Former German Chancellor: Helmut Schmidt has passed away - DIE ZEIT

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Former German Chancellor and DIE ZEIT publisher Helmut Schmidt has passed away. He died on Tuesday at the age of 96 in his Hamburg home

The DIE ZEIT newspaper and publishing house bid farewell to Helmut Schmidt in deep mourning and profound gratitude: "As publisher of DIE ZEIT -- for a time also as head of the Zeitverlag publishing house and Managing Director -- he oversaw the fate of our paper for 32 years. We have lost a shrewd counselor, a reliable companion and a good friend. We will miss Helmut Schmidt terribly."

Schmidt’s influence on German politics is almost unmatched, initially as senator in the Hamburg city-state government and then as a federal cabinet member before becoming chancellor. He gained his reputation for pragmatism and for being a successful crisis manager as Hamburg interior minister by organizing relief measures during the massive 1962 Hamburg floods: Even absent constitutional authority, he requested the help of helicopters from the German military and from the Royal Air Force to rescue people in the disaster zone.

Four years later, he joined Social Democratic Party (SPD) head Willy Brandt in the formation of Germany’s first "Grand Coalition," pairing the SPD with the center-right Christian Democrats. In 1967, Schmidt became SPD floor leader in the Bundestag, Germany’s federal parliament. In 1969, Schmidt was tapped as defense minister in Brandt’s second cabinet, formed in coalition with the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP). Shortly before 1972 general elections, he took over leadership of the Finance Ministry and, temporarily, also that of the Economics Ministry.

When Brandt was forced to step down in 1974 after a close advisor of his was revealed to be an East German spy, in what became known as the Guillaume Affair, the SPD-FDP coalition elected Schmidt as chancellor.  - Read More at Die Zeit
Former German Chancellor: Helmut Schmidt has passed away 

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