On the occasion of the 95th birthday of Helmut Schmidt, West German Chancellor 19741982, his biographer Hartmut Soell, Professor of History at Heidelberg University and former member of the German Parliament (19801994), presents H. Schmidt as a Pioneer of International Economic and Financial Cooperation. Influenced by the catastrophes of the early 20th century (global economic crisis, dictatorship and war), Schmidt entered politics as a trained economist and was one of the most innovative policymakers from the 1960s to the 1980s. As minister of defense, economy and finance and as Chancellor he was able to implement many of his ideas for closer cooperation between Western industrial states on currency issues and energy policy during the 1970s. Together with French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing he launched the G7 summits in 1975 and his proposals for a European currency system (197879) paved the way for the European economic and currency union. As editor of Die Zeit, he would later become an influential commentator.

Compact biography of Helmut Schmidt by his chief biographer (available in English for the first time) Presents a selection of major texts on international economic and financial policy by German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt as a policymaker pioneering international economic and financial cooperation (1972-2007) Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext
Hartmut Soell, geboren 1939, lehrte als Professor für Neuere Geschichte an der Universität Heidelberg. Er war mehrere Jahre lang Mitarbeiter des damaligen SPD-Fraktionsvorsitzenden Helmut Schmidt und 1980 bis 1994 selbst Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestags.

Inhalt
From the Contents: Hartmut Soell: A Short Biography of Helmut Schmidt.- Major Publications by and on Helmut Schmidt.- Speech in Nairobi: World Currency Conference.- Washington Energy Conference.- The Energy Crisis A Challenge for the Western World.