Helmut Schmidt

When Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, the pundits applauded the populace. "Only in America," they said, "could a black man be elected president." Meaning, of course, that nowhere else would a member of a previously oppressed minority be given a chance to lead the country. What would be the equivalent, Germany electing a Jew to be Chancellor? Like that will ever happen!

Well, it did.

OK, so Helmut Schmidt wasn't exactly of Jewish faith. He was raised Lutheran. And he wasn't exactly of pure Jewish blood. His father's father was a Jew, but that was kept secret.

Nevertheless, a (very very marginal) Jew was in power in Germany from 1974 to 1982.

Take that, pundits!