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" I was in government for 13 years and in that time only once met the head of the German security services, and that was because he was an old friend. Otherwise, I carefully avoided having anything to do with these people. They are unavoidable but not really necessary. "

Helmut Schmidt

Head

Government

Friend

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" I had a Jewish grandfather. We managed to hide this fact from the authorities by falsifying documents, my father and I. His father was Jewish, but because my father was an illegitimate child, it was rather easy to pretend that his father was unknown. "

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" I will not be remembered in history. I have not been shot. I have not launched any great tragedy or victory. I have not borne any great defeat. It was a very normal - it still is a very normal - human life of a political leader. "

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" The German public knows me quite well. I have been in their kitchens and living rooms for years. "

Helmut Schmidt

Been

Years

" The British claim to have a special relationship with the U.S., but if you mention this in Washington, no one knows what you are talking about. "

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" Germany is one of the medium powers of the world. It is a non-nuclear power. It is in a lower class than the United States, the Soviet Union, France, the United Kingdom and others. "

" Democracy is not the end point of mankind. There may be developments in many different directions in the coming centuries. Democracy has only existed for about 200 years. It started out with the American Declaration of Independence. The Americans got their ideas from the Europeans, in the main from the French, the Dutch and the British. "

" In a mass television democracy - which all of us nowadays have - it is impossible to take basic political decisions with long-term consequences without the public knowing it, without the public understanding at least some of it, without the public forming its judgment, heterogeneous as it may be. "

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" The British are very stubborn. The Queen, the Commonwealth, and the special relationship with the U.S. is much more important than Europe. "

" If I ever had to emigrate, I would probably go to America. "

Helmut Schmidt

America

Would