times, which reproduced it in full.[58]
Speaking to a congress of West German historians inBamberg on 12 October 1988, Weizsäcker rejected the alleged attempts by some historians to compare the systematic murder of Jews in Nazi Germany to mass killings elsewhere – such asStalin's purges – or to seek external explanations for it.[65] Thereby he declared an end to theHistorikerstreit ('historians' dispute') that had sharply divided German scholars and journalists for two years, stating "Auschwitz remains unique. It was perpetrated by Germans in the name of Germany. This truth is immutable and will not be forgotten."[66]
In his remarks to the historians, Weizsäcker said their dispute had prompted accusations that they sought to raise a "multitude of comparisons and parallels" that would cause "the dark chapter of our own history to disappear, to be reduced to a mere episode."[66]Andreas Hillgruber, a historian atCologne University, whose 1986 book in which he linked the collapse of the eastern front and the Holocaust was one of the subjects of the dispute, declared himself in full agreement with Weizsäcker, insisting that he had never tried to "relativize" the past.[66]
In free self-determination we want to complete Germany's unity and freedom; for our task, we are aware of our responsibility before God and the people; in a united Europe, we want to serve the peace of the world.
Weizsäcker's words in front of theReichstag on 3 October 1990, which were drowned in the noise of the celebrating crowd.[67]
Because of the high esteem in which he was held by Germany's political establishment and in the population,[68] Weizsäcker is so far the only candidate to have stood for elections for the office of President unopposed; he waselected in that way to a second term of office on 23 May 1989.[69]
Weizsäcker took office for his second presidential term on 1 July 1989, and in the course of it he oversaw the end of theCold War and theReunification of Germany. Thereupon, Weizsäcker became the first all-German Head of State sinceKarl Dönitz in May 1945. At midnight on 3 October 1990, during the official festivities held before theReichstag building in Berlin to mark the moment of the reunification of Germany, President Weizsäcker delivered the only speech of the night, immediately after the raising of the flag, and before the playing of the National Anthem. His brief remarks, however, were almost inaudible, due to the sound of the bells marking midnight, and of the fireworks that were released to celebrate the moment of reunification.[70] In those remarks he praised the accomplishment of German unity in freedom and in peace. He gave a longer speech at the act of state at theBerliner Philharmonie later that day.[71]
In 1990, Weizsäcker became the first head of state of the German Federal Republic to visitPoland. During his four-day visit, he reassured Poles that the newly unified German state would treat their western and northern borders, which included prewar German lands, as inviolable.[72]
In 1992, Weizsäcker gave the eulogy at the state funeral of former ChancellorWilly Brandt at theReichstag, the first state funeral for a former chancellor to take place in Berlin since the death ofGustav Stresemann in 1929. The funeral was attended by an array of leading European political figures, including French PresidentFrançois Mitterrand, Spanish Prime MinisterFelipe Gonzalez and former Soviet PresidentMikhail Gorbachev.[73]
Weizsäcker stretched the traditionally ceremonial position of Germany's president to reach across political, national, and age boundaries to address a wide range of controversial issues. He is credited with being largely responsible for taking the lead on an asylum policy overhaul after the arson attack by neo-Nazis inMölln, in which three Turkish citizens died in 1993.[74] He also earned recognition at home and abroad for attending memorial services for the victims of neo-Nazi attacks in Mölln and Solingen. The services were snubbed by ChancellorHelmut Kohl, who dismayed many Germans by saying it was not necessary for the government to send a representative.[75]
During the debate over the change of the seat of the German government fromBonn to Berlin, the president spoke out in favor of Berlin. In a memorandum released in February 1991, he declared that he would not act as a mere "decoration of a so-called capital",[77] urging the diet to move more constitutional organs to Berlin.[78][79] To compensate for a delay in the transfer to Berlin of the government and the federal parliament, Weizsäcker declared in April 1993 that he would be performing an increased share of his duties in Berlin.[80] He decided not to wait for the renovation and conversion as the presidential seat of theKronprinzenpalais (Crown Prince's Palace) at Berlin'sUnter den Linden boulevard, and to use instead his existing official residence in West Berlin, theBellevue Palace beyondTiergarten park.[80]
