Helmut Schmidt

Helmut Schmidt was a Hamburg Social Democrat who first gained national attention by coordinating the response to the 1962 North Sea flood. He served as defence and then finance minister under Willy Brandt and became chancellor in 1974 after Brandt resigned. His governments dealt with recession, two oil crises and Red Army Faction terrorism. He lost a constructive vote of no confidence in 1982 after the FDP left his coalition, and later became co-publisher of the weekly Die Zeit. He remained in the Bundestag until 1987 and died in Hamburg in 2015 at the age of 96.

Admirers remember Schmidt as a crisis manager and statesman whose firmness during the 1977 terrorist crisis and support for the double-track decision strengthened the Western alliance. Many on the left of his own party opposed the missile deployment and his support for nuclear power, which contributed to the rise of the Greens. Later in life he was widely respected as a commentator, though his remarks on immigration and integration drew criticism. His decision to take personal responsibility for the death of Hanns-Martin Schleyer, murdered after the government refused the kidnappers' demands, is still discussed as an example of political accountability.