Helmut Schmidt | |
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Chancellor of Germany (West Germany) | |
In office 16 May 1974 –1 October 1982 | |
President | Gustav Heinemann Walter Scheel Karl Carstens |
Vice Chancellor | Hans-Dietrich Genscher Egon Franke |
Preceded by | Willy Brandt |
Succeeded by | Helmut Kohl |
Federal Minister of Finance (West Germany) | |
In office 7 July 1972 –16 May 1974 | |
Chancellor | Willy Brandt |
Preceded by | Karl Schiller |
Succeeded by | Hans Apel |
Federal Minister for Economics (West Germany) | |
In office 7 July 1972 –15 December 1972 | |
Chancellor | Willy Brandt |
Preceded by | Karl Schiller |
Succeeded by | Hans Friderichs |
Federal Minister of Defence (West Germany) | |
In office 22 October 1969 –7 July 1972 | |
Chancellor | Willy Brandt |
Preceded by | Gerhard Schröder |
Succeeded by | Georg Leber |
Leader of the SPD Group in the Bundestag (West Germany) | |
In office 14 March 1967 –22 October 1969 | |
Deputy | Egon Franke Martin Hirsch Ernst Schellenberg |
Preceded by | Fritz Erler |
Succeeded by | Herbert Wehner |
Member of the Bundestag for Hamburg-Bergedorf | |
In office 20 October 1969 –18 February 1987 | |
Preceded by | Nikolaus Jürgensen |
Succeeded by | Rolf Niese |
Member of the Bundestag for Hamburg | |
In office 19 October 1965 –19 October 1969 | |
Constituency | Party list |
In office 6 October 1953 –6 October 1957 | |
Constituency | Party list |
Member of the Bundestag for Hamburg-Nord II | |
In office 15 October 1957 –17 October 1965 | |
Preceded by | Willy Max Rademacher |
Succeeded by | Rolf Meinecke |
Senator of the Interior of Hamburg | |
In office 13 December 1961 –14 December 1965 | |
First Mayor | Paul Nevermann Herbert Weichmann |
Preceded by | Wilhelm Kröger |
Succeeded by | Heinz Ruhau |
Personal details | |
Born | Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt 23 December 1918 Barmbek, Hamburg, Weimar Republic |
Died | 10 November 2015 96) (aged Langenhorn, Hamburg, Germany |
Resting place | Ohlsdorf Cemetery |
Political party | Social Democratic Party |
Spouse(s) | Loki Glaser (1942–2010; her death) |
Domestic partner | Ruth Loah (2012–2015) |
Children | 2 |
Alma mater | University of Hamburg |
Signature | ![]() |
Military career | |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Service/ | ![]() |
Years of service | 1937–1945 |
Rank | Oberleutnant (d.R.) |
Unit | 1st Panzer Division |
Battles/wars | Second World War |
Awards | Iron Cross 2nd Class |
Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (German pronunciation: [ˈhɛlmuːt ˈha͡ɪnʁɪç ˈvaldəmaːɐ ˈʃmɪt] ; 23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) from 1974 to 1982.
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany.
The title Chancellor has designated different offices in the history of Germany. It is currently used for the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, the head of government of Germany. The term, dating from the Early Middle Ages, is derived from the Latin term cancellarius. The modern office of chancellor evolved from the position created for Otto von Bismarck in the North German Confederation in 1867; this federal state evolved into a German nation-state with the 1871 Unification of Germany. The role of the chancellor has varied greatly throughout Germany's modern history. Today, the chancellor is the country's effective leader, although in formal protocol, the Bundespräsident and Bundestagspräsident are ranked higher.
West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany in the period between its creation on 23 May 1949 and German reunification on 3 October 1990. It lied between the North Sea to the north, and the Alps to the south. It bordered Denmark to the north, East Germany and Czechoslovakia to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west. During this Cold War era, NATO-aligned West Germany and Warsaw Pact-aligned East Germany were divided by the Inner German border. After 1961 West Berlin was physically separated from East Berlin as well as from East Germany by the Berlin Wall. This situation ended when East Germany was dissolved and split into five states, which then joined the ten states of the Federal Republic of Germany along with the reunified city-state of Berlin. With the reunification of West and East Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany, enlarged now to sixteen states, became known simply as "Germany". This period is referred to as the Bonn Republic by historians, alluding to the interwar Weimar Republic and the post-reunification Berlin Republic.
