The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project HENRY BARDACH Interviewed by: Charles Stuart Kennedy Initial interview date: March 12, 1996 Copyright 2 7 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Background Born and raised in D sseldorf, Germany and England Environment in Nazi Germany 'ueen College and City College, N)C US Army, WW,, Combat e.perience in Europe George Washington University The University of Pennsylvania /student and instructor0 Wharton School, U of Pennsylvania1 Economics ,nstructor 123851251 State Department1 ,nternational Economist, European Bureau1 Office of 125151257 Philippine and Southeast Asian Affairs Philippine 8 US special relationship 9aurel 9angley Trade Negotiations Marshall Plan Point Four Program FAO ,ndonesia Burma Sukarno State 8 A,D Relations ,ndo5China states Vietnam Entered Foreign Service 1257 Bern, Switzerland1 Commercial Attaché 125751271 Post WW,, issues German hidden assets Environment Government 1 Trade issues COCOM Banking secrecy Hong Aong1 Office in Charge, Economic Unit 127251277 Environment Government contacts American lobbies Te.tiles Chinese Congressional delegations American commercial interests British China trade restrictions Chinese refugees Vietnam war Hong AongBs future State Department1 Aorea Desk Officer 127751270 Aorea Military Done A,D Mission Aorean society Economic development US military deployment Aorean government Aorean troops in Vietnam North Aoreans President Park Pueblo incident Communist China Eapanese relations with Aorea AC 130 shot down State Department1 Senior Special Assistant, Far East Economic Affairs 127051273 Ni.onBs China Trip Pueblo negotiations Marshall Green Te.tile issues ECAFE Currency e.change rates Trade balances AissingerBs Secret Mission to China White House China negotiations Taiwan 2 The Ni.on Doctrine A,D Congressional interest Philippines Vienna, Austria1 Economic Counselor 127351277 Economy Chancellor Areisky Confiscated property Relations Nazi Aurt Waldheim Palestine , Austria5Soviet Relations Oil ministers Hostage Crisis American investment and trade East5West Trade Center ,nternational Energy Agency Oil Djakarta, ,ndonesia1 Commercial and Economic Counselor 127751280 Environment Economy Economic development A,D mission Foreign corrupt practices act Te.tiles President General Suharto Oil production Environmental issues US commercial interests ,ndonesian government Government officials Ethnic diversity American chamber of commerce American investment missions Corruption Commercial legal issues Human rights Relations ASEAN Timor State Department1 Board of E.aminers 128051281 E.am procedure comments 3 Female and minority candidates Foreign Service reserve State Department1 Director of Economic Policy, EA Bureau 128151283 A,D program Multiplicity of US Southeast Asia programs Working with US Chamber of Commerce OP,C ASEAN China Taiwan Eapan US foreign trade laws ,ntellectual property Asia development bank Reagan administration trade policy Asian pacific economic community /APEC0 State Department1 Director, Office of Systematic Document Review 128351285 Freedom of information act Declassification of documents Retirement 1285 Declassification of documents INTERVIEW GNote: This interview was not edited by Mr. Bardach.J %: Henry, let's start sort of at the beginning. Tell me when and where you were born and a bit about your parents. BARDACH: )es. ,Bd be very glad to. ,n fact , think you might almost give a heading to this interview and call it KFrom the Rhine to the Potomac.L , was born in Dusseldorf on the Rhine in the Western part of Germany. , was born in 1221. This was fairly recently after the First World War, and the shadows of that war were still very much with the country, with the city, with my family. , was born into what you might call a well5off family. My father was a physician. He came from a physicianBs family. My motherBs parents, my grandfather was an industrialist who had a factory in Dusseldorf making refrigeration eMuipment. He had been one of the pioneers in developing a so5called ice machine in the early part of this century. ,n fact, , should mention a prototype as an e.ample of what he manufactured, the original first ice machine, refrigeration machine in Europe which he invented, is still on e.hibit in the Deutsches Museum, the German 3 Museum. My father had a good practice. We lived in a comfortable house. The family was at least in good part of Eewish ancestry, but all the people on my fatherBs side had been converted to Christianity. This was even before , was born. So, , was baptized1 , was raised as a Protestant. , really didnBt know anything else. , was aware of the fact that my motherBs parents were Eewish. They were not orthodo. but they were Eewish. Members of my family, my uncles, were all pretty mi.ed, so that , was brought up to understand the differences in religious