helmut schmidt, the elder world statesman: chancellor

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Introduction

OnthemorningofTuesday,10November,HelmutHeinrichWaldemarSchmidtpassedawayattheageof96inhishomeinHamburg,Germany.Evenuptohisfinaldays,heremained an interested, informed, and provocative commentator on current events.WhilecriticallyseenduringhistermasGermanchancellorbetween1974and1982,hegained considerable esteem after his chancellorship and was recently voted‘Germany’scoolestman’.Althoughhischancellorshipwasnotassociatedwithanyofthe threshold events of German history – unlike his predecessor Willy Brandt’spolicyofOstpolitikandhissuccessorHelmutKohl’sluckinbeingthechancellorofunification – Helmut Schmidt nevertheless left his mark on German, European, andglobal events. His legacies are not only the images of an elderly man wilfullyignoringthesmokingbaninpublicplaces,butalsothesummitdiplomacythatstillmarks international politics today, Germany’s rigid policy of not giving in toterrorist demands, current financial European integration, and his contributionstowards a more positive global view of Germany as a reliable democracy after thehorrorsofWorldWarII.

Theearlyyears

Helmut Schmidt was born to a lower middle class family in Hamburg in 1918, amonth after the end of World War I. Like many of his contemporaries, he wasintriguedbythepromisesofcomradeshipandadventureoftheHitlerYouth,whichhejoined and then left in the mid-1930s. According to his own statements, hisflirtationwithNationalSocialismcametoanendwhenhismotherrevealedtohimthathehadaJewishgrandfather,afactSchmidt’sfathermanagedtohidefromtheauthoritiesuntiltheendoftheThirdReich.AtthebeginningoftheSecondWorldWar,SchmidtwasdraftedintotheWehrmachtandservedintheeasternandwesterntheatresofwar,amongothers.Attheendofthewar,SchmidtwasarrestedbytheBritishandheldinaprisonerofwarcamp,untilhisreleaseinlateAugust1945.Upon his return to civilian life, Schmidt studied economics and started hispoliticalcareerfortheSocialDemocraticParty(SPD)inHamburg.

Helmut Schmidt, the Elder World Statesman: Chancellor, Commentator, and Cigarette-Lover

BernhardBlumenau*


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ThemanwhothrivedincrisesFrom1953to1962andthenagainfrom1965to1987,Schmidtwasamemberofthe

West German parliament, the Bundestag. From 1961 to 1965 he had a short yetimportantroleassenator(read:minister)fortheinteriorinHamburg.Itwasherethat Schmidt’s reputation as a crisis manager was first established. During thedreadful flood of 1962, Schmidt assumed control of the local police and firebrigades and integrated them into the rescue efforts, in conjunction with – in afashion that was legally speaking anti-constitutional at the time – the federalarmy.HisresolutehandlingofthecrisisrecommendedhimformorenotablejobsinBonn,thecapital.

During the first grand coalition of Social Democrats and Christian Democrats

that ruled the country between 1966 and 1969, Schmidt led the SPD parliamentarygroup, a challenging position in a coalition government. He managed, however, tokeepthegovernmenttogetherandwasrewardedforthiswhentheSPDwontheelectionin1969ledbyWillyBrandt.SchmidtwasgiventhepostofFirstMinisterofDefenceand then, in 1972, he became the Minister of Finance. He gained respect in bothpositions by introducing a fundamental reform of the armed forces and by dealingefficiently with the oil crisis. When Willy Brandt had to step down from thechancellorshipin1974–afteritwasrevealedthatoneofhisclosestaides,GünterGuillaume, was an East German spy – it was Helmut Schmidt who succeeded him inoffice.

Schmidt'schancellorshipwasmarkedbythreeimportantchallenges:theeconomic

crisisofthe1970s,domesticandinternationalterrorism,andtheNATODouble-TrackDecision of 1979. Schmidt successfully navigated Germany through the turmoil ofglobalrecessionand,togetherwithhisFrenchcounterpartandfriendValéryGiscardd’Estaing,laidthegroundworknotonlyforanintegratedEuropeancurrencythroughtheEuropeanMonetarySystembutalsoforglobalmacro-economiccoordinationoftheeconomicpowersbymeansoftheG7summits.

