Theo Sommer

Theo Sommer (10 June 1930 – 22 August 2022) was a German newspaper editor and intellectual. He began working for Die Zeit in 1958, rising to an editor-in-chief and publisher. His editorials for Die Zeit shaped the paper's social-liberal attitude. He advocated the policy of détente with the Eastern bloc states (Entspannungspolitik). From 1992, Sommer was publisher of Die Zeit, together with Marion Dönhoff and Helmut Schmidt. He was considered one of Germany's authorities on international relations and strategic issues.

Life and career Born in Konstanz, Republic of Baden, on 10 June 1930, Sommer grew up in Schwäbisch Gmünd and was educated at the National Political Institutes of Education in Sonthofen. He was drafted into the Volkssturm in 1945. After World War II, he found out about the lies and atrocities of the Nazi regime, primarily by following the Nuremberg trials and reading Eugen Kogon's book . He began his career as a journalist with the , a local paper in Schwäbisch Gmünd. He became deputy editor-in chief in 1968, and editor-in-chief in 1973. He took a break from the paper in 1969 and 1970 to work for the Federal Ministry of Defence, for the "White Paper" (Weißbuch) of the Bundeswehr, joining the planning staff of then-minister Helmut Schmidt. His editorials for Die Zeit in the 1970s shaped the paper's social-liberal attitude, and supported the policy of détente with the Eastern bloc states (Entspannungspolitik). For decades, Sommer encouraged tolerance and Western support for East Germany. From 1992, Sommer was publisher of Die Zeit, together with Marion Dönhoff and Helmut Schmidt. He retired from the position in 2000, but kept writing for the paper as an editor-at-large.

Sommer was a member of the Trilateral Commission, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and of the German advisory committee of the German Marshall Fund. He was a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group.

Sommer died in Hamburg on 22 August 2022, at the age of 92. He did not recover from a fall at his home, which had left him in pain. 1998: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 2002: Bundeswehr Cross of Honour in Gold