Theo Sommer

Last updated

Theo Sommer
Theo Sommer (1967).jpg
Sommer in 1967
Born(1930-06-10)10 June 1930
Konstanz, Baden, Germany
Died22 August 2022(2022-08-22) (aged 92)
Hamburg, Germany
Organization Die Zeit
Awards
Website www.theosommer.de

Theo Sommer (10 June 1930 – 22 August 2022) was a German newspaper editor and intellectual. He began working for Die Zeit in 1958, rising to an editor-in-chief and publisher. His editorials for Die Zeit shaped the paper's social-liberal attitude. He advocated the policy of détente with the Eastern bloc states (Entspannungspolitik). From 1992, Sommer was publisher of Die Zeit, together with Marion Dönhoff and Helmut Schmidt. He was considered one of Germany's authorities on international relations and strategic issues.

Contents

Life and career

Born in Konstanz, Republic of Baden, on 10 June 1930, [1] [2] Sommer grew up in Schwäbisch Gmünd and was educated at the National Political Institutes of Education [3] [4] in Sonthofen. [5] He was drafted into the Volkssturm in 1945. After World War II, he found out about the lies and atrocities of the Nazi regime, primarily by following the Nuremberg trials and reading Eugen Kogon's book Der SS-Staat  [ de ]. [3] Sommer obtained his Abitur from Schwäbisch Gmünd in 1949 and then lived in Sweden for nine months. He studied English, history and political science at the University of Tübingen, Manchester College in Indiana and the University of Chicago. He earned a PhD in Tübingen with his thesis "Germany and Japan between the Powers, 1935–1940", [5] supervised by Hans Rothfels. [6] He began his career as a journalist with the Rems-Zeitung  [ de ], a local paper in Schwäbisch Gmünd. [1]

Sommer joined the weekly Die Zeit as a political correspondent in 1958, and was responsible for foreign politics and security politics. [7] He became deputy editor-in chief in 1968, and editor-in-chief in 1973. He took a break from the paper in 1969 and 1970 to work for the Federal Ministry of Defence, for the "White Paper" (Weißbuch) of the Bundeswehr, joining the planning staff of then-minister Helmut Schmidt. His editorials for Die Zeit in the 1970s shaped the paper's social-liberal attitude, and supported the policy of détente with the Eastern bloc states (Entspannungspolitik). For decades, Sommer encouraged tolerance and Western support for East Germany. [8] From 1992, Sommer was publisher of Die Zeit, together with Marion Dönhoff and Helmut Schmidt. [1] [9] He retired from the position in 2000, but kept writing for the paper as an editor-at-large. [10] [11]

Sommer was a member of the Trilateral Commission, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and of the German advisory committee of the German Marshall Fund. [9] He was a member of the advisory board of the Bertelsmann Stiftung from 1990 to 1996. [6] Since 2004, Sommer was an editor-at-large for Times Media, which publishes the newspapers The Atlantic Times  [ de ] and The German Times  [ de ]. [12] He was a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group. [11]

In 2014, he was found guilty of tax evasion, and sentenced to 19 months of prison on probation. [2] [10] In 2016, American historian Alexander J. Motyl criticised Sommer for "closing his eyes to the mass murders of the Soviet regime", "disregard" for the Baltic states and Poland, and a "classically colonial" attitude toward Ukraine. [13]

Sommer died in Hamburg on 22 August 2022, at the age of 92. [1] [14] He did not recover from a fall at his home, which had left him in pain. [7]

Sommer was regarded as one of Germany's experts on international relations and strategic issues. [9] According to Die Zeit, "he decisively shaped" the paper "with his temperament, his energy, his shrewd judgment and his cheerfulness ... and enthusiasm for debate" ("mit seinem Temperament, seiner Tatkraft, seinem klugen Urteil und seiner Fröhlichkeit als weltoffenes, liberales, debattenfreudiges Blatt maßgeblich geprägt hat"). [1]

Honours and awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helmut Schmidt</span> Chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982

Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982.

<i>Die Zeit</i> German national weekly newspaper

Die Zeit is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans-Jochen Vogel</span> German politician

Hans-Jochen Vogel was a German lawyer and a politician for the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as Mayor of Munich from 1960 to 1972, winning the 1972 Summer Olympics for the city and Governing Mayor of West Berlin in 1981, the only German ever to lead two cities with a million+ inhabitants. He was Federal Minister of Regional Planning, Construction and Urban Development from 1972 to 1974, and Federal Minister of Justice from 1974 to 1981. He served as leader of the SPD in the Bundestag from 1983 to 1991, and as Leader of the Social Democratic Party from 1987 to 1991. In 1993, he co-founded the organisation Gegen Vergessen – Für Demokratie. He was a member of the National Ethics Council of Germany from its beginning in 2001.

Richard Tüngel was a German journalist and publisher, originally an architect and a longtime Director of Construction (Baudirektor) in Hamburg.

Paul Spiegel

Paul Spiegel was leader of the Central Council of Jews in Germany and the main spokesman of the German Jews. He was widely praised for his leadership of the German Jewish community, which had grown from the remnants left by the Nazis into the third largest Jewish community in western Europe.

Schwäbisch Gmünd Town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Schwäbisch Gmünd is a city in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. With a population of around 60,000, the city is the second largest in the Ostalb district and the whole East Württemberg region after Aalen. The city is a Große Kreisstadt since 1956, i.e. a chief city under district administration; it was the administrative capital of its own rural district until the local government reorganisation on 1 January 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolfgang Thierse</span> German politician

Wolfgang Thierse is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as the 11th President of the Bundestag from 1998 to 2005.