Before becoming Chancellor, he had served as Minister of Defence (1969–1972) and as Minister of Finance (1972–1974). In the latter role he gained credit for his financial policies. He had also served briefly as Minister of Economics and as acting Foreign Minister. As Chancellor, he focused on international affairs, seeking "political unification of Europe in partnership with the United States" and issuing proposals that led to the NATO Double-Track Decision in 1979 to deploy US Pershing II missiles to Europe. [1] He was an energetic diplomat who sought European co-operation and international economic co-ordination and was the leading force in creating the European Monetary System in 1978. He was re-elected chancellor in 1976 and 1980, but his coalition fell apart in 1982 with the switch by his coalition allies, the Free Democratic Party.
The Federal Ministry of Defence, abbreviated BMVg, is a top-level federal agency, headed by the Federal Minister of Defence as a member of the Cabinet of Germany. The ministry is headquartered at the Hardthöhe district in Bonn and has a second office in the Bendlerblock building in Berlin.
The Federal Ministry of Finance, abbreviated BMF, is the cabinet-level finance ministry of Germany, with its seat at the Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus in Berlin and a secondary office in Bonn. The current Federal Minister of Finance is Olaf Scholz (SPD).
The NATO Double-Track Decision is the decision of NATO from December 12, 1979, to offer the Warsaw Pact a mutual limitation of medium-range ballistic missiles and intermediate-range ballistic missiles combined with the threat that in case of disagreement NATO would deploy more middle-range nuclear weapons in Western Europe, following the so-called "Euromissile Crisis".
He retired from Parliament in 1986, after clashing with the SPD's left wing, who opposed him on defence and economic issues. In 1986 he was a leading proponent of European monetary union and a European Central Bank.
The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is an umbrella term for the group of policies aimed at converging the economies of member states of the European Union at three stages. The policies cover the 19 eurozone states, as well as non-euro European Union states.
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank for the euro and administers monetary policy of the Eurozone, which consists of 19 EU member states and is one of the largest currency areas in the world. It is one of the world's most important central banks and is one of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) listed in the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The capital stock of the bank is owned by the central banks of all 28 EU member states. The Treaty of Amsterdam established the bank in 1998, and it is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. As of 2015 the President of the ECB is Mario Draghi, former governor of the Bank of Italy, former member of the World Bank, and former managing director of the Goldman Sachs international division (2002–2005). The bank primarily occupied the Eurotower prior to, and during, the construction of the new headquarters.
Helmut Schmidt was born as the eldest of two sons of teachers Ludovica Koch (10 November 1890 – 29 November 1968) and Gustav Ludwig Schmidt (18 April 1888 – 26 March 1981) in Barmbek, a rough working-class district of Hamburg, in 1918. [2] Schmidt studied at Hamburg Lichtwark School, graduating in 1937. [3] Schmidt's father was born the biological son of a German Jewish banker, Ludwig Gumpel, and a Christian waitress, Friederike Wenzel, [4] and then covertly adopted, although this was kept a family secret for many years. [5] [6] This was confirmed publicly by Schmidt in 1984, after Valéry Giscard d'Estaing revealed the fact to journalists, apparently with Schmidt's assent. Schmidt himself was a non-practising Lutheran. [7]
Barmbek, until 27 September 1946 Barmbeck, is the name of a former village that was absorbed into the city of Hamburg, Germany. In 1951 it was divided into the quarters Barmbek-Süd, Barmbek-Nord and Dulsberg in the borough Hamburg-Nord.
Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany with a population of over 1.8 million.
Valéry Marie René Georges Giscard d'Estaing, also known as Giscard or VGE, is a French elder statesman who served as President of France from 1974 to 1981.
