WEST GERMANY'S FOREIGN MINISTER

Last week sovereign West Germany got its first full-time Foreign Minister: Heinrich von Brentano.

Born: June 20, 1904, at Offenbach am Main, near Frankfurt.

Family: Of Milanese origin, the Brentano di Tremezzo banking and merchant family moved into Germany in the 18th century, where they established deep cultural ties. Famed 19th century Brentanos: Bettina. friend of Goethe; Poet Clemens (The Lorelei}; Philosopher Franz; Economist Lujo; democratic Revolutionary Lorenz. Otto von Brentano. the new Minister's father, was a lawyer and statesman of the Weimar Republic; brother Clemens is now German Ambassador to Italy; onetime fellow-traveling Novelist Bernard von Brentano is another brother.

Education: At Darmstadt schools, excelling in Latin and Greek; studied law at the universities of Frankfurt, Giessen. Munich and Grenoble (France): took over the family law practice in 1932. Speaks good French and Italian, fair English.

Political Record: There were few more outspoken critics of Hitler than his brother Clemens. His brother Bernard was driven into exile for his anti-Fascist book. The Beginnings of Barbarism in Germany. Said Heinrich, on hearing his family record praised: "There is nothing extraordinary about it; the contrary would have been extraordinary." A founding member of the Christian Democratic Union in Hesse, the new Foreign Minister entered politics in 1945 because (as he told a TIME correspondent), "In those days you Americans did not seem to think there were any decent Germans except the Social Democrats. We had to show you differently." Elected to the Bundestag, he is a faithful and trusted supporter of Adenauer, who made him party floor leader. He is Chairman of the Constitutional Committee of the Parliament of Europe.

Personal Life: Youngest of six children, Heinrich von Brentano devoted many years of his life to the care of his widowed mother; a confirmed bachelor whose hobbies are collecting silver and old furniture for his apartments in Darmstadt and Bonn, he is a connoisseur of wines and highbrow conversation, an admirer of Thomas Mann. Says he of cocktail parties: "When I have to go to any of them. I tell my chauffeur not to switch off the gas, for I'll be back in a few minutes." A hater of demagogy, and himself a poor orator, he has a first-rate legal mind and is an able negotiator. In interviews a tense and nervous man. he is a chain cigarette smoker and an incessant coffee drinker.

His Job: As boss of almost a thousand officials, 35% of them ex-Nazis, 10% of them Nazi victims, he will carry out Adenauer foreign policy, relieve the aging Chancellor of details.

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