Minister Plenipotentiary Hans H. Blomeyer-Bartenstein presented the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to Mr. Oliver Hayward on 24 April in a special ceremony at the German Embassy.

Oliver Hayward has for decades and to the present day worked tirelessly for British-German relations and for the European cause.

In 1959 Mr. Hayward went to Bad Harzburg and Holzminden for two years to teach English to young Germans. He inspired his pupils, fostering much enthusiasm for the English language and for Britain.

From 1961-1964 he was Director of Studies at the International Forum Burg Liebenzell, introducing Germany and the process of European integration to young adults from many countries.

In 1964 Oliver Hayward took up his role at Wilton Park, where he remained, rendering loyal services, for 20 years. Wilton Park was instrumental in post-war Anglo-German reconciliation. Its influence on German-British affairs has remained significant to the present day. Former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt illustrated Wilton Park’s importance: “Many ideas which we discussed at Wilton Park have become a political reality.”

Mr. Blomeyer-Bartenstein said: “As an interpreter, or I would rather say, in the literal sense, a mediator between Germans and Britons, you have rendered an exceptional service to the ever closer relations between our two countries.”

In his reply Oliver Hayward said:

It is for me, Minister, a great honour to receive the Bundesverdienstkreuz today, and I should like to express my gratitude through you to your President.

A great honour, but also a big surprise, because I cannot claim to have done anything earth shattering. However, on reflection I could see that Germany and the Germans have woven a continuous thread through my life and that a mosaic has emerged. The result is a picture that gives me much pleasure to look back on,

My sense of affinity with the German people began on my first visit to the country in 1951, when instead of the reserve towards the former enemy that I had half expected, I discovered a warm and friendly welcome. Perhaps the Germans hadn’t expected me to be so ready to be friendly, but this mutual affinity has been reaffirmed countless times since.


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Warmth and friendship is what I found when, the following year in the context of a school exchange, I first met the schoolmaster and his wife who were later to become my parents-in-law. They introduced me to many facets of German life – culture and customs, the country’s heritage, the problems of a divided Germany, and much more – and I remain indebted to them and their family to this day. On these foundations I was able to develop a range of experiences and relationships with an Anglo-German flavour, initially teaching in Germany, as an Englishman but with an appreciation of German thought processes.

After my time teaching, the next four years as Director of Studies at the International Forum Burg Liebenzell in the Black Forest gave me an opportunity to open up for young adults from many countries new perspectives both of Germany and of the process of European integration.

This was followed by the highlight of my career, when on the Academic Staff at Wilton Park, the Foreign Office’s international conference centre. Wilton Park has always enjoyed a strong German tradition, stemming from its immediate post-war origins when Germans could imbibe there the essentials of British life and thought, and I felt privileged to be able to contribute substantially to the further development and deepening of relations with leading Germans.

In parallel, on a voluntary basis, I have been an active member of the European Movement for over 40 years and also became a founder member of Centre for Europe (a UK member of the Saarbrücken-based International Federation of Europe Houses). Here I enjoyed my place in the team planning and executing a range of highly acclaimed residential conferences at which Germans played a prominent part.

The ideal of a united Europe has been the other recurring strand throughout my life. I was very supportive of the new Germany at a time when this wasn’t perhaps fashionable everywhere in Britain – the large election poster of Konrad Adenauer in my undergraduate room raised some eyebrows – and with my pro-European convictions I have naturally often found myself in a minority in this country. Would that the latter could change! However, the Germans being so staunchly European, I found no problems in this regard in what was sometimes called ‘meine zweite Heimat’ in Germany.

Indeed one of the most rewarding aspects of my involvement in the European Movement has been the forging of a link between the Schleswig-Holstein Europa Union and the UK European Movement, as well as a partnership between the Aumühle-Wohltorf Branch of the Europa Union and our Sussex Branch of the European Movement.

At this point, however, I must confess there is one respect in which I have possibly been of disservice to Germany, because in 1961 I turned a German citizen into a British citizen when I married, but since my wife actively shares in my interests I would, with your permission, like to think of her also, unofficially, sharing the honour you have conferred upon me.

By dwelling on the personal stones of my German mosaic I hope I have illustrated how valuable individual relationships across borders can be in the cementing of friendship between nations. A prime example of this was surely the much needed post-war rapprochement between France and Germany into which an enormous amount of effort and money was poured at the level of individual contacts. This has, albeit with less funding, happened between Britain and Germany too; I have myself found it very rewarding to detect the mutual enrichment of our lives that has come about when meeting with Germans. For my part, I shall treasure my insignia as a recognition of one person’s contribution to the harmony between our two countries over more than half a century.