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Former W. German Chancellor Schmidt dies at 96
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FORMER West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt was one of the founding fathers of the euro but will probably be best remembered for his tough stance against the far-left Red Army Faction guerrillas whose kidnapping and murder campaign terrorized the country over three decades.
Schmidt, who died yesterday aged 96, was West Germany’s second centre-left Social Democrat chancellor from 1974 to 1982 after serving as finance minister from 1972 to 1974.
More popular as an elder statesman than he had been as chancellor, in later life he became a frequent guest on talk shows, opining on world affairs through a thick cloud of cigarette smoke.
This year he shocked Germans, however, by admitting that he had an extra-marital affair decades earlier.
As chancellor, Schmidt extended West Germany’s influence in NATO and Europe as he balanced close ties with the United States.
As finance minister, Schmidt steered West Germany through a series of global currency crises caused by a weakened dollar and the first oil price explosion. He became chancellor after Willy Brandt resigned when a close aide was unmasked as a Communist East German spy.
Under his stewardship, West Germany continued to enjoy the ‘Economic Miracle’ and reap the rewards of rebuilding an economy shattered by World War II but the situation deteriorated during his time in office and he tried to make modest welfare cuts.
Many will remember him best for his handling of the left-wing RAF urban guerrillas, whose assault on the political and business establishment peaked in the “Deutsche Herbst” (German Autumn) of 1977 when the group kidnapped Employers’ Federation head Hanns-Martin Schleyer to demand the release from prison of several RAF members.
In a coordinated action, Palestinian militants seized a Lufthansa passenger jet flying to Frankfurt. Under Schmidt’s orders, German police commandos stormed the plane on the tarmac in Mogadishu, Somalia, and freed the hostages.
Schmidt was married for 68 years to his childhood sweetheart Loki. He often publicly professed his love for his wife but revealed in March that he had a mistress many decades ago. In the late 1960s or early 1970s Loki offered him a separation over it, but he dismissed the idea as ‘absurd.’
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