Schmidt was a group leader (Scharführer) in the Hitler Youth organization until 1936, when he was demoted and sent on leave because of his anti-Nazi views. [8] [9] However, newly accessible documents from 1942 praise his "Impeccable national-socialist [Nazi] behaviour", and in 1944 his superiors mentioned that Schmidt "stands the ground of national-socialist ideology, knowing that he must pass it on". [10] [11] On 27 June 1942, he married his childhood sweetheart Hannelore "Loki" Glaser (3 March 1919 – 21 October 2010). They had two children: Helmut Walter (26 June 1944 – 19 February 1945, died of meningitis), and Susanne (born 8 May 1947), who works in London for Bloomberg Television. [12] [13] Schmidt resumed his education in Hamburg after the war, graduating in economics and political science in 1949. [3]
The Hitler Youth was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins dated back to 1922 and it received the name Hitler-Jugend, Bund deutscher Arbeiterjugend in July 1926. From 1933 until 1945, it was the sole official youth organisation in Germany and was partially a paramilitary organisation; it was composed of the Hitler Youth proper for male youths aged 14 to 18, the German Youngsters in the Hitler Youth for younger boys aged 10 to 14, and the League of German Girls.
Hannelore "Loki" Schmidt was a German environmentalist. She was the wife of Helmut Schmidt, who was the Chancellor of Germany from 1974 to 1982.
Bloomberg Television is an American-based international cable and satellite business news television channel, owned by Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally, reaching over 310 million homes worldwide. It is headquartered in New York City, with European headquarters in London and Asian headquarters in Hong Kong.
Schmidt was conscripted into military service in 1937, and began serving with an anti-aircraft battery at Vegesack near Bremen during World War II. After brief service on the Eastern Front during the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, including the Siege of Leningrad, he returned to Germany in 1942 to work as a trainer and advisor at the Ministry of Aviation. [3] During his service in World War II, Schmidt was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class. [14] He attended the People's Court as a military spectator at some of the show trials for officers involved in the 20 July plot, in which an unsuccessful attempt was made to assassinate Hitler at Rastenburg, and was disgusted by Roland Freisler's conduct. [15] Toward the end of the war, from December 1944 onwards, he served as an Oberleutnant in the Flakartillery on the Western Front during the Battle of the Bulge and the Ardennes Offensive. He was captured by the British in April 1945 on Lüneburg Heath, and was a prisoner of war until August of that year in Belgium. [16]
Anti-aircraft warfare or counter-air defence is defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action". They include surface based, subsurface, and air-based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be used to protect naval, ground, and air forces in any location. However, for most countries the main effort has tended to be 'homeland defence'. NATO refers to airborne air defence as counter-air and naval air defence as anti-aircraft warfare. Missile defence is an extension of air defence as are initiatives to adapt air defence to the task of intercepting any projectile in flight.
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany, which belongs to the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a federal state of Germany.
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Southeast Europe (Balkans) from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945. It has been known as the Great Patriotic War in the former Soviet Union and modern Russia, while in Germany it was called the Eastern Front, or the German-Soviet War by outside parties.
Schmidt joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1946, and from 1947-48 was the leader of the Socialist German Student League, the student organisation of the SPD. Upon graduating from the University of Hamburg, where he read Economics, he worked for the government of the city-state of Hamburg, working in the department of Economic Policy. Beginning in 1952, under Karl Schiller, he was a senior figure heading up the Behörde für Wirtschaft und Verkehr (the Hamburg State Ministry for Economy and Transport). [3]
He was elected to the Bundestag in 1953, and in 1957 he became a member of the SPD parliamentary party executive. A vocal critic of conservative government policy, his outspoken rhetoric in parliament earned him the nickname Schmidt-Schnauze ("Schmidt the Lip"). [17] In 1958, he joined the national board of the SPD (Bundesvorstand), and campaigned against nuclear weapons and the equipping of the Bundeswehr with such devices. He alarmed some in his party by taking part in manoeuveres as a reserve officer in the newly formed Bundeswehr. In 1962, he gave up his seat in parliament to concentrate on his tasks in Hamburg. [3]
The government of the city-state of Hamburg is known as the Senate of Hamburg, and from 1961 to 1965, Schmidt was the Innensenator: the senator of the interior. [3] He gained a reputation as a Macher (doer) – someone who gets things done regardless of obstacles – by his effective management during the emergency caused by the 1962 flood, during which 300 people drowned. Schmidt used all means at his disposal to alleviate the situation, even when that meant overstepping his legal authority, including employing the federal police and army units (ignoring the German constitution's prohibition on using the army for "internal affairs"; a clause excluding disasters was not added until 1968). Describing his actions, Schmidt said, "I wasn't put in charge of these units – I took charge of them!" [18] [19] He saved a further 1,000 lives and swiftly managed the re-housing of thousands of the homeless.
