Committed to Peace - First Biography of Baudissin Published

Professor (apl.) Dr Dagmar Bussiek

As the founding director of the Hamburg Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH), Wolf Graf von Baudissin was crucial in shaping the institute’s development and establishment phrase from 1971 to 1984. Von Baudissin played a decisive role in more than the development of the institute, however. As the author of the concept of Innere Führung (defined as “leadership development and civic education”), the General also shaped the rebuilding of the German military in the 1950s. Even today, his ideas constitute the Bundeswehr’s fundamental values as well as its self-image. Now, on the occasion of the IFSH’s 50th anniversary, historian and Professor (apl.) Dr Dagmar Bussiek presents the first biography of Baudissin, entitled „Dem Frieden verpflichtet. Wolf Graf von Baudissin (1907-1993) – die Biografie“ [Committed to Peace: A Biography of Wolf Graf von Baudissin (1907-1993)].

The author developed the idea for the biography during her time as a visiting professor at the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College in Hamburg. In Summer 2018, Professor Bussiek became aware of Baudissin’s extensive bequest, which is housed in the Baudissin Documentation Centre, and reached out to the executor of Baudissin’s estate, Professor Dr Claus Freiherr von Rosen. He supported the author in her work and also contributed to the biography’s foreword, which was penned by IFSH director Professor Dr Ursula Schröder.

Baudissin’s trailblazing concept of Innere Führung was also the topic of an event co-organised by the IFSH and the Helmut Schmidt Foundation that was held on 27 October 2021.  A recording (in German) of the event Armed Forces for Peace: The Past, Present and Future of Innere Führung can be found here.