When the Federal Republic encountered the worst excesses of domestic and

international terrorism, committed by the Red Army Faction (RAF) and theirPalestinian comrades, in the mid- to late 1970s, it was Chancellor Schmidt whodecidedtotakeahard-lineapproachtoterrorism,whichhadasitsbasicprinciplethe conviction that the government would not give in to the political demands ofterrorists. This policy was highly controversial especially in the midst of the‘GermanAutumn’of1977whentheindustrialistHannsMartinSchleyerwaskidnappedby terrorists and a Lufthansa jet was hijacked with roughly 90 people on board.Schmidtdecidedthattheterroristdemandswouldnotbemetandinsteadorderedthatacommandooperation,executedbythecounterterrorismunitGSG9,becarriedouttofreetheplaneinMogadishu.YetinresponsetothesuccessfulGSG9operation,theRAFkilledSchleyer.Schmidtlatersaidthatthismadehimfeelguilty,butthathe


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ultimately did not regret the decision to end the hijacking crisis by means of acommandooperation.TheGermansrewardedhimforthiscrisismanagementandintheimmediateaftermathofthe‘GermanAutumn’hehadthehighestpopularityratingsofany chancellor. The Mogadishu events also marked the turning point in Germanterrorism, which – while not disappearing until the early 1990s – never againreachedthesameintensity(orpopularsupport).

Thethirdchallenge,theissueofballisticnuclearmissilesinGermany,marked

Schmidt’sthirdlegacybutalsotheissuethatwouldcontributetohisfallin1982.FacedwithanincreaseinSovietmedium-andintermediaterangeballisticmissilesinEurope,SchmidtlobbiedNATOtomatchthisdevelopmentthroughthedeploymentofnewAmericannukesinEurope(mostlyonGermansoil).Intheearsoftheemergingpeacemovement,aswellastheleftwingofhisownSPDparty,thiswasanunpopulardecision.SchmidtfearedthatWesternweaknessregardingthesemissilesmightmakea–limited–nuclearwarinEuropemorelikely,especiallyastheAmericancommitmentto the nuclear defence of Europe might weaken if there was the possibility thatnuclear war could be limited to Europe (the Soviets kept their inter-continentalnuclear arsenal at the same level and thus did not pose an aggravated threat toAmerica).Consequently,fromaEuropeanperspective,tomaintainMAD–theconceptofMutuallyAssuredDestruction–theWestwouldhavetofollowsuitandupgradeitsnuclearintermediatemissilesinEuropetoonceagainbalancethesituation.Schmidtadvocated this policy and it was finally implemented in 1979. While there was anegotiationelementtothestrategy–theWestgavetheWarsawPacttheoptiontoreduceitsnuclearballisticsystemsandwouldonlydeploythePershingIImissilesiftheSovietsfailedtooblige–Schmidtwasaccusedofbeingawarmongerandofriskingdétente.Quitetheoppositeistrue,however.Facedwithgrowingsuperpowertensionsinthelate1970sandearly1980s,thechancellorsuccessfullymanagedtokeepEuropeanandGermandétente,andthusOstpolitik,alive.

Hewasnotassuccessfulineconomicanddomesticterms:wheneconomicproblems

in the early 1980s worsened, Schmidt decided against severe economic and welfarereforms and thus lost the support of his liberal coalition partner, the FDP.Publically damaged by the Double-Track debates, and facing a continuing loss ofsupport from his own party, in addition to new economic challenges and thewithdrawalofhiscoalitionpartnerfromthegovernment,Schmidtfacedavoteofno-confidencein1982–andlost.TheFDPhadchangedcampsandsupportedtheChristianDemocrat Helmut Kohl, who succeeded Schmidt in office. It was the first time inGerman history that a chancellor was ousted by a vote of no-confidence. The SPDwould remain in opposition for 16 years until Schmidt’s self-proclaimed politicalheir(althoughquitefierceopponentinthe1970sandearly1980s)GerhardSchröderwonbackthechancellorshipforthesocialdemocratsin1998.

