Former Bundesbank President Helmut Schlesinger has passed away. He had already died on Monday at the age of 100, the Central Bank announced on Friday.
Schlesinger was the Vice President of the German Bundesbank from 1980 to mid-1991 and then its President until the end of September 1993. He spent more than 41 years working for the Central Bank in total. “In his more than 41 years at the Bundesbank, he made a significant contribution to the D-Mark being one of the world’s most stable currencies and a stability anchor in the later European Monetary System” said Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel.
His efforts for a stable D-Mark had both recognition and criticism. He was, for example, referred to as a “Bavarian Prussian” or “inconvenient nagger” during his active time. As the President of the Bundesbank, the German Central Bank, with higher interest rates, resisted the price surge following German reunification. Its high-interest policy also faced criticism abroad. Many partner countries in the European Monetary System (EMS) held the German Central Bank responsible for the currency crises and devaluation rounds of the years 1992 and 1993. Schlesinger was replaced by Hans Tietmeyer in 1993 after reaching the retirement age.