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 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 leg. He was 96 years old.

References

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.

Category:1918 births
Category:2015 deaths
Category:Chancellors of Germany
Category:Deaths from surgical complications
Category:Members of the German Bundestag
Category:German military personnel of World War II
Category:Finance ministers of Germany
Category:Politicians from Hamburg
Category:Politicians of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
Category:Defence ministers of Germany
Category:Economy ministers of Germany