John Kornblum

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John C. Kornblum (2012)

John Christian Kornblum (born February 6, 1943 in Detroit , Michigan ) is a retired American diplomat and former German head of the American investment bank Lazard .

Life

Kornblum, whose grandparents emigrated from East Prussia to the United States of America in 1882 , studied German and political science at Michigan State University in East Lansing and achieved a bachelor's degree . He received a Masters Degree in International Relations from Georgetown University . In 1964 he entered the diplomatic service of his country. From 1964 to 1966 he was Vice Consul at the Consulate General in Hamburg . In 1969 he was sent to the American embassy in Bonn , where he took part in the negotiations on the four-power agreement from 1970 to 1972 as an employee of the political department . In 1973 he returned to the Foreign Ministry. There he was initially a member of the political planning team and later head of the European department. From 1977 to 1979 he was responsible for politico-military tasks. In 1979 Kornblum was sent to Germany again, this time as political advisor in the US mission in West Berlin . From July 1981 he headed the Department for Central European Affairs in the State Department . In August 1985 Kornblum returned to Germany again, this time as the US envoy in the role of the American deputy commander of the American sector in Berlin . In this capacity, Kornblum organized Ronald Reagan's famous speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate on June 12, 1987, and wrote the invitation “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall ”for the speech.

Agent swap

During this time he had to conduct spicy negotiations with Ambassador Richard Burt and Thomas Niles : The CIA had recruited GDR citizens as agents on visits to relatives in West Germany and on other occasions . The people had received virtually no agent training to speak of and were quickly exposed by the Ministry of State Security and sentenced to long prison terms. The US internal exams took more than a year. The largest exchange of agents in history between East and West was achieved on June 11, 1985, when four GDR spies were exchanged for 25 CIA agents on Glienicke Bridge , two of whom remained in the GDR.

With NATO and the CSCE

In 1987 Kornblum moved to Brussels , where he acted as deputy permanent representative of the USA to NATO . In 1991, President George Bush Sen. appointed him Ambassador of the United States to the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). In this capacity, Kornblum headed his country's delegation to the 1992 follow-up conference and took a leading role in drafting the declaration that was adopted at the Helsinki summit in July 1992. Kornblum assembled the new American delegation to the CSCE in Vienna in August 1992 , where he worked until April 1994.

During Bill Clinton's presidency , Kornblum was promoted to deputy director of European and Canadian affairs at the US State Department. He was Richard Holbrooke's deputy and assistant and, as a special envoy for Bosnia, played a significant role in the negotiations to end the Bosnian War . The war ended with the Dayton Agreement . Kornblum held that office until his nomination as undersecretary of state for European and Canadian Affairs ( Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs ) in February 1996th

Ambassador in Berlin

John C. Kornblum (July 24, 2008 in Berlin)
John Kornblum with the envoy Robin Quinville on the roof of the US Embassy in Berlin (2019)

On August 18, 1997, Kornblum returned to Germany as his country's ambassador. He played an active role both in the conception of American policy on Germany and in the public debate in Germany. He often called on Europe to show more personal responsibility. He said z. B. “European ideas have almost never led to practical advances. The idea that Europe could rule the world through soft powers is not realistic. ”And“ The application of soft powers in the foreign policy of the EU could only be successful in connection with the American hard powers ”. This position is also held today by many leading German politicians.

A major controversy followed the attack by al-Qaeda terrorists on two American embassies in East Africa in the summer of 1998. The American government was forced to considerably expand the security measures at the new American embassy in Berlin. These protective measures would have changed the layout of the road around the Brandenburg Gate. The backlash from Berliners, especially from the Berlin Senate, was loud and sometimes very dramatic. It took me over two years to find a solution. Kornblum later said that this incident had had a very negative impact on his assessment of German society.

After the end of his tenure as ambassador, Kornblum took over the post of Germany head of the investment bank Lazard in January 2001 . In 2007 he was elected member of the board of the International Martin Luther Foundation . Since 2009 he has been working as a consultant for the Noerr law firm . Kornblum is also a member of the supervisory boards of ThyssenKrupp Technologies AG, Bayer AG and Motorola Europe.

Kornblum was actively committed to strengthening Atlantic cooperation. He remained a founding member of the American Academy in Berlin, founding chairman of the "John F. Kennedy Atlantic Forum" and founder of the first non-profit private broadcaster in Germany, the English-speaking KCRW Berlin .

Even after his time as ambassador, Kornblum appeared frequently in the German and European media. He regularly regrets the political turmoil in the European Union .

Assessment of Donald Trump's presidency

After Donald Trump was elected US President in 2016 and before he took office , Kornblum described his election as a turning point, the course of which cannot be foreseen. He warned that Europe could be overwhelmed by a similar populism and would not get any further with "old formulas". Instead, states would have to offer European solutions and finally tackle their own global policy.

Private

John Kornblum is married to Helen Sen and has two sons. He lives in Berlin.

Honors

Publications

  • The future of transatlantic relations - USA and Europe face new opportunities and challenges . 1999
  • together with Dieter Kronzucker : Mission America - world power at the turning point . Redline, Munich 2009, ISBN 3-86881-032-3 .
  • Numerous articles and commentaries for European and North American media.
editor
  • Christoph Freiherr Schenck zu Schweinsberg: The German Element. German immigrants in the USA. Schenck, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-937566-00-7 .

Web links

Commons : John C. Kornblum  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John C. Kornblum: The future of transatlantic relations - USA and Europe face new opportunities and challenges . 1999, p. 38f.
  2. ↑ https://www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft/ex-us-botschafter-kornblum-im-interview-fuer-euch-muss-politik-immer-harmonisch-sein/24862792-all.html
  3. ^ CV (1997) at the American Embassy
  4. ↑ Dieter Buhl : He only gets weak in baseball - America is finally sending an ambassador: Germany veteran John Kornblum . In: Die Zeit , No. 18/1997, p. 2
  5. ^ “Keep it up, Chancellor!” (Commentary by John Kornblum on crisis management in Europe and Germany) , Die Welt , November 8, 2015
  6. ^ John Kornblum: Germany's New Role: Is President Trump Europe's Last Chance? In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . January 6, 2017, ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed June 14, 2017]).
  7. ↑ Office of the Federal President
  8. ↑ Awarding of the medal to John Kornblum  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.akv.de  
predecessor Office successor
James D. binding nail (as chargé a. I.) US Ambassador to Germany
September 10, 1997 to January 16, 2001 		Dan Coats
personal data
SURNAME Kornblum, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kornblum, John Christian (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Detroit , Michigan