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helmut schmidt (dict)
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Helmut Schmidt - This page is about Helmut Schmidt, the German politician. For the parapsychologist, see Helmut Schmidt (parapsychologist)
| font size="+1">Helmut Schmidt | style="background:#efefef;" align="center" colspan="2" | Helmut Schmidt
| | align="left" | Order: | 31st Chancellor of Germany
(5th of the Federal Republic) | | align="left" | Term of Office: | May 6, 1974–October 1, 1982 | | align="left" | Predecessor: | Willy Brandt | | align="left" | Successor: | Helmut Kohl | | align="left" | Date of Birth: | December 23, 1918 | | align="left" | Date of Death: | | | align="left" | Political Party: | SPD | Helmut Heinrich Waldemar Schmidt (born December 23, 1918) is a German SPD politician. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1974-1982, as well as briefly serving as Foreign Minister and as Minister of Defense and Minister of Finance and Economics. He was born in Hamburg, the son of two teachers. His paternal grandfather was Jewish, although this was kept secret in the family. He was educated at Hamburg Lichtwark school, graduating in 1937. He was conscripted into military service and began WW II serving with Bremen air defences, after brief service on the eastern Front he returned to Germany in 1942 to work as a trainer and advisor at the Reichsluftfahrtministerium. Also in 1942 he married Hannelore "Loki" Glaser. Towards the end of the war, from December 1944 onwards, he served as First Lieutenant in the artillery on the western Front. He was captured by the British in April 1945 in the Lneburg Heath and was a prisoner of war until August. He completed his education in Hamburg, studying economics and political science. In 1949 he graduated. He had joined the SPD in 1946, and from 1947-48 he was leader of the Sozialistische Deutsche Studentenbund (SDS), the then student organisation of the SPD. On leaving university he entered local government in Hamburg, working in the department for economic policy and then from 1952, under Karl Schiller, he was a senior figure in the Behrde fr Wirtschaft und Verkehr (the Hamburg State Ministry for Economy and Transport). From 1953 until 1962 he worked for the SPD on the Bundestag. He was elected to the Bundestag in 1953, and in 1957 he became member of the SPD parlamentary party executive. He was a vocal critic of conservative government policy. In 1958 he joined the board of the SPD (Bundesvorstand) and campaigned against nuclear weapons and the equipping of the Bundeswehr with such devices. In 1958 he lost his seat. From 1961 he was 1965 he was Minister of the Interior (Innensenator) on the Hamburg Senate. He improved his reputation with his active efforts during the 1962 flooding in the city. In 1965 he was re-elected to the Bundestag and became head of the SPD faction in 1967 and deputy chairman of the party in 1968. He had his first cabinet post in October 1969 as Defence Minister under Willy Brandt. From July 1972 to November he was both Minister for Economics and Minister of Finance, and from December onwards until May 1974 Minister of Finance. He became Chancellor of Germany on May 16, 1974 after the resignation of Brandt. The worldwide economic recession was the main concern of his government, Schmidt took a tough and conservative line. He was also active in improving relations with France and Valry Giscard d'Estaing and in 1975 he was a signatory of the Helsinki Final Act to create the OSCE. He remained chancellor after the 1976 elections in coalition with the FDP. His policy over the terrorist Rote Armee Fraktion was uncertain but he usually held to a tough, no compromise line. Specifically, he authorized the GSG-9 anti-terrorist unit to end the hijacking of a Lufthansa aircraft by force. He tied his political future strongly to NATO expansion following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and tied his party firmly to the "double resolution" for the elections in 1980. He was reappointed as chancellor in November 1980. In October 1981 he was fitted with a cardiac pacemaker. In 1982 he won a vote of no confidence in February, but in September four FDP ministers left his cabinet. After attempts to continue with a minority SPD only government he was forced to resign by a Constructive Vote of No Confidence on October 1, the first in German history to be successful. He was succeeded by Helmut Kohl. In 1983 he joined the nationwide weekly Die Zeit newspaper as co-editor, in 1985 he became Managing Director. With Takeo Fukuda he founded the InterAction Councils in 1983. He retired from the Bundestag in 1986 but remained active, in December 1986 he was one of the founders of the committee supporting the EMU and the creation of the European Central Bank. Changes Changes Changes - 28 January 1981 - Jrgen Schmude (SPD) succeeds Vogel as Minister of Justice. Bjrn Engholm succeeds Schmude as Minister of Education and Science.
- 28 April 1982 - Hans Matthfer (SPD) succeeds Gscheidle as Minister of Posts and Communications. Manfred Lahnstein (SPD) succeeds Matthfer as Minister of Finance. Heinz Westphal (SPD) succeeds Ehrenberg as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. Anke Fuchs (SPD) succeeds Huber as Minister of Youth, Family, and Health.
- 17 September 1982 - All the Free Democratic ministers quit the government. Helmut Schmidt (SPD) succeeds Genscher as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Jrgen Schmude (SPD) succeeds Baum as Minister of the Interior, remaining also Minister of Justice. Manfred Lahnstein (SPD) succeeds Lambsdorff as Minister of Economics, remaining also Minister of Finance. Bjrn Engholm (SPD) succeeds Ertl as Minister of Food, Agriculture, and Forestry, remaining also Minister of Education and Science.
External links Schmidt, Helmut Schmidt, Helmut
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