Helmut Schmidt

Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (23 December 1918 – 10 November 2015) was a German politician. He was Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1974 to 1982.

Helmut Schmidt
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 (1918-12-23)23 December 1918 Hamburg, Weimar Republic
Died	10 November 2015(2015-11-10) (aged 96) Hamburg, Germany
Resting place	Ohlsdorf Cemetery
Political party	Social Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Loki Glaser ​ ​ (m. 1942; died 2010)​
Domestic partner	Ruth Loah (2012–2015)
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Hamburg
Signature
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Germany Air Force
Years of service	1937–1945
Rank	Oberleutnant (d.R.)
Unit	1st Panzer Division
Battles/wars	Second World War Eastern Front Operation Barbarossa Siege of Leningrad Battle of Moscow Western Front Battle of the Bulge
Awards	Iron Cross 2nd Class

Helmut Schmidt was born in Hamburg in 1918. He finished school in 1937 with the Abitur. Afterwards he had to join the working service and later the army. At the end of World War II, he was a First Lieutenant. He became a prisoner of war in 1945.

After he was set free, he started to study macro economy. He finished his studies in 1949. Then he started to work for the administration of Hamburg.

Schmidt joined into the Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1949. In 1953, he became a member of the Bundestag first time. From 1961 to 1965, he was Senator in the state government of Hamburg.

From 1969 to 1972, he was Minister of Defence of West Germany. From 1972 to 1974 he was Minister of Finance.

After Willy Brandt gave up his job as Bundeskanzler, Helmut Schmidt was elected as new chancellor.

In July 2013, it was discovered that Schmidt bought 38,000 cigarettes due to a fear of them being banned in Europe.

Schmidt died in Hamburg on 10 November 2015 from complications of surgery he had to cure a blood clot in his left left. He was 96 years old.

Other websites

• Biography at the German Historic Museum (German)
• Chancellor Site (German)
• Helmut Schmidt University (English)
• Talks:
  • Die Selbstbehauptung Europas im neuen Jahrhundert (German, 2000)
  • Kröten und Paragrafenwahn (German, 2006)
  • Schmidt's talk on the occasion of China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visiting Hamburg (English, 2006)
  • Interview on nuclear strategy in Europe for the WGBH series, War and Peace in the Nuclear Age
  • Booknotes interview with Schmidt on Men and Powers, 15 April 1990.
    • Men and Powers: A Political Retrospective on Google Books.