Hartmut Soell, born in 1939, teaches as a professor of Modern History at Heidelberg University. For many years he belonged to Helmut Schmidt’s staff during his time as the leader of the SPD parliamentary party; Hartmut Soell himself was a member of the German Bundestag between 1980 and 1994. His publications include Fritz Erler. A Political Biography (1976) and The Young Wehner. Between Revolutionary Myth and Common Sense (1991). The first volume of his big Helmut Schmidt biography was published in 2003.