The Relationship Between Henry Kissinger and His Jewish Roots

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Kissinger lost his religious faith at some point during World War II. His brother, incidentally, who served in the Pacific theater had the same experience. To Kissinger's father, this was a dreadful prospect that he sons were going to break from Judaism and then his grandchildren would not be raised as Jews. There is this fascinating and ongoing conversation within the family about the relationship between Henry Kissinger and his Jewish roots.

No American statesman has been as revered and as reviled as Henry Kissinger. To the late Christopher Hitchens he was a war criminal who should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. To his admirers he is the greatest strategic thinker America has ever produced, the ‘indispensable man’, whose advice has been sought by every president from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush. Internationally renowned Harvard historian Niall Ferguson came to the Intelligence Squared stage to discuss his new appraisal of Kissinger. In his view, far from being the amoral arch-realist portrayed by his enemies, Kissinger owed a profound debt to philosophical idealism. In this exclusive London appearance, Ferguson was joined by the distinguished historian Andrew Roberts, who brought his expertise from writing about great statesmen of the past – from Napoleon to Churchill – to the examination of this controversial figure. How did Kissinger’s worldview develop over the course of his early years, as a Jew in Hitler’s Germany, a...

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