In 1965, he was re-elected to the Bundestag. In 1967, after the formation of the Grand Coalition between the SPD and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he became chairman of the Social Democratic parliamentary party, a post he held until the elections of 1969. In 1968, he was elected deputy party chairman, a post that he held until 1984. Between 1968 and 1983, Schmidt was deputy chairman of the SPD. Unlike Willy Brandt and Gerhard Schröder, he never became chairman of the party. [3]
In October 1969, he entered the government of Willy Brandt as defense minister. [20] During his term in office, the military conscription time was reduced from 18 to 15 months, while at the same time increasing the number of young men being conscripted. [21] Additionally, Schmidt decided to introduce the Bundeswehr universities in Hamburg and Munich to broaden the academic education of the German officer corps, and the situation of non-commissioned officers was improved. [22] In July 1972, he succeeded Karl Schiller as Minister for Economics and Finances, but in November 1972, he relinquished the Economics department, which was again made a separate ministry. Schmidt remained Minister of Finances and faced the prospect of rising inflation. Shortly before the Oil Shock of 1973, which rattled Britain and United States, Schmidt agreed that European currencies should be floated against the US Dollar. He remained in charge of finance until May 1974. [3]
Schmidt became Chancellor of West Germany on 16 May 1974, after Brandt's resignation in the wake of an espionage scandal. The worldwide economic recession was the main problem his administration faced, and Schmidt took a tough and disciplined line, in reduction of public spending. [23] Schmidt was also active in improving relations with France. Together with the French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, he was one of the fathers of the world economic summits, the first of which assembled in 1975. [24] In 1975, he was a signatory of the Helsinki Accords to create the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the precursor of today's OSCE. [25] In 1978, he helped set up the European Monetary System (EMS), known as the "Snake in the Tunnel".
He remained as Chancellor after the 1976 federal election, in coalition with the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP). [26] He adopted a tough, uncompromising line with the indigenous Red Army Faction (RAF) extremists. In October 1977, he ordered an anti-terrorist unit of Bundesgrenzschutz policemen to end the Palestinian terrorist hijacking of a Lufthansa aircraft named Landshut, staged to secure the release of imprisoned RAF leaders, after it landed in Mogadishu, Somalia. Three of the four kidnappers were killed during the assault on the plane, but all 86 passengers were rescued unharmed. [27] [28]
Schmidt was re-elected as Chancellor in November 1980. [29] [30] Concerned about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the Soviet superiority regarding missiles in Central Europe, Schmidt issued proposals resulting in the NATO Double-Track Decision, concerning the deployment of medium-range nuclear missiles in Western Europe, should the Soviets not disarm. This decision was unpopular with the German public. A mass demonstration against the deployment mobilised 400,000 people in October 1981. [31]
At the beginning of his period as Chancellor, Schmidt was a proponent of Keynesian economics, and pursued expansionary monetary and fiscal policies during his time as Chancellor. Between 1979-82, the Schmidt administration pursued such policies in an effort to reduce unemployment. These were moderately successful, as the fiscal measures introduced after 1977, with reductions in income and wealth taxes and an increase in the medium-term public investment programme, were estimated to have created 160,000 additional jobs in 1978–79, or 300,000 if additional public sector employment was included in the figure. [32] The small reduction in the unemployment rate, however, was achieved at the cost of a larger budget deficit (which rose from 31.2 billion DM to 75.7 billion DM in 1981), brought about by fiscal expansion. [33]
During the 1970s, West Germany was able to weather the global financial storm far better than almost all the other developed countries, with unemployment and inflation kept at comparatively low levels. During the 1976 election campaign, the SPD/FDP coalition was able to win the battle of statistics, whether the figures related to employees' incomes, strikes, unemployment, growth, or public sector debts. Amongst other social improvements, old age pensions had been doubled between 1969–76, and unemployment benefits increased to 68% of previous earnings. [34]
