Then Stuttgart, Germany, mayor, Manfred Rommel and his wife Liselotte, meet with Teddy Kollek, then the longtime mayor of Jerusalem, and wife Tamar, in the Israeli capitals city hall on June 14, 1987. The two mayors conversed in German because Kollek was originally from Austria. Rommel, only child of the noted German WW II field marshal, was only the second German to be presented with the Guardian of Jerusalem award. A staunch supporter of Jerusalem, Rommel, in his acceptance speech said, The great majority of the German people today know that it was much better to lose the war than to win it...We should not forget what happened to the Jews in Germany and in Europe. We, especially we Germans, must not forget it. But we must also look to the future. It becomes more and more important that people with different political convictions, different ideas of society are cooperating together in mutual respect. Manfred Rommel died in Stuttgart at age 84 on November 7, 2013.
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