»Inspiration and driving force«

As a new co-editor of DIE ZEIT the former Chancellor also becomes a member of the board of trustees for the Foundation with the same name. The Foundation focuses on science, along with education, art and culture. Projects overseen by Schmidt include the establishment of a private law school, which opens its doors to students in October 2000. Some years later, Schmidt celebrates his 90th birthday here with two friends who are also elder statesmen: the former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and the former French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. The main lecture theatre is renamed to the »Helmut Schmidt Auditorium« on 10 November 2016, the first anniversary of Schmidt’s death.