Editing Helmut Schmidt (section)

== Background, family, early life and education ==
Helmut Schmidt was the elder of two sons to Ludovica Koch (10 November 1890 – 29 November 1968) and Gustav Ludwig Schmidt (18 April 1888 – 26 March 1981) in [[Barmbek]], a working-class district of [[Hamburg]], in 1918.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wargs.com/royal/laborde.html |title=Ancestry of Henri de Laborde de Monpezat |publisher=Wargs |access-date=2013-09-10}}</ref> Schmidt studied at Hamburg Lichtwark School, graduating in 1937.<ref name="Lebendiges Museum Online">{{cite web|title=Helmut Schmidt geb. 1918|url=https://www.hdg.de/lemo/biografie/helmut-schmidt.html|website=Lebendiges Museum Online|publisher=Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland|access-date=2015-11-10|language=de}}</ref> Schmidt's father was born the biological son of a [[German Jew]]ish banker, Ludwig Gumpel, and a Christian waitress, Friederike Wenzel,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/spiegelspecial/d-28731611.html|title=Sachbücher: Kleiner, großer Mann mit Mütze|work=[[Der Spiegel]]|access-date=2015-11-10|archive-date=2015-11-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117031348/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/spiegelspecial/d-28731611.html}}</ref> and then covertly adopted, although this was kept a family secret for many years.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lehrer |first=Steven |title=Wannsee house and the Holocaust |date=2000 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-0792-7 |page=74}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Told French President of Jewish Origins – Helmut Schmidt's Revelation Reported |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-02-25-mn-45342-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=1988-02-25 |access-date=2009-09-25}}</ref> This was confirmed publicly by Schmidt in 1984, after [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]] revealed the fact to journalists, apparently with Schmidt's assent. Helmut Schmidt was a non-practising [[Protestantism|Protestant]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Walter|first1=Franz|title=Helmut Schmidt: Der deutsche Krisen-Kanzler|url=http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/helmut-schmidt-der-deutsche-krisen-kanzler-a-456933.html|work=Der Spiegel|access-date=2015-11-10|language=de|date=2006-12-31}}</ref>

Schmidt was a group leader (Scharführer) in the [[Hitler Youth]] organisation until 1936, when he was demoted and sent on leave because of his anti-Nazi views.<ref>{{cite book |title=Sozialisation in der Hitlerjugend |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=46bwcjzoZ-UC&pg=PA87 |last=Janzyk |first=Stephan |page=87 |language=de |access-date=2013-12-12 |isbn=978-3-8428-9555-3 |date=April 2013| publisher=Diplomica Verlag }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/news/obituary/21678156-social-democrat-chancellor-west-germany-died-november-10th-helmut-schmidt-has-died |title=Helmut Schmidt has died, aged 96 |newspaper=The Economist |date=2015-11-10}}</ref> However, documents from 1942 praise his "Impeccable national socialist [Nazi] behaviour", and in 1944 his superiors mentioned that Schmidt "stands the ground of national socialist ideology, knowing that he must pass it on."<ref>{{cite book |title=Helmut Schmidt und der Scheißkrieg: die Biografie 1918 bis 1945 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VunjoAEACAAJ |last=Pamperrien |first=Sabine |language=de |access-date=2017-01-05 |isbn=978-3-492-05677-9 |date=2014| publisher=Piper}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Was Helmut Schmidt an 'impeccable Nazi'? |url=https://www.thelocal.de/20141202/was-helmut-schmidt-an-impeccable-nazi |work=The Local |date=2014-12-02 |access-date=2017-01-06}}</ref> On 27 June 1942, he married his childhood sweetheart [[Loki Schmidt|Hannelore "Loki" Glaser]] (3 March 1919 – 21 October 2010). They had two children: Helmut Walter (26 June 1944 – 19 February 1945, died of meningitis), and {{ill|Susanne Schmidt (journalist)|de|Susanne Schmidt (Journalistin)|lt=Susanne}} (born 8 May 1947), who works in London for [[Bloomberg Television]].<ref name=seitensprung>{{cite news|title=Ich hatte eine Beziehung zu einer anderen Frau|url=https://www.welt.de/vermischtes/article138051616/Ich-hatte-eine-Beziehung-zu-einer-anderen-Frau.html|work=Die Welt|access-date=2015-11-10|language=de|date=2015-03-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Gerwien |first1=Tilman |last2=Schönfeld |first2=Gerda-Marie |title=Helmut Schmidts Tochter Susanne: Kein Platz für Befindlichkeiten |url=http://www.stern.de/politik/deutschland/helmut-schmidts-tochter-susanne-kein-platz-fuer-befindlichkeiten-3739476.html |work=Stern |access-date=2015-11-10 |language=de |date=2008-12-23}}</ref> Schmidt resumed his education in Hamburg after the war, graduating in economics and political science in 1949.<ref name="Lebendiges Museum Online"/>