Ambitious department head

At the end of 1952, Schmidt is appointed as Head of the Department for Transport; his manager is Senator Karl Schiller (SPD), one of his academic tutors and later a fellow minister in Bonn. Against the backdrop of a divided Germany that is becoming more permanent, a priority is to reorganise Hamburg’s connections with motorway and railway networks. Other important aims include rebuilding port facilities that were badly damaged in the war, as well as expanding the airport into a hub for flights to Scandinavia. As a traffic expert, Schmidt makes a name for himself in the German Bundestag, to which he is first elected in 1953. He also coordinates the editorial board for a compilation publication that is released in 1954, »Wegweiser durch die Verkehrswirtschaft und ihre Ordnung [A guide to the transport sector and its rules]«.