Whilst visiting Saudi Arabia in April 1981, Schmidt made some unguarded remarks about the Israel-Palestine conflict that succeeded in aggravating the delicate relations between Israel and West Germany. Asked by a reporter about the moral aspect of German-Israeli relations, he stated that Israel was not in a position to criticise Germany due to its handling of Palestinians, and "That won't do. And in particular, it won't do for a German living in a divided nation and laying moral claim to the right of self-determination for the German people. One must then recognize the moral claim of the Palestinian people to the right of self-determination." On 3 May, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin denounced Schmidt as "unprincipled, avaricious, heartless, and lacking in human feeling", and stated that he had "willingly served in the German armies that murdered millions". Begin was also upset over remarks that Schmidt had made on West German television the previous week, in which he spoke apologetically about the suffering Germany inflicted on various nations during World War II; but made no mention of the Jews. On his flight home from Riyadh, Schmidt told his advisers that war guilt could not continue to affect Germany's foreign relations. [35]
Schmidt was the first world leader to call upon newly elected French president François Mitterrand, who visited Bonn in July 1981. The two found themselves in "complete agreement" on foreign policy matters and relations with the United States and the Soviet Union, but differed on trade and economic issues. [36]
By the end of his term, however, Schmidt had turned away from deficit spending, due to a deteriorating economic situation, and a number of welfare cuts were carried out, [37] including smaller increases in child benefits and higher unemployment and health contributions. [38] Large sections of the SPD increasingly opposed his security policy, while most of the FDP politicians strongly supported that policy. While representatives of the left-wing of the Social Democratic Party opposed reduction of the state expenditures, the FDP began proposing a monetarist economic policy. In February 1982, Schmidt won a motion of confidence; however on 17 September 1982, the coalition broke apart, with the four FDP ministers leaving his Cabinet. Schmidt continued to lead a minority government composed only of SPD members, while the FDP negotiated a coalition with the CDU/CSU. During this time, Schmidt also headed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On 1 October 1982, parliament approved of a Vote of No-Confidence and elected the CDU chairman Helmut Kohl as the new Chancellor. This was the only time in the history of the Federal Republic that a Chancellor was removed from office in this way. [39]
In 1982, along with his friend Gerald Ford, he co-founded the annual AEI World Forum. [40] The following year he joined the nationwide weekly Die Zeit newspaper as co-publisher, also acting as its director from 1985 to 1989. [3] [41] In 1985, he became managing director. With Takeo Fukuda he founded the Inter Action Councils in 1983. He retired from the Bundestag in 1986. In December 1986, he was one of the founders of the committee supporting the EMU and the creation of the European Central Bank. [3]
Contrary to the line of his party, Schmidt was a determined opponent of Turkey's bid to join the EU. [42] He also opposed phasing out nuclear energy, something that the Red-Green coalition of Gerhard Schröder supported. [43] [ citation needed ] In 2007, Schmidt described the climate debate as "hysterically overheated". [44] When asked about social media, Schmidt said he perceived the internet as "threatening". He was particularly concerned about the superficiality of communication on the web. [45]
On 16 May 2014, Schmidt said the situation in Ukraine was dangerous, because "Europe, the Americans and also Russia are behaving in a way that Christopher Clark, described in his book The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 that's very much worth reading, as the beginning of World War I: like sleepwalkers." [46]
Schmidt was the author of numerous books on his political life, on foreign policy, and political ethics. He made appearances in numerous television talk shows, and remained one of the most renowned political publicists in Germany until his death. [47]
Schmidt described the assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat as one of his friends from the world of politics, and maintained a friendship with ex-president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing of France. His circle also included former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who went on record as stating that he wished to predecease Helmut Schmidt, because he would not wish to live in a world without him. [48]
He was also good friends with former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. At the 4th G7 summit in 1978, the two discussed strategies for the upcoming Canadian federal election, and Schmidt gave him advice on economic policy. [49] In 2011, Schmidt made a pilgrimage to the Trudeau family vault in St-Rémi-de-Napierville Cemetery, accompanied by Jean Chrétien and Tom Axworthy. [50]
Schmidt admired the philosopher Karl Popper, and contributed a foreword to the 1982 Festschrift in Popper's honor. [51]
