Theo Sommer

Theo Sommer (1930–2022) was a German journalist and historian. After studying history and political science in Tübingen and the United States, he joined the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT in 1958, initially as a political editor. He served as its editor-in-chief from 1973 to 1992 and subsequently as a publisher until 2000, alongside Marion Gräfin Dönhoff and Helmut Schmidt. Sommer published numerous books, including “1945. Die Biographie eines Jahres” (2005) and “China First” (2019). Asia, particularly China, was a longstanding focus of his writing; he travelled to China repeatedly, sometimes accompanying high-ranking political delegations.