Peter Parler 14th century German-Bohemian architect & sculptor

Peter Parler was a German-Bohemian architect and sculptor from the Parler family of master builders. Along with his father, Heinrich Parler, he is one of the most prominent and influential craftsmen of the Middle Ages. Born and apprenticed in the town of Schwäbisch Gmünd, Peter worked at several important late Medieval building sites, including Strasbourg, Cologne, and Nuremberg. After 1356 he lived in Prague, capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and seat of the Holy Roman Empire, where he created his most famous works: St. Vitus Cathedral and the Charles Bridge.

Marion Dönhoff German journalist

Marion Hedda Ilse Gräfin von Dönhoff was a German journalist and publisher who participated in the resistance against Nazism, along with Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, Peter Yorck von Wartenburg, and Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg. After the war, she became one of Germany's leading journalists and intellectuals, working for over 55 years as an editor and later publisher of the Hamburg-based weekly newspaper Die Zeit.

Aaron Tänzer

Aaron Tänzer was a rabbi in Austria and Germany, chaplain and author.

Leitkultur is a German concept, which can be translated as 'guiding culture' or 'leading culture', less literally as 'common culture', 'core culture' or 'basic culture'. The term was first introduced in 1998 by the German-Arab sociologist Bassam Tibi and from 2000 onward the term figured prominently in the national political debate in Germany about national identity and immigration.

Johannes von Gmunden was a German/Austrian astronomer, mathematician, humanist and early instrument maker.

Helmut Fischer German actor

Helmut Fischer was a popular, award-winning German actor.

Gustav Leutelt

Gustav Leutelt was a German Bohemian poet and writer. Most of his poetry concerned the area around his birthplace of Josefsthal causing him to be described as a "poet of the Jizera Mountains."

Schwäbisch Gmünd station was opened in 1861 and is located northwest of the city centre of Schwäbisch Gmünd in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is on the Rems Railway and is a stop for InterCity trains.

Hermann-Josef Tenhagen

Hermann-Josef Tenhagen is the editor-in-chief and CEO of Finanztip since 2014, Finanztip is a non-for-profit financial information website for consumers, used c. 5 million times a month, running a weekly newsletter with a circulation of more than 750.000 and a popular YouTube channel. Finanztip is owned by the non-for-profit Finanztip foundation.

Clytus Gottwald is a German composer, conductor and musicologist, focused on choral music. He is known for his arrangements for a vocal ensemble of up to 16 voices. He founded and has conducted the Schola Cantorum Stuttgart for such music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Reulein</span>

Peter Reulein is a German composer, organ improviser, academic teacher and church musician, from 2000 at the church Liebfrauen in Frankfurt am Main. In 2016 he composed for the Catholic Diocese of Limburg the Franciscan oratorio Laudato si'.

Michael Klar

Michael Klar is a German graphic artist, designer and professor for Visual Communication.

Matthias Schmidt is a German musicologist.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Früherer "Zeit"-Herausgeber Theo Sommer gestorben". Tagesschau (in German). 22 August 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  2. 1 2 Widmann, Marc (22 January 2014). "Ehemaliger "Zeit"-Chef Theo Sommer "Ich habe einen Riesenfehler begangen"". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  3. 1 2 Sommer, Theo (22 August 2022). "Theo Sommer über das Kriegsende 1945 / "Dass wir Täter waren, ehe wir Opfer wurden, wurde uns erst langsam klar"" (in German). Der Spiegel . Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  4. ↑ "60 Jahre Bundesrepublic Deitschland: Gelobt sei, was hart macht". Wirtschaftswoche (in German). 20 May 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  5. 1 2 "Theo Sommer" (in German). munzinger.de. July 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  6. 1 2 Sternburg, Andreas (22 August 2022). "Zum Tod von Theo Sommer – Der liberale Gentleman" (in German). Frankfurter Rundschau . Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  7. 1 2 "Theo Sommer ist tot". Der Spiegel (in German). 22 August 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  8. ↑ "Tief beeindruckt vom anderen Deutschland". Die Welt (in German). 13 May 2001. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Manus, Susan (November 1997). "Perspectives on German Reunification: Theo Sommer Shares International Expertise". Information Bulletin. Library of Congress . Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  10. 1 2 Platthaus, Andreas (22 August 2022). "Langjähriger "Zeit"-Journalist Theo Sommer gestorben" (in German). FAZ . Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  11. 1 2 Joffe, Josef (23 August 2022). "Einst lieferte ich mir ein telefonisches Brüllduell mit Theo Sommer. Tags darauf war der Ausbruch vergessen – ein Nachruf auf den legendären "Zeit"-Herausgeber" (in German). NZZ . Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  12. ↑ "Einst lieferte ich mir ein telefonisches Brüllduell mit Theo Sommer. Tags darauf war der Ausbruch vergessen – ein Nachruf auf den legendären "Zeit"-Herausgeber". kress.de (in German). 18 January 2007. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  13. ↑ Motyl, Alexander J. (27 June 2016). "The Dangerous Perspective of Theo Sommer". Atlantic Council . Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  14. ↑ "Die Zeit trauert um Theo Sommer". Die Zeit (in German). 22 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
  15. ↑ "Theodor-Wolff-Preis Preisträger der Jahre 1962 bis 1997" (in German). BDZV. Archived from the original on 11 July 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  16. 1 2 "Theo Sommer". whoswho.de (in German). Retrieved 23 August 2022.
  17. ↑ Strey, Dietmar (15 May 2012). "Theo Sommer". idw-online.de (in German). Retrieved 23 August 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.