Retiredchancellor,activecommentator


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HistorycanbeunpredictableandespeciallysointhecaseofHelmutSchmidt:heonlyobtainedahighlevelofpopularityandrespectfromtheGermanpopulationoncehe was a retired politician, not during his chancellorship. He remained inParliamentuntil1987,buthadalreadyjoinedtheeditorialboardoftheweeklyDieZeit in 1983, a position he held until his death. From his Hamburg office heremainedacriticalobserverofdomesticandinternationalpoliticsandmaintainedhis network with other elder statesmen such as Gerald Ford, Henry Kissinger,Giscard,butalsoacademicssuchasthehistorianFritzStern.Hiscriticalvoice,normallycomingoutofacloudofcigarettesmoke,remainedaconstantphenomenoninGermanmediaandcontributedtohisalmostpopstar-likepopularityamongallstrataof the German population (and beyond). He published scores of books, continued towrite articles, and despite the death of his wife of 68 years, Loki, in 2010,remainedapublicfigure.HelmutSchmidt’slegacies

WhatremainsofHelmutSchmidt?Hewasjudgedanaveragechancelloratthetime

and none of the significant political ruptures in German post-war history arerelated to his name. Maybe that was his biggest legacy: in times of crisis heprovidedstability,reliability,andafeelingofsecuritytotheGermans.Throughhishandlingofterrorism,hepassedthelitmustestfortheGermandemocracyandindeed for the rule of law in the country that still bore the stigma of NationalSocialism.Whilehewaspreparedtogotothelimitsofwhatwaslegallyallowedindealing with terrorism, he would not go beyond the constitutional barriers – ademandthatwasoftenraisedbyothersinthe1970s.HeprovedtotheGermansandtheirneighboursthataseverecrisiscouldbedealtwithfromwithintheexistinglegal framework and that there was no need to resort to other solutions. One canonly hope that contemporary decision makers will follow this approach in theirdealingswithterrorism.Likewise,hesteeredtheGermansthroughthestormydaysoftheglobalrecessioninthe1970s.Afterthesocialupheavalsofthelate1960s–‘1968’servesasasymbolforthat–andtheeconomicallytroublesomedaysoftheend of the Bretton Woods gold-based system coupled with the oil crisis, SchmidtallowedtheGermanstocalmdownandsettleintothenewera.Hedidnotimposenewsignificantreformsonhisfellowmenandwomen.Yet,especiallytheendofhistermwasmarkedbynewuproarscausedbytheanti-nuclearenergyandpeacemovements.Inthe collective memory of the German people, however, Schmidt will most certainlyremainthechancellorthatcontainedterrorism.

Thenagain,Schmidtalsolefthismarkoninternationalpolitics,throughtheG7

summits, for instance, which were an attempt to bring world leaders together, ininformalsettings,tohavethemdiscussand(ideally)resolvesomeofthepressingissues for the global economy, and progressively also, global politics at large.Thisideaofsummitmeetingswassuccessfulandcontinues,invariousshapes,today.


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ThroughhisleadershiproleintheG7process,theNATODouble-Trackdecision,as well as, for instance, in fields such as antiterrorism policies at the UN,Schmidt (re-)established Germany’s position as an important, influential, andrespectedequalamongsttheleadingpowersintheworld.HeledGermanyintoanew,moreindependentandmoregloballyactiveera.

In his later years, his comments on current affairs offered informed and

thought-provoking, albeit often controversial, analysis of current policies andproblems.Althoughtheywerenot–andcouldnot–alwaysbetakenintoaccount(itis the advantage of an elder statesmen that he does not have to pay too muchattentiontoopinionpolls,nationalinterests,maintainingfriendlyrelationswithvarious states, and other aspects that put their limitations on the conduct ofpolitics),theycertainlyoffereddifferentperspectivestodecisionmakersandtheinformed public. While he was an important political leader during his activepoliticalcareer,hisreputationasanelderworldstatesmanonlyemergedafterheleftoffice.

HelmutSchmidtofferedstabilityinturbulenttimes,bothaschancellorandasa

political commentator afterwards; but his actual political legacy in terms ofconcreteeventsandoutcomesremainsmodestincomparisonwithhispredecessorandsuccessor. Nevertheless, his critical, informed, and contentious voice willcertainlybemissed–andprobably(andsecretly)evenhisnotoriouscigarettes.

*DrBernhardBlumenau,LecturerinInternationalRelationsCentrefortheStudyof

TerrorismandPoliticalViolence,UniversityofStAndrews


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helmut schmidt, the elder world statesman: chancellor

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