In an interview book released in 1992, midway through his second term, Weizsäcker voiced a harsh critique of the leading political parties in Germany, claiming that they took a larger role in public life than was awarded to them by theconstitution. He criticized the high number of career politicians (Berufspolitiker), who "in general are neither expert nor dilettante, but generalists with particular knowledge only in political battle".[81] The immediate reactions toward this interview were mixed. Prominent party politicians such asRainer Barzel andJohannes Rau criticized the remarks, as did Minister of LabourNorbert Blüm, who asked the president to show more respect towards the work done by party members. Former chancellorHelmut Schmidt, on the other hand, conceded that Weizsäcker was "essentially right". While comments from politicians were mainly negative, a public poll conducted by theWickert-Institut in June 1992 showed that 87.4 percent of the population agreed with the president.[82] Political commentators generally interpreted the remarks as a hidden attack on the incumbent chancellorHelmut Kohl, since Weizsäcker's relationship with his former patron had cooled over the years.[82] In a column for the German newspaperDer Spiegel, chief-editorRudolf Augstein criticized the president for his attack, writing: "You cannot have it both ways: on the one hand giving a right and seminal political incentive, but on the other hand insulting the governing class and its chief".[83]
Richard von Weizsäcker and his wife visitingJordan in 1985
On his trip toIsrael in October 1985, Weizsäcker was greeted on arrival by his Israeli counterpart,PresidentChaim Herzog. The president was given a full honor-guard welcome atBen-Gurion Airport; among Cabinet ministers who lined up to shake his hand were right-wingers of theHerut party, the main faction ofForeign MinisterYitzhak Shamir'sLikud party, who had previously refused to greet German leaders. Weizsäcker's visit was the first by a head of state, but not the first by a West German leader, as ChancellorWilly Brandt had paid a visit to Israel in June 1973.[84] During a four-day state visit to theUnited Kingdom in July 1986, Weizsäcker addressed a joint session of theHouses of Parliament, the first German to be accorded that honor.[85]
In 1987, he travelled toMoscow to meetSoviet leaderMikhail Gorbachev in what was perceived as a difficult time in West German-Soviet relations, after chancellorKohl had angered Moscow by comparing Gorbachev toJoseph Goebbels.[86][87] During a speech at theKremlin, Weizsäcker said: "The Germans, who today live separated into East and West, have never stopped and will never stop to feel like one nation."[88] His speech was, however, censored in the officialCommunist Party newspaperPravda. However, when German foreign ministerHans-Dietrich Genscher protested against this to his Soviet counterpartEduard Shevardnadze, the speech was then printed unabridged in the lesser paperIzvestia. Weizsäcker also appealed to the Soviet authorities to agree to a pardon for the last inmate in theSpandau Prison, formerDeputy FührerRudolf Hess. This proved unsuccessful, and Hess committed suicide six weeks later.[89] The visit was nevertheless considered a success, as Gorbachev was quoted afterwards saying that "a new page of history was opened",[90] after the two had discussed matters of disarmament.[91] Also in 1987,Erich Honecker became the firstEast German leader to visit the Federal Republic. While state guests in Germany are usually welcomed by the President, Honecker was still not greeted officially by Weizsäcker, but by chancellor Kohl, since the Federal Republic did not consider the GDR a foreign state. Weizsäcker did however receive Honecker later at his seat of office, theHammerschmidt Villa.[92]
As an elder statesman, Weizsäcker long remained involved in politics and charitable affairs in Germany after his retirement as president. He chaired a commission established by the Social Democratic-Green government of the day for reforming theBundeswehr.[93] Along withHenry Kissinger, in 1994 he supportedRichard Holbrooke in creating theAmerican Academy in Berlin.[94] He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of theRobert Bosch Stiftung.
