ARCHIV - 03.06.2015, Hamburg: Theo Sommer, Journalist und ehemaliger Chefredakteur der Wochenzeitung "Die Zeit", sitzt in seinem Büro. Sommer ist im Alter von 92 Jahren in Hamburg gestorben. (zu dpa «Früherer «Zeit»-Herausgeber Theo Sommer gestorben») Foto: picture alliance / dpa +++ dpa-Bildfunk +++

He was one of the most important journalists of his generation; one restricts oneself to print journalism, perhaps the most important. Theo Sommer was editor-in-chief of “Zeit” for almost twenty years and its publisher for almost ten years in a row. Then he continued under the somewhat exotic title of Editor-at-Large – but for the authority he represented in the world of German political journalism, this impressive career only provided the framework.

Because Sommer was, all in all, a great newspaper man and publicist, an outstanding figure in public life in the young and still middle Federal Republic.

It is probably more than an anecdotal footnote to his biography that Sommer, as an adolescent, was caught up in the last convulsions of the Third Reich – as a 14-year-old student of Adolf Hitler, a werewolf aspirant and generally as a prototype of the seduced youthful fanatics, in which the German wrong way exemplified itself eerily. He survived and was one of those who took the chances of a new beginning with passion.

The son of an officer seriously wounded in World War II in Africa, he completed his studies in the United States and in Tübingen. The local editorial office of the Rems-Zeitung in Schwäbisch-Gmünd was his first address as a journalist, then the path to national journalism opened up for him – at the time in Hamburg, to which he remained loyal for over fifty years.

Under the wing of Marion Countess Dönhoff, the most important figure in the early days of Die Zeit, Sommer was one of the young people who led the paper to the top ranks of the German press landscape that was just developing at the time. He was the outstanding voice of talents who gave the paper an unmistakable profile at the time – the Bonn correspondent Rolf Zundel, the features editor Rudolf Walter Leonhard and the reporter Nina Grunenberg.

Thus Die Zeit became the liberal flagship of the republic that was evolving from the Adenauer years. So it was logical that Sommer became editor-in-chief when the Countess withdrew to the role of editor in 1973.

Thanks to his efforts, the “Zeit” became a forum in the German newspaper forest, which was rather sparsely equipped with foreign policy. With lust and a sack full of knowledge filled by his indomitable curiosity, he tirelessly surfed through the depths and shoals of world politics.

And he travelled: the editorial staff got the impression that Sommer always came back from a conference. Essentially, he remained a “mid-Atlantic man,” as the Guardian once called him.

But the journalist also had a tireless observer of Eastern and German politics, a major topic in German politics at the time. “Thinking about Germany” was the name of an anthology he edited in the mid-1960s, and it was also thanks to him that in “Die Zeit” Germany policy was always being considered and Germany debated, even if the consequences occasionally were questionable.

Theo Sommer was always a great newspaper editor. Conferences with him were never boring, but full of wit and esprit. But even in this role it was the author who impressed with his liberality and temperament.

No one laid the major tangents to political events as he did, swept the material so brilliantly into catchy theses, witted it and formulated it with power – and the connoisseur could also savor a touch of educated middle-class in them, which in the leading article of Caesar, Napoleon or Bismarck made her appearance. His editor-in-chief’s annual accounts had an avid audience because they breathed new life into an old-fashioned form.

Certainly one could occasionally enjoy himself when he spun the big wheel of metaphors too energetically. But what did that matter: Where others struggled to find words, he had the abundance. And: Sommer was not a child of sadness. He lived life to the fullest, sporty, adventurous, right up until his last years.

A life without stains? Yes, there was a case in his later years for untaxed fees, but it was more sloppiness than intent.

He retained his admirable presence into old age, also as an author – the old summer sound, which had fascinated generations of readers, remained fresh and gripping, despite the years. To the end he remained the tireless worker he had always been. The last major book, a new change of perspective by the 90-year-old, was about China.

The autobiography, thank God, just finished, is with the publisher. A fall shortened a life that could have lasted several years. As a result, Theo Sommer died on August 22, 2022.