Hello, I'm Krestey Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

The program was originally broadcast in 1991, and the presenter was Sue Lawley. My castaway this week is a German politician who became an English academic. Throughout his life

he's been determined to break down barriers in the interests of greater humanity

and freedom. The Germany of his youth was that of the Third Reich, but he, like his family, was fiercely anti-Nazi,

and suffered imprisonment for his views.

In his late 30s, he enjoyed a brief but turbulent career in German politics, first as a minister for foreign affairs under

Ville Brant and then as a European Commissioner in Brussels.

His fortis, however, found him as director of the London School of Economics. Today his academic career in Britain

continues with the post of Warden of St. Antonis College, Oxford. Now a British

citizen he has won sympathy from his students for his openness and admiration from a far

wider circle for his wisdom, clarity and stern defense of libertarian principles.

He is Ralph Darendorf.

Sir Ralph, you in fact became a British citizen a couple of years ago, I think.

Does that mean you renounced your German citizenship?

It's actually possible to have dual nationality, but to all intents and purposes I am a British citizen

and nothing else.

Yes, this time I decided that I was here to stay and wanted to want to take part in public debate without feeling that I'm an outsider.

But which are you really? I mean, are you German? Are you English?

Oh, I'm really an inveterant crosser of boundaries and will be forever and so I suppose the simple way to

put it is to say that I'm a European.

That's a very fashionable concept of course.

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