Weizsäcker served as a member of the Advisory Council ofTransparency International.[95] In a letter addressed to Nigeria's military rulerSani Abacha in 1996, he called for the immediate release of GeneralOlusegun Obasanjo, the former head of state ofNigeria, who had become the first military ruler in Africa to keep his promise to hand over power to an elected civilian government but was later sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.[96]
Weizsäcker also served on many international committees. He was chairman of the Independent Working Group on the future of theUnited Nations and was one of three "Wise Men" appointed byEuropean Commission PresidentRomano Prodi to consider the future of theEuropean Union. From 2003 until his death, he was a member of the Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property, led by the former head of theFederal Constitutional Court,Jutta Limbach. In November 2014, Weizsäcker retired as chairman of theBergedorf Round Table, a discussion forum on foreign policy issues.[97]
Weizsäcker died in Berlin on 31 January 2015, aged 94. He was survived by his wife, Marianne, and three of their four children.[4] Upon his death, there was general praise for his life and political career. In its obituary,The New York Times called Weizsäcker "a guardian of his nation's moral conscience",[4] whileThe Guardian commented that Germany was "uniquely fortunate" in having had him as a leader.[98]
Von Weizsäcker (center) and Kohl (right) during a CDU press conference in June 1975
Weizsäcker, who had joined theCDU in 1954, was known for often publicly voicing political views different from his own party line, both in and out of the presidential office. While he was himself sceptical ofWilly Brandt'sOstpolitik, he urged his party not to block it entirely in the lower house, theBundestag, since rejection would be met with dismay abroad. When the CDU gained a sweeping victory in the state elections inBaden-Württemberg in April 1972, his party decided to take the opportunity to dispose of chancellor Brandt with a vote of no confidence, replacing him withRainer Barzel, and Weizsäcker was one of only three elect CDU politicians to speak out against the proposal.[103] He maintained an easy-going and open demeanor towards members of all other parties. In 1987, at a time when the CDU actively tried to label theGreen Party as unconstitutional, the President had regular contact with high-ranking Green politicians such asAntje Vollmer, who was also active in theProtestant Church in Germany, andJoschka Fischer, who said that with his understanding of state "he [Weizsäcker] is closer to the Green Party than to Kohl, notNATO, butAuschwitz as reason of state (Staatsräson)."[104]
Helmut Kohl, who served asChancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998, was an early patron of Weizsäcker's, effectively helping him into parliament. However, their relationship took a first strain in 1971, when Weizsäcker supportedRainer Barzel over Kohl for the CDU-chairmanship. Subsequently, Kohl unsuccessfully tried to deny Weizsäcker the chance to become president in 1983.[105] After he had taken office, Weizsäcker criticized Kohl's government on numerous occasions, taking liberties not previously heard of from someone in a ceremonial role such as his. For instance, he urged the chancellor to recognize theOder–Neisse line[106] and spoke out for a more patient approach to the journey towardsGerman reunification.[105] Other examples include the aforementioned speech in 1985 and his critique of party politics in 1992. Following a critical interview Weizsäcker gave toDer Spiegel magazine in September 1997, Kohl reacted during a meeting of his parliamentary group by saying that Weizsäcker (whom he called "that gentleman")[77] was no longer "one of us".[107] This was followed by CDU spokesman Rolf Kiefer stating that the CDU had removed Weizsäcker from its membership database, since the former president had not paid his membership fees in a long time. Weizsäcker then took the matter to the party's arbitrating body and won. The tribunal ruled that he was allowed to let his membership rest indefinitely.[107] After his death,Spiegel editor Gerhard Spörl called Weizsäcker the "intellectual alternative medicine to Kohl".[108]
It was specifically Berlin'sTurks from whom I won my view that the German citizenship law was in urgent need for reform. [...] The longer it lasted, the more thejus sanguinis lost its sense compared to ajus soli. Should it really be made difficult for children of foreigners in the third generation to become Germans, even though it would not be a return, but emigration for them to go to the country of their ancestors [...]?[109]
Weizsäcker on his years as Governing Mayor of West Berlin and his views on citizenship.
