Word: von
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Born to a prominent family in 1920, von Weizsacker was educated at several foreign universities, including Oxford. During World War II, the German president served in the German army, attaining the rank of captain...
While Richard von Weizsacker was on the front, drafted at the age of 18, his father, Baron Ernst von Weizsacker, was working in the foreign ministry, first as a chief diplomat, and later as an ambassador to the Vatican. His brother, Karl Fredrich, was a prominent physicist, who was at work for the Nazi regime in attempting to develop an atom bomb...
...Richard von Weizsacker's rise from a family intimately linked to the operation of the Third Reich to the leading articulator of the burdens of the Nazi past in many ways echoes simultaneously the difficulties, and optimism, of modern Germany's attempt to reconcile its Nazi past...
Many say that it is a desire to restore his family name that has prompted the younger von Weizsacker to present such a uniquely honest, and candid, vision for modern Germany. And in doing so he has gained widespread popularity among Germans, serving especially as the conscience of younger Germans, who have shown an instinct to rile at being reminded of their Nazi past...
...ceremonial office holder, von Weizsacker has stood in the world's spotlight, by candidly confronting the Nazi years of his youth...