Kurt Schmidt (diplomat)

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Kurt Schmidt (born March 6, 1918 in Berlin ; † January 12, 1989 in Munich ) was a German diplomat who was ambassador to Jamaica between 1968 and 1975 , ambassador to Madagascar from 1975 to 1978 and ambassador to Malta between 1978 and 1981 .

Life

In July 1968 Schmidt, who had been first class councilor in the Foreign Office in Bonn , succeeded Philipp Schmidt-Schlegel as ambassador in Jamaica . As such, he was also an ambassador to the to 1975 Bahamas accredited . In this capacity, he also signed an agreement to avoid double taxation on October 8, 1974, together with the Treasury Secretary of Jamaica, David Coore .

On July 7, 1975, Schmidt succeeded Alfred Vestring as ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Madagascar and also acted as ambassador to the Comoros and Mauritius . He held this office of ambassador until 1978 and was then replaced by Peter Scholz .

Schmidt then succeeded the retired Horst Hauthal Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Malta in 1978 . Shortly after taking office, he was called back to Germany in November 1978 to report after the Maltese government was on the list of Prime Ministers of Malta Dom Mintoff from the Partit Laburista because of the President of the Union of European Christian Democrats, the former Federal Minister of Defense and Bundestag President Kai-Uwe von Hassel allegedly defamatory statements about Malta had declared a "persona non grata" and prompted him to leave the island immediately. Von Hassel had previously stated that there were concerns that democracy could be undermined in Malta. The CDU chairman Helmut Kohl had suggested a protest note from the federal government and sharply criticized Malta's approach as undemocratic, as an act of arbitrariness and as a violation of international custom. Under Mintoff's government, Malta maintained close foreign policy relations not only with the then Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact member states , but also with the People's Republic of China , North Korea and, within the framework of the “common Mediterranean identity” propagated by him, also with Libya . Mintoff and Gaddafi emphasized the common Arab roots of both countries. As early as the 1970s, he advocated an independent Palestinian state . Schmidt remained on the post in Malta until 1981 and was then replaced by Eberhard Schmitt . During his tenure as ambassador he supported the work of the German-Maltese Circle, for example by organizing a film festival for German operas in the Republic Hall of the Mediterranean Conference Center in Valletta and the Catholic Institute in Floriana .

literature

  • Germany (West). Federal Ministry of Finance: Bulletin of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government, Deutscher Bundes-Verlag, Bonn, 1978, p. 568.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Occupation of a German diplomatic mission abroad (Cabinet minutes of July 31, 1968 in the Federal Archives )
  2. Ambassador visits Chamber of Commerce . In: Hamburger Abendblatt from January 16, 1970
  3. ^ German-Jamaican agreement to avoid double taxation of October 8, 1974
  4. Horst Möller, Gregor Schöllgen, Andreas Wirsching: Files on the Foreign Policy of the Federal Republic of Germany 1975 , 2006, p. 1910, ISBN 3-486-71812-6
  5. ^ Ambassador recalled. Kohl calls for a protest note to be sent to Malta . In: Hamburger Abendblatt from November 8, 1978
  6. ^ Time , online January 22, 1973
  7. Malta: Gaddafi's outpost in Europe? . In: Der Spiegel of March 26, 1979
  8. ^ History of the German-Maltese Circle