Double honour

As defence minister, Schmidt initiates the establishment of the military’s own universities in Hamburg and Munich in 1972. In addition to providing relevant specialist qualifications, the aim is to contribute to the comprehensive political education of the »citizens in uniform«. Critical voices from academia and the political left call for the military to be integrated into the traditional academic system instead. But teaching begins the following year, at a barracks complex in Jenfeld. On the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary in 2003, the then defence minister Peter Struck (SPD) announces the institution will be officially renamed the »Helmut Schmidt University of the Federal Armed Forces«. An honorary doctorate is then awarded to its founding father.