Hubertus Hoffmann

Hubertus Hoffmann (left) and Johannes Rau (2000)

Hubertus Georg Hoffmann (* 1955 in Göttingen ) is a German lawyer , investor and founder of the international World Security Network Foundation and the Codes of Tolerance initiative . Before that he worked as a journalist and media manager.

Life

Hoffmann served in the artillery force of the Bundeswehr and is a reserve officer . After graduating from high school in Goslar , Hoffmann studied law , political science and modern history at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University in Bonn with scholarships from the Konrad-Adenauer- and Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung . He completed his studies with the second state examination in law. In 1985 he was with Karl Dietrich Bracher at the University of Bonn with the dissertation The atomic partners Washington - Bonn and the modernization of tactical nuclear weapons. Prehistory and management of the neutron weapon and the double decision of NATO to become Dr. phil. (“ Summa cum laude ”) doctorate.

From 1978 to 1983 he was assistant to the Bundestag member Peter Kurt Würzbach ( CDU , Würzbach was Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Defense Manfred Wörner from 1982 ) in the German Bundestag in Bonn and from 1983 to 1988 he was an assistant to the MEP Hans-Gert Pöttering (CDU), the later President of the European Parliament, in Brussels. From 1986 to 1988 Hoffmann was councilor in his hometown of Goslar , and for ten years he headed the CDU's committee for foreign, security, European and German policy in Lower Saxony .

As a student in the US Senate in 1979, he worked in the offices of Senators Sam Nunn ( Democrats ) and Gary Hart (Democrats) and in May of this year in Bonn and Washington, DC, on behalf of Peter Kurt Würzbach, he wrote a 162-page report “Armament and Disarmament in the Euronuclear Sphere ”, in which the deployment of Pershing II and cruise missiles as a counterweight to the Soviet medium-range missiles SS-20 and a zero arms control policy solution was promoted. Hoffmann is a co-founder of the Datteln appeal for a zero solution in Europe.

In 1983/84 he was a Research Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) at Georgetown University in Washington, DC In 1984 he initiated the German-American exchange program for reserve officers . He was also a member of the Executive Committee of the Interallied Confederation of Reserve Officers (CIOR). In 1985 he was co-author of the EU Parliament's report on Afghanistan . In 1989, during the visit of Chancellor Helmut Kohl to Poland, he founded the Silesian Farmers' Association . In 1992, as chairman of the Baltic study group of the Eesti Comitee of Tunne Kelam, he presented the vision of a new Hanseatic Baltic region including the Kaliningrad Oblast .

Work as a journalist, media manager and investor

Hoffmann worked from 1988 to 1990 as an editor in the editor-in-chief of ZDF , including in heute-journal (1988–1990), as general representative of the private radio division of the Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group (1990–1993) and then until 1995 as managing director for new media the Burda publishing group .

In 1996 Hoffmann founded New Media Digital GmbH and brought it to Loewe-Opta GmbH , which he restructured as a member of the board and co-partner, introduced the first Internet television set, Xelox Media, in 1998 and brought Loewe to the stock exchange. He bought back his internet company and listed it seven months later as the InternetMediaHouse. Schitag Ernst & Young , SAP and Manager Magazin honored him as “Finalist German Entrepreneur of the Year 1998” for his contribution to growth and innovation as a member of the Management Board at Loewe .

With his new investment company , he successfully defended Beiersdorf AG in 2001 against the hostile takeover attempt by Procter & Gamble ("Hamburg solution"), then founded the General Capital Group (GCG) with US hedge funds , which from 2005 to 2007 more than three billion Invested in German companies such as Volkswagen , Siemens , BASF and Lanxess . Since then, Hoffmann has invested in various companies at home and abroad with different partners. In the internet area he is active with ExportNow.com in Shanghai.

Journalistic contributions

He has written two biographies about his long-time mentor Fritz GA Kraemer : Fritz Kraemer on Excellence. Missionary, Mentor and Pentagon Strategist (New York 2004) and True Keeper of the Holy Flame. The Legacy of Pentagon Strategist and Mentor Dr. Fritz Kraemer (London / Berlin 2012) with contributions by Alexander Haig , Henry Kissinger , Donald Rumsfeld , Friedrich Merz , Vernon Walters and Klaus Naumann .

Honors

In 1981 he received a sponsorship award from the city of Goslar for his journalistic work (laudation: Lieutenant General retired Johannes Steinhoff ). In October 2000, then Federal President Johannes Rau awarded Hoffmann the Federal Cross of Merit for the “development of digital media in Germany” and “innovative business ideas”. In 2002 he received the "Bismarck Medal in Silver with Golden Oak Leaves" from Prince Ferdinand von Bismarck .

Fonts (selection)

• Nuclear war - nuclear peace. Technology, strategy, disarmament . Bernard & Graefe, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-7637-5190-4 .
• The Washington-Bonn nuclear partners and the modernization of tactical nuclear weapons. Prehistory and management of the neutron weapon and the double decision of NATO . Bernard & Graefe, Koblenz 1986, ISBN 3-7637-5477-6 .
• True Keeper of the Holy Flame. The Legacy of Pentagon Strategist and Mentor Dr Fritz Kraemer. A World Security Network Foundation publication . 2nd edition, Verlag Inspiration Un Limited, London u. a. 2012, ISBN 978-3-9812110-5-4 .
• Codes of tolerance. A guide for do-gooders and pessimists, devout believers and free spirits . Herder, Freiburg / Breisgau 2014, 464 pages, ISBN 978-3-451-33373-6

Web links

• Literature by and about Hubertus Hoffmann in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Hubertus Hoffmann  in the German Digital Library
• Search for "Hubertus Hoffmann" in the SPK digital portal of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
• Hubertus Hoffmann at the World Security Network (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ computerwoche.de ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.