Helmut Schmidt (1918 - 2015) was the fifth chancellor of Western Germany (Bundeskanzler). Like his predecessor Willy Brandt, he belonged to the SPD, the social-democratic party of Germany. Anyway, his policies were rather conservative than liberal. Schmidt served as chancellor from 1974 to 1982 when he was succeeded by Helmut Kohl who promised a geistig moralische Wende (spiritual and moral turn), governing the country based on Christian principles as head of his Christian Democratic Union. Schmidt died on November 10, 2015.