approaches, but it wasnBt anything terribly bothersome. Nobody seemed to take e.ception to the fact that , on Sunday went to a Protestant church when some other members of my family were going to a synagogue. %: Was there a Jewish community in Dusseldorf at the time- BARDACH: Oh yes. There was a Eewish community. ,f ,Bm not mistaken, there were at least two synagogues which fell victim to the Aristallnacht, crystal night in 1238. Oh, yes, there was a Eewish community. , had what you might call a fairly stable, happy youth. , was in school, first for awhile in a private school, then later on in public school, and finally in a gymnasium. %: Hitler came in in the 19. s First bac0 to the early part of Dusseldorf. Was Dusseldorf what was considered the Rhineland that was occupied by the Allies- Were they still going through any residue of that- BARDACH: ,n fact, ,Bm glad you asked this Muestion. , feel that, in a sense, my whole life has been a function of important historical, not a function, but has been accompanied by many important historical developments. , began to feel this impact Muite substantially on me and my family because, first of all, there was still an occupation in the 1220s. , donBt remember the precise dates. We actually billeted in our house, we had a very nice big house in Dusseldorf, we actually billeted some French soldiers for awhile. At that time it was part of the French Done. ,t was not that way in the Second World War1 it was British. , remember very well the young officers that were there. They were very pleasant. There was no hidden animosity, but they were there. Eventually they left. We didnBt regret that they had left. On the other hand it didnBt fill us with any special joy either. They had been pleasant people, and they were nice to us, so there was no particular bad feeling about it. That was number one. Number two, that in N22 or N23 things in Germany were already becoming politically unstable and, economically of course, even worse. )ou had the opposing groups. These were people who were not particularly in favor of the Weimar Republic. )ou had the Spartacists. )ou had the old loyalists. )ou had people of the Steel helmet, Schtallhelm. %: These were the right wing veterans. BARDACH: E.actly. , know how my parents always told me how they went rushing upstairs to the third floor where my room was because our maid, the nanny, was holding me as a child near the window. She was watching outside1 there were riots going on. There were riots Muite freMuently, and there was shooting. They were afraid with stray 5 bullets flying around, that our curious maid would hold me too close with the window open /Europeans love to have open windows as you know0, so they grabbed Maria and said come on get out. So you might say that my first brush with danger came as early as 1222 about a year after , was born. %: Is the name Bardach associated with the Jewish name in 3ermany or not- BARDACH: No it is not, although there were Eewish Bardachs , discovered many years later in Vienna. , believe there are some there now. The name originates in Eastern Europe, in Russia. ,t is a mi.ture. Again, there are mi.ed ethnic backgrounds in it. Basically , think it was a Eewish name. Originally it was a Russian name. %: Now when you went to gymnasium about 19.., you were 12 years old, so certainly you were listening. Were you aware about your family tal0ing about Hitler- BARDACH: Oh, yes. , became aware early on in the late N20s. , remember my father who was really what was known there as a Social Democrat, a solid, middle of the road party. Definitely not pro5Nazi. , remember him talking about the enormous fragmentization of the political scene, the many different parties. ,t was a continuous hassle. , remember him talking that this did not augur well for the Republic. However, no one in those particular years ever suspected for a moment that one day what happened, dissolution of the parliament, change of the constitution, change of law and order, that this would happen as radically. Nobody in those years, the late 1220s had the vaguest idea that this would happen. %: How about the inflation at that time- Did that... BARDACH: ,nflation, of course early on in the N20s, here again it is only from hearsay from my family, but they did always tell us the story of where in the morning they would rush out to buy a loaf of bread which was then say 1000 Marks. When afternoon came around, the same loaf of bread had increased to 2000 Marks. That went on for some time. , remember them telling about that. %: How did you find going to the high school e5uivalent, the gymnasium was in the early years of the Hitler time- It must have been sort of traumatic. BARDACH: )es it was, but it came very gradually. ,t impacted on my sister who is four years older than , am somewhat more. By being four years older that already made a difference.