On 20 January 2023, Christian Schmidt, the High Representative of the International Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, visited our Foundation. Before his mandate in the Western Balkan country, he was a member of the German Bundestag for more than three decades and between 2008 and 2015 he held senior positions in Angela Merkel’s cabinet, including Minister of Defence and Minister of Agriculture.
We have presented him with a selection of his correspondence with Otto von Habsburg in our collection. Christian Schmidt elaborated on his relationship and experiences with our namesake. He even discovered a volume in our library, which he himself had given to the last heir to the Hungarian throne. Afterwards, the High Representative was also shown the former Crown Prince’s correspondence with former Bavarian Prime Minister Franz Josef Strauß and former US Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, which provided valuable and interesting insights into the political history of the global Cold War. Our guest, along with the American politician, who celebrates his 100th birthday this year, is a native of Fürth, Franconia, briefly recalled his meetings with the Nixon-era foreign policy chief and the impressions he gained from them.
Prior to his visit, the High Representative participated in a private discussion at the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade. Then he spoke at the University of Public Service in a panel discussion on the situation in Bosnia and the Western Balkans and the prospects and opportunities for European integration in the company of Tibor Navracsics, Minister for Regional Development, and Márton Ugrósdy, Deputy State Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office.
