100th Birthday of Helmut Schmidt

Helmut Schmidt in his characteristic pose, deep in conversation. In a semicircle to the upper right, his name 'HELMUT SCHMIDT', with the dates '1918–2015' to the right below. The mint mark of the relevant mint appears beneath the dates. To the left, the country code 'D' with the year of issue '2018' below. The artist's initials appear at the very bottom.

Helmut Schmidt ranks among the most pragmatic heads of government in postwar German history. As Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1974 to 1982, he steered the country through a period of economic turbulence - the oil crisis, stagnating growth, rising inflation - and earned a reputation as a sober crisis manager. His decision to back NATO's 1979 Double-Track Decision split his own party and ultimately cost him the chancellorship; today many historians view it as a key contribution to the security stabilisation of Western Europe. Schmidt was not only a politician but also a skilled expert on economic and monetary affairs - he was among the co-founders of the world economic summit and helped drive forward the idea of a European monetary order that later found its fulfilment in the eurozone.

After leaving the chancellery, Schmidt remained for decades one of the most listened-to voices in German public life, above all as co-publisher of the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit". He commented on financial crises, European policy and global shifts in power with a directness that earned him respect far beyond party lines. Born on 23 December 1918 in Hamburg, he died there on 10 November 2015 - a Hamburg biography closely interwoven with the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Germany honoured him in 2018, on the occasion of his hundredth birthday, with a 2-euro commemorative coin.