 An enduring theme of Karl-Heinz Gerstner's life was his ability to charm, whether in respect of Nazi contemporaries at the embassy in Paris, of Soviet officialdom during the chaotic post-war years, or of readers, radio listeners and television viewers during his forty decades as an East German economics journalist.Someone who refused to be charmed was the historian-commentator Götz Aly.In 1989 Aly reacted to the appearance of Gerstner's autobiography with a powerfully critical piece in Gerstner's old newspaper, the Berliner Zeitung.