After his presidency came to an end, Weizsäcker remained vocal in daily politics, e.g. speaking for a more liberal immigration policy, calling the way his party handled it "simply ridiculous".[110] He also spoke out in favour ofdual citizenship and a change of German citizenship law fromjus sanguinis tojus soli, a view not generally shared by his party colleagues.[111] Towards the former East-German leading party, thePDS (today calledDie Linke), Weizsäcker urged his party colleagues to enter into a serious political discussion. He went as far as speaking in favor of a coalition government betweenSocial Democrats and the PDS in Berlin after the 2001 state election.[112]
Weizsäcker's publications includeDie deutsche Geschichte geht weiter (German History Continues), first published in 1983;[87]Von Deutschland aus(From Germany Abroad), a collection of speeches first published in 1985;[113]Von Deutschland nach Europa (From Germany to Europe, 1991)[114] and his memoirsVier Zeiten (Four Times), published in German in 1997[115] and in English asFrom Weimar to the Wall: My Life in German Politics in 1999.[116] In a review inFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Friedrich Karl Fromme wrote that the memoirs tell nothing new about the times he lived in, but "something about the person".[117] In 2009, he published a book on his recollections of German reunification, titledDer Weg zur Einheit (The Path to Unity). German newspaperDie Welt dismissed the book as "boring", accusing the account of being too balanced.[118]
^From 1 July 1984 to 2 October 1990, Richard von Weizsäcker was President ofWest Germany only. From 3 October 1990 until 30 June 1994, he was President of thereunified Germany. The termWest Germany is only the common English name for theFederal Republic of Germany between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany (GDR) in October 1990.
^Finker, Kurt (1993), "Das Potsdamer Infanterieregiment 9 und der konservativ militärische Widerstand", in Kroener, Bernhard R. (ed.),Potsdam. Staat, Armee, Regiment, Berlin{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Thomas, Sven (2005).Die informelle Koalition. Richard von Weizsäcker und die Berliner CDU-Regierung (1981–1983). Wiesbaden: Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag.ISBN3-8244-4614-6.
^Richard von Weizsäcker. Reden und Interviews (vol. 1), 1. Juli 1984 – 30. Juni 1985. Bonn: Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung. 1986. p. 16.
^Richard von Weizsäcker. Reden und Interviews (vol. 5), 1. Juli 1988 – 30. Juni 1989. Bonn: Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung. 1989. pp. 69–79.
^Richard von Weizsäcker. Reden und Interviews (vol. 7), 1. Juli 1990 – 30. Juni 1991. Bonn: Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung. 1992. p. 66. Translated by User:Zwerg Nase
^Richard von Weizsäcker. Reden und Interviews (vol. 7), 1. Juli 1990 – 30. Juni 1991. Bonn: Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung. 1992. pp. 391–397.
^Fromme, Friedrich Karl (29 May 1998)."Ein Mann der indirekten Sprache".Faz.net (in German). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved8 September 2015.
^Verzeichnis der Mitglieder der Balley Brandenburg des Ritterlichen Ordens St. Johannis vom Spital zu Jerusalem; Berlin: Johanniterorden, 2011; page 18.
Gill, Ulrich, ed. (1986).Eine Rede und ihre Wirkung. Die Rede des Bundespräsidenten Richard von Weizsäcker vom 8. Mai 1985 anläßlich des 40. Jahrestages der Beendigung des Zweiten Weltkrieges (in German). Berlin: Verlag Rainer Röll.ISBN3-9801344-0-7.
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