The passing of a Legend. Dr. Henry Kissinger.

It's been a bit over 8 years...

The 9th November 2015 was a Monday and I was in my office on Beekman Place in New York City. As Luxembourg's Consul General I was preparing to host an evening event, pictured above, honoring local veterans of World War II's Battle of the Bulge, when my assistant Laurence came to tell me in a doubting voice that "there is someone on the line claiming that Dr. Henry Kissinger would like to talk to you". To my surprise, indeed, it was the man himself.

Going back a few weeks: I was on a plane to Europe, reading Niall Ferguson's biography of Kissinger's early years. It was fascinating as there were many parallels with some of our own Luxembourg community in the NY-area, people I knew, Jewish Luxembourgers who had fled over the Atlantic to escape the Nazis, their struggles to adapt to New York and, their military service to liberate Europe. Then I discovered that his service in the US Army had brought Kissinger to the margins of the Battle of the Bulge and I decided to invite him to my event. The probability of him attending was somewhere close to zero, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Our event was planned to take place in the historic River Club, located inside River House on 52nd Street. Luck wanted it that I knew that Dr. Kissinger lived in the same building and I guessed that a letter hand-delivered to the building's concierge would have better chances of being read than one send my post to his office with Kissinger Associates on Park Avenue. So I mentioned that he could take the elevator and join us, even in his house shoes if he wished. Alas, I didn't hear back from him. Maybe he didn't appreciate the reference to his slippers.

Until that morning. My doubts lifted when I heard the German accented voice confirming that he had received the invitation and wanted to apologize himself for not joining "his comrades-in-arms". He had to be at an event honoring George Shultz that night and "as I am going to present the award to him, I cannot not be there!" At the same time he said that he would like to meet me for lunch. Our event that night was a big success and I am glad to this day that the veterans who came from Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens and Upstate New York had a wonderful time and felt celebrated.

A few weeks later I made my way to the Brook Club on 54th and Park, for lunch with Dr. Kissinger. I rarely felt so nervous in my entire professional life and I am not someone easily awed by so-called figures of authority. Yet, I kept wondering how to survive the conversation without making a fool out of myself: I was 38, he 92. I felt that all the events I had only read about in books on international relations, he had been personally involved with! I decided that the best strategy would be to do what is usually the best when faced with political personalities: let him speak.

The lunch went very well. I remember a gracious and witty host, able to joke about himself and critically reflect on past policy mistakes he had made. We talked about his youth and military service, his years in government, China, Russia and the Middle East. The difficulties of Europe and the Euro. Hypotheses why there were no more "great men" of the caliber of De Gaulle of Adenauer. How the Yiddish and Luxembourgish languages were closely related. It was thoroughly enjoyable.

We met a second time, again over lunch at the Brook, a few weeks before I left my position in New York to move to Moscow in Summer 2016. Russia was the main item on the menu, but also again the Battle of the Bulge as I was leaving that afternoon to drive up to Rochester, NY, in order to bestow a medal to Richard Brookins, better known as the "American St. Nick". Kissinger argued that as a veteran of the Battle himself he might also qualify for a Luxembourg medal, even if the closest he made it to the Luxembourg border was still some 40km away in Belgium. I had to disappoint him as "almost making it doesn't win medals". We switched to the topic of Artificial Intelligence that worried him to the point that he was organizing a debate on the subject, back in 2016. Finally, I remember how he wondered about the steam that the Trump campaign was gathering "this guy replacing an entire campaign team with his smartphone!".

We parted ways and he asked me to keep him posted on my experience in Russia. I did and we tried to meet when he came to Moscow for the Primakov Lectures in June 2017, but it didn't work out.

I regret that Dr. Henry Kissinger is no more, but maybe after a century witnessing the powerplay of international politics and the revival of block-confrontation, he felt it was time to go. He leaves me with some of my fondest memories. A gentleman who was sharp and bright, yet humble and fun. Who showed me kindness where none was expected. A man often vilified, but who taught me that "the art of statesmanship is to make the best possible decision in an environment where you have neither enough time nor enough information - and then to endure those who, with the benefit of hindsight, slaughter you for not living up to their standard of sanctitude".

I trust that Sergeant Henry Kissinger is now reunited with those many of his former comrades who preceded him.