Schmidt was a talented pianist, and recorded piano concertos of both Mozart and Bach with German pianist and conductor Christoph Eschenbach. Schmidt recorded Mozart's piano concerto for three pianos, K. 242, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Eschenbach in 1982 with pianists Eschenbach and Justus Frantz for EMI Records (CDC 7 47473 2). In that recording, according to the CD's liner notes, Schmidt played the part written for Countess Antonia Lodron's youngest daughter Giuseppina, "almost a beginner" who commissioned the work. The part brilliantly "enables any reasonably practiced amateur to participate in a performance". The same musical notes also indicate that Schmidt and Frantz had played duets during Frantz's student days. In 1990 Schmidt joined Eschenbach, Frantz, Gerhard Oppitz and the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra in Deutsche Grammophon's recording of Bach's Concerto in A minor for four harpsichords, BWV 1065. [52]
All his adult life, Schmidt was a heavy smoker. He was well known for lighting up during TV interviews and talk shows. On 13 October 1981, Schmidt was fitted with a cardiac pacemaker. [53]
On 25 January 2008, German police launched an inquiry after an anti-smoking initiative charged that Schmidt was defying the recently introduced smoking ban. The initiative claimed that the ex-chancellor had been flagrantly ignoring anti-smoking laws. Despite pictures in the press, the case was subsequently dropped after the public prosecutor's office ruled that Schmidt's actions had not been a threat to public health. [54]
On 6 April 2010, with a lifespan of 33,342 days, he surpassed Konrad Adenauer in terms of longevity, and at the time of his death was the oldest former chancellor in German history. [55]
His wife of 68 years, Loki Schmidt, died on 21 October 2010, aged 91. [56]
At the beginning of August 2012, Schmidt gave an interview on German television and revealed that at 93 years of age, he had fallen in love again. His new life-partner was his over 57 years long-standing associate Ruth Loah (27 September 1933 – 23 February 2017). [57] [58]
On 2 September 2015, Schmidt underwent surgery for a vascular occlusion in his right leg. [59] After initial improvement, his condition worsened again on 8 November, with his doctor saying he "feared for the worst". [60] Schmidt died in his Hamburg home on the afternoon of 10 November 2015, aged 96. [61] [62] [63] At the time of his death, he was the longest-lived German Chancellor.
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A state funeral for Schmidt was held on 23 November at the Protestant (Lutheran) St. Michael's Church, Hamburg, where Loki Schmidt's funeral had been held. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in remarks to mourners, said, "He will be missed. He was an astute observer and commentator, and it was with good reason that he had a reputation for dependability." Others who spoke included former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Speaking in German, he lauded Schmidt for "vision and courage", based on the principles of "reason, law, peace and faith," and said Schmidt had been "a kind of world conscience."
Among the 1,800 who attended were German President Joachim Gauck, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, whose tenure in office paralleled Schmidt's as German chancellor. Other guests included former chancellor Gerhard Schröder, former presidents Christian Wulff, Horst Köhler, Roman Herzog and Hamburg's mayor Olaf Scholz. [64] A flag-draped coffin containing the remains of the former chancellor, also a former German defense minister, was escorted by the German Army's Wachbataillon from St. Michael's to Ohlsdorf Cemetery for a private interment ceremony. [65] Helmut Schmidt's remains were buried there one day later, in the family grave alongside the remains of his parents and his wife, Loki. [66]
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Helmut Schmidt received a number of accolades, among them was the Grand Cross Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, which he chose not to accept in Hanseatic tradition, in order to refuse any decoration presented for merely fulfilling one's duty. [67]
In 2003, the university of Germany's federal armed forces in Hamburg was renamed Helmut Schmidt University – University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg in 2003, in honour of the politician who –as minister of defense –had introduced mandatory academic education for German career officers. [68]
Throughout his tenure as chancellor, and even thereafter, Helmut Schmidt received 24 honorary degrees. They include degrees from the British universities Oxford and Cambridge, Paris Sorbonne, the American Harvard and Johns Hopkins universities, the Belgian Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and the Keio University in Japan. [75]
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Bundeskanzler Schmidt wurde 1918 in Hamburg als Sohn eines Lehrers geboren. Er besuchte die fortschrittliche Lichtwarkschule, wo er auch seine zukünftige Frau Hannelore kennenlernte. Im Zweiten Weltkrieg gehörte er einer Flak-Einheit an, wurde mit dem Eisernen Kreuz ausgezeichnet und geriet gegen Ende des Krieges in britische Gefangenschaft
As a publisher, he remains a pre-eminent catalyst of transatlantic dialogue and debate.
