Walther Leisler Kiep - Bridge Builder: An Insiders Account of Over Sixty Years in Post-war Reconstruction, International Diplomacy, and German-American Relations

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B RIDGE B UILDER

B RIDGE B UILDER

AN INSIDERS ACCOUNT OF OVER
SIXTY YEARS IN POST-WAR
RECONSTRUCTION, INTERNATIONAL
DIPLOMACY, AND
GERMAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS

BY

W ALTHER L EISLER K IEP

Purdue University Press

West Lafayette, Indiana

Copyright 2012 by Purdue University. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kiep, Walther Leisler, 1926-

Bridge builder : an insiders account of over sixty years in post-war reconstruction, international diplomacy, and German-American relations / Walther Leisler Kiep.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-55753-620-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-61249-207-0 (epdf) -- ISBN 978-1-61249-206-3 (epub) 1. Kiep, Walther Leisler, 1926- 2. Statesmen--Germany--Biography. 3. Politicians--Germany--Biography. 4. Germany (West)--Politics and government. 5. Germany--Politics and government--1990-6. Germany (West)--Foreign relations--United States. 7. United States--Foreign relations--Germany (West) 8. Germany--Foreign relations--United States. 9. United States--Foreign relations--Germany. I. Title.

DD259.7.K48A3 2012

327.43073092--dc23

[B]

2011047688

Cover: Walther Leisler Kiep with Richard von Weizscker, who later became President of Germany.

I have great respect for Walther Kiep. I can think of nobody that has done more for US-German relations. I know his book will be a must read for all who believe in a strong German-American alliance.

George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States of America

List of Abbreviations

AJC	American Jewish Committee
APO	Extraparliamentary Opposition
BND	West German Federal Intelligence Service
CDU	Christian Democratic Union
CSCE	Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
CSU	Christian Social Union
DC	Christian Democrats (Italy)
DM	deutsche mark
EC	European Community
EU	European Union
FAW	First Automobile Works
FDP	Free Democratic Party
FRG	Federal Republic of Germany
GDR	German Democratic Republic
GMF	German Marshall Fund
IAC	International Advisory Council
IMF	International Monetary Fund
INA	Insurance Company of North America
INF	Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces
JFK	John Fitzgerald Kennedy
KfW	Kreditanstalt fr Wiederaufbau
MBFR	Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions
NATO	North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NordLB	Norddeutsche Landesbank AG
NPD	National Democratic Party of Germany
NPT	Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
NSDAP	National Socialist German Workers Party
OECD	Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
PLO	Palestine Liberation Organization
RAF	Red Army Faction
RICO	Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
SACEUR	Supreme Allied Commander Europe
SALT	Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
Stasi	East German Secret Service
SPD	Social Democratic Party
UN	United Nations
ZDF	Second Television Network (German public broadcaster)

Foreword

This lively personal/political saga by Walther Leisler Kiep is an ultimate European insiders account, rare in the English language. It constitutes an unusually valuable record of a half century of German and transnational politics. The authors breadth of personal contacts, his ease of access in European and world capitals, and his repeated availability for important special assignments combine to give the reader many fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpses of important financial, political, and diplomatic developments over recent decades.

The narrative covers the authors wide and deep personal involvement over many decades as an astute trouble-shooter at home and abroad. His ventures start in Europe, but extend to East Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Confidential missions take him to Communist East Germany, Turkey, Italy, Morocco, China, Japan, and often to the United States. Having spent his youth in Turkey where he maintained a close affinity, Kiep is even called upon to explain Turkeys importance to a skeptical Greek caucus in the US Congress.

The author enjoyed British as well as German citizenship, which helped pave the way for his early business success in post-war occupied Germany, his continued success with Britishrelated activities in the Federal Republic, and his eventual receipt of honors from the Queen.

In addition, here is some vivid and entertaining writing by an accomplished storyteller. Kiep displays a disarming openness about his own unachieved ambitions for the German Chancellorship. The book is replete with insider portraits of Western leaders of the past half century. These well-written vignettes of politicians on both sides of the Atlantic benefit from, and are lent authenticity by, the authors lifelong habit of keeping daily diary entries of his private and public activities.

The significance of Kieps bridge building role is demonstrated in a host of situations at home and abroad. Clearly many of his winning techniques were honed by repeated use. Serving as mediator/pacifier in big business conflicts like the Volkswagen-General Motors feud served him well in local, regional, and international disputes of a more public nature. His account of the origins and renewal of the highly successful German Marshall Fund of the United States, for instance, will be of special interest in the American NGO and foundation community. Kiep credits another NGO, the Bilderberg Group, with introducing him to other Western leaders who would be important to him eventually.

Kiep often found himself a dissenter in his own Christian Democratic party, although he remainednot without some griefthe CDU party treasurer for many years. His criticism is at times unabashed of some of his conservative colleagues. Flavorful verdicts like obnoxious blockheads and such orchestrated mediocrity add spice to his recollections.

An early believer in Ostpolitik, Kiep often found his sympathies more in tune with SPD chancellors like Brandt, Schmidt, and Schrder than with his own conservative faction in the Bundestag. Even while holding office as a cabinet minister in Lower Saxony, he found time to undertake sensitive missions in the German Democratic Republic, quietly laboring to lay the groundwork for future German reunification. His accounts of conversations with GDR officials from Erich Honecker on down are illuminating.

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