In Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer, France and Germany had two of the twentieth century’s greatest statesmen, leaders who were able to discern the broad sweep of history through the fog of quotidian politics. Their loyalty was not only to the citizens who elected them, but also to the generations of the past that had endured the consequences of Franco-German enmity, and to generations yet to come, which would benefit from reconciliation.
法国和德国拥有可跻身二十世纪最伟大政治家行列的戴高乐和阿登纳，他们能够拨开琐碎政治的迷雾，认清历史大势。他们不仅忠诚于选他们做领导人的公民，也忠诚于经受了法德仇恨后果的先人和将从妥协中获益的尚未来到世上的后代。