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Franz Josef Strauss was a German politician. He was the long-time chairman of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) from 1961 until 1988, member of the federal cabinet in different positions between 1953 and 1969 and minister-president of the state of Bavaria from 1978 until 1988. Strauss is also credited as a co-founder of European aerospace conglomerate Airbus.
Herbert Richard Wehner was a German politician. A former member of the Communist Party, he joined the Social Democrats (SPD) after World War II. He served as Federal Minister of Intra-German Relations from 1966 to 1969 and thereafter as chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag until 1983.
Oskar Lafontaine is a German politician who served in the government of Germany as Minister of Finance from 1998 to 1999. Previously he was Minister President of the state of Saarland from 1985 to 1998, and he was also Chairman of the Social Democratic Party from 1995 to 1999. After having won the German federal election, 1998 along with new Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, he resigned from all political offices, including his seat in the German Bundestag, only a half year later and positioned himself as a popular opponent of Schröder's policies in the tabloid press.
Wolfgang Schäuble is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party whose political career has spanned more than four decades. He is one of the most experienced and longest serving politicians in German history and since 2017 has been the President of the Bundestag.
Martin Schulz is a German politician who served as leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from March 2017 to February 2018 and as a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) since September 2017. Previously he was President of the European Parliament from 2012 to 2017, Leader of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats from 2004 to 2012 and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany from 1994 to 2017.
Egon Karl-Heinz Bahr was a German SPD politician.
Niels Annen is a German politician and member of the SPD.
The 3rd G7 Summit was held at London, United Kingdom between 7–8 May 1977. The venue for the summit meetings was the British Prime Minister's official residence at No. 10 Downing Street in London.
The 4th G7 Summit was held at Bonn, West Germany between 16 and 17 July 1978. The venue for the summit meeting was at the former official residence of the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn, the Palais Schaumburg.
The 5th G7 Summit was held at Tokyo, Japan between June 28 and 29, 1979. The venue for the summit meetings was the State Guesthouse in Tokyo, Japan.
The 6th G7 Summit was held at Venice, Italy between June 22 and 23rd, 1980. The venue for the summit meetings was the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in the Venetian lagoon.
Erhard Eppler is a German Social Democratic politician and founder of the GTZ.
Hans Eberhard Apel was a German politician and a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). From 1972 to 1974 he was Parliamentary State Secretary to the Foreign Minister. From 1974 to 1978 he was the Minister of Finance and from 1978 to 1982 he was the Minister of Defence.
The AEI World Forum is an annual meeting of business and financial executives, heads of government, government officials, and intellectuals. Held every spring in Sea Island, Georgia, it is sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Vail Valley Foundation, and it features a number of AEI scholars and fellows.
Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder is a German politician, and served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005, during which his most important political project was the Agenda 2010. As a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), he led a coalition government of the SPD and the Greens.
Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut is a German diplomat, currently serving as German Ambassador to France. He was previously chief adviser for European affairs to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
Walther Gottlieb Louis Leisler Kiep was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was a member of the Bundestag between 1965 and 1976 and again from 1980 to 1982. After switching to state-level politics, he served as minister of economy (1976–77) and minister of finance (1976–80) in Lower Saxony under Ernst Albrecht. In 1982, Kiep was the leading candidate for the CDU in two successive state elections in Hamburg, losing both to incumbent Klaus von Dohnányi. From 1971 until 1992, he was treasurer of his party at the federal level. In this position, Kiep installed a system of unreported income accounts, leading to the CDU donations scandal in 1999.