Helmut Schmidt

Former Chancellor Federal Republic of Germany

1918: Born in Hamburg (December 23rd, 1918)
1937: Secondary School Certificate (Abitur)
1937-1945: By draft labour and military service (AA unit), finishing up as 1st Lieutenant of the Reserve and Battery Commander, british POW April-August, 1945
1942: Married to Hannelore Glaser (one child)
1945-1949: Studied economics at Hamburg University (M.A.)
1946: Member of Social Democratic Party (SPD)
1949-1953: Economic Councellor, Head of Section, finally Head of the Transport Department in the Hamburg State Administration
1953-1961: Member of the Bundestag
1958-1983: Member of the SPD Federal Executive
1961-1965: Senator for Internal Affairs in Hamburg
1965-1987: Member of the Bundestag
1967-1969: Chairman of the SPD Parliamentary Party
1968-1984: Deputy Chairman of the SPD
1969-1972: Federal Minister of Defence
1972-1974: Federal Minister of Economics and Finance, then Federal Minister of Finance
1974-1982: Federal Chancellor
1983- Publisher of the German weekly DIE ZEIT

Honarary Degrees:
i.a. Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Leuven, Joshns Hopkins, Sorbonne, Keio, and others

Author of i.a.:
"Defence or Retaliation"
"Verteidigung oder Vergeltung" (1962)
"The Balance of Power"
"Strategie des Gleichgewichts" (1971)
"A Grand Strategy for the West" (1985)
"Eine Strategie fur den Westen" (1986)
"Men and Powers" (1990)
"Menschen und Machte" (1987)
"Die Deutschen und ihre Nachbarn" (1990)
"Hendeln fur Deutschland" (1993)
"Das Jahr der Entscheidung" (1994)
"Weggefahren" (1996)