But it helps
Sir: One doesn't have to be a German to take exception to the manner in which James Buchan (We have changed, not the Queen', 29 May) maligns the German pres- idents. Theodor Heuss was a much loved and popular figure and certainly not a 'yes- man'. Despite the popular clichés about Heinrich Liibke, it is insulting to call him a `clown' and it is more than inappropriate to refer to Gustav Heinemann and Richard von Weizsacker as 'prigs'. Gustav Heine- `He's very shy. He's a Conservative money spider.' mann was a man of great personal convic- tion and Richard von Weizsacker enjoys exceptional national and international pres- tige. (To describe Helmut Kohl as `mediocre' is also extremely inept.) I am appalled that James Buchan chooses to describe these German heads of state in terms better applied nearer home. His ill- chosen epithets can hardly be described as conducive to international understanding.
Brangwyn Jones
Im Meisengarten 3a, D-5300 Bonn 2, Germany
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