Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to pay my respects to a man of his times, a man of his century, who passed away on 10 November at the age of 96 in his home in Hamburg: the former Chancellor of West Germany, Helmut Schmidt, a man who became Chancellor of West Germany in a period that is known as 'the between times'. After World War II, after the Nuremberg Trials and after the implementation of the Marshall Plan, which had determined the future course of the new state of West Germany, he was chancellor before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent reunification of Germany. At the time Schmidt became chancellor, internal terrorists known as the Red Army Faction were carrying out kidnappings and murders throughout West Germany. He was unwavering—indeed uncompromising—in his stance against the Red Army Faction. It was his determination and his resolve and realpolitik that saw him become the chancellor that guided Germany through this terrible time known as the German Autumn.

Schmidt was born in Hamburg in 1918. His father, Gustav, was the illegitimate son of a Jewish banker and a German waitress, who was secretly adopted out after his birth—a secret that was not spoken about for many years within the Schmidt family. Young Helmut witnessed his father's anxiety about being half-Jewish at the time when the Nazis came to power and the Nuremberg laws were in full force. Helmut, even then, had nothing but contempt for the Nazis and was unable to hide it, being demoted within the ranks of the Hitler Youth. He served on the eastern front and married his childhood sweetheart Hannelore Glaser, affectionately known as Loki, in 1942.

After the war, he joined the Social Democratic Party. He was elected to the Bundestag in 1953, but gave it up in 1962 to concentrate on his role as senator for the interior for the state of Hamburg. In this role, the public first saw the determination that he would later become known for.

The Elbe River flooded in 1962; 315 people drowned in the river, and the river kept rising. Without blinking, Schmidt deployed the armed forces and the federal police in a rescue mission, at a time when it was unconstitutional to do so. But Schmidt was undeterred—even telling the mayor of Hamburg to leave, as he was 'getting in the way'. Thousands of people's lives were saved, and Schmidt became known as a 'Macher'—someone who gets something done.

When Willy Brandt was forced to resign in 1974, due to an espionage scandal planted by the East Germans, the choice for the new Chancellor was obvious. Unlike his romantic, idealistic predecessor, Brandt, Schmidt embodied Realpolitik. He was prepared to be at odds with his own party and the sentiments of the German people. He enraged civil libertarians with some of his policies, but, as the Red Army Faction threatened the security of Germany, Schmidt had little regard for what they thought, and he acted in the public interest. He was a secure, safe leader who led a prosperous Germany.

Schmidt was dismissive of cries from the political left and the greens who claimed that actions against the terrorists were a loss of civil liberties. I can say to everyone in this chamber: the more things change, the more they stay the same!

Schmidt was a person who acted very firmly against the hijacking of a Lufthansa airline in 1977. He was applauded globally for his actions. He refused to negotiate with terrorists.

After being re-elected in 1980, he became concerned at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Never one to underestimate the power of the Russians, he allowed NATO to deploy nuclear missiles on German soil—a decision that was deeply unpopular at home. But, again, Schmidt was not alarmed by the 400,000 protesters. He was unwavering in his belief that he must protect Germany from within and without.

Schmidt, seeing the economy stagnating in his time, helped found new global economic summits. The first G6 summit took place in Germany in November 1975.

In 1982, his chancellorship came to an end. He then wrote and published books every year until his death, sharing his thoughts and perspectives on China, Russia, the Middle East and Germany. In his last book, What I Still Wanted to Say, published just last year when he was 95, Schmidt names his role models—people who inspired him, and not just him but their times and their generation. One of these role models was the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Schmidt tells in his book that there was always a small model of Marcus Aurelius upon his horse, modelled on the original by Michelangelo, that he kept on his desk both at home and in his office in Bonn. Marcus Aurelius stood for inner calmness, and the emperor on the horse was a reminder to Schmidt that he had to retain his calmness. Perhaps this was the secret to his determination and to the unwavering chancellorship that is now so admired for those traits.

In 2007, Germans voted him the best chancellor in the history of Germany, and in 2008 he was voted 'the coolest guy in Germany'—not bad for a man entering his 90s. Indeed, he was a man for his times— (Time expired)

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