Genscher: The Man Who Shares the Glory

By Lisa Beyer

They have little in common, and often they don't seem to like each other much. But Helmut Kohl and his Foreign Minister, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, have depended on one another for the success of their unification dream. If Kohl played the hearty salesman for German unity, Genscher was the quiet strategist. For years the elf-faced minister has been arguing that Mikhail Gorbachev truly wants peace and that the West should seize this moment to end the division of Europe.

Genscher's roots help explain his passion for unification. Born in Halle in 1927, Genscher was drafted into Hitler's military at age 15 and manned the radar for antiaircraft guns; after the war his hometown became a part of East Germany, and in 1952 he fled to West Germany. Since the early 1970s, when travel restrictions between East and West Germany were eased, he has regularly made visits to Halle, keeping in touch with friends and family as well as with the mood in the East.

Genscher's clout comes from his longtime leadership of the Free Democratic Party, without whose support Kohl's Christian Democrats could not stay in power. He first came to the Foreign Ministry's top job in 1974 as the coalition partner of Helmut Schmidt's Social Democratic Party. But in 1982 he broke ranks with Schmidt over economic policy, making it possible for Kohl to become Chancellor. In return, Genscher got to keep his post. In early 1987 Genscher became the first major Western diplomat to urge that Gorbachev be taken "at his word," a position that put him at odds not only with Kohl but also with the Reagan Administration. Last year Genscher persuaded a reluctant Kohl to back him in blocking NATO's plans to replace aging American Lance missiles in West Germany with new weapons whose targets were to include East Germany. Bonn's attitude angered Washington and threatened to rupture NATO, but Genscher stood firm.

Today the Lance flap is long forgotten and Genscher's renegade view of the Soviets, once derided by his allies as being "soft" on communism, has proved visionary. Among the Foreign Minister's rewards has been a vastly improved relationship with his U.S. counterpart, James Baker. Though the two men sparred testily over the Lance affair, they now act like old pals. Both are workaholics, lawyers by training, brainy and pragmatic; when together, they cut through diplomatic blather with hyperspeed. "Genscher loves to play with Baker," says a German diplomat. "He understands how Baker's mind works -- so much like his own."

The Kohl-Genscher marriage of convenience may end after the December elections for the new all-German parliament. The East German elections in March showed little support for Genscher's party, which may have trouble in December winning the necessary percentage of votes to stay in the Bundestag. Ironically, by laying the foundation for unification, Genscher has inadvertently made his political survival a good deal dicier.

With reporting by Daniel Benjamin/Bonn and Christopher Ogden/Washington