Germany mourns liberal Lord Dahrendorf

Considered to be the greatest German liberal thinker of modern times, Lord Ralf Dahrendorf, who adopted British citizenship in 1988 and gained a peerage in 1993, was a liberal who led by example. The front page of Süddeutsche Zeitung shows a famous photograph of the sociologist in deep discussion with student movement leader Rudi Dutschke outside the German Liberal congress in 1968. "Those who think that a liberal is someone who wants to reduce taxes and takes no interest in the State should read Dahrendorf," advises the centre-left daily. "In his 1965 book Society and Democracy in Germany, he was the first to observe that it was the mix of theoretical humanity and practical inhumanity that sometimes made Germany so unbearable." It was a work that brought him resounding praise from philosopher Jürgen Habermas for whom it marked ‘the major change in the mentality of a Germany that was still rebuilding its identity." Dahrendorf passed away, at the age of 80, on 17 June.