Andreas Meyer-Landrut (born 31 May 1929) is a former German diplomat. He was

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

's ambassador to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

from 1980 to 1983 and again from 1987 to 1989. He also served as the chief of staff to the office of the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: link=no, Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international corres ...

during the presidency of Richard von Weizsäcker from 1989 to 1994.

Early life

Andreas Meyer-Landrut was born on 31 May 1929 in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

.Schwehn, Klaus J
Andreas Meyer-Landrut - Diplomat und Lenas Opa
. Suite101.de. 29 March 2010. Accessed 1 May 2010. He and his family,

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

industrialists, were relocated from Estonia to

occupied Poland ' ( Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 Octobe ...

at the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

because of the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that enabled those powers to partition Poland between them. The pact was signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ri ...

. At the end of the war, the family

fled ''Fled'' is a 1996 American buddy action comedy film directed by Kevin Hooks. It stars Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Baldwin as two prisoners chained together who flee during an escape attempt gone bad. Plot An interrogator prepares a man to ...

westwards to Germany. After graduating in 1950 from high school ('' Gymnasium'') with the Abitur in

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...

, Germany, he studied

Slavistics Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

an history and

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

. He spent one year of his studies at the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...

SR Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), or SR Croatia, was a constituent republic and federated state of the Sociali ...

, SFR Yugoslavia, and wrote his dissertation, which focused on the Croatian theatre of the 19th century. He became

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

at the University of Göttingen in 1954.

Career

In 1955, Meyer-Landrut joined

's Foreign Office. His assignments abroad included

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

and Brazzaville, where he served as the country's ambassador. Due to his language skills, he became one of the experts on

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

in the German diplomats' corps. Five times he worked on assignments to the German embassy in

. From 1980 to 1983 and again from 1987 to 1989 he served as West Germany's ambassador to the

in Moscow. He held a key position at a time of rapprochement between the German government under Chancellor

Helmut Kohl Helmut Josef Michael Kohl (; 3 April 1930 – 16 June 2017) was a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998. Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longes ...

and the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev during the Perestroika period. During that time he also worked on behalf of ethnic Germans in Russia. From 1984 to 1986, he was

undersecretary Undersecretary (or under secretary) is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary (person in charge). It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is al ...

of the Foreign Office, serving under foreign minister

Hans-Dietrich Genscher Hans-Dietrich Genscher (21 March 1927 – 31 March 2016) was a German statesman and a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1969 to 1974, and as Federal Minister for Foreign Affa ...

. He then worked as the chief of staff to the office of the

during the presidency of Richard von Weizsäcker from 1989 to 1994. Following his civil service career, he managed the Moscow representation of

DaimlerChrysler The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...

until 2002. He also joined the German-Russian Forum.

Personal life

Meyer-Landrut was married twice. His first wife was of

Hungarian nobility The Hungarian nobility consisted of a privileged group of individuals, most of whom owned landed property, in the Kingdom of Hungary. Initially, a diverse body of people were described as noblemen, but from the late 12th century only high ...

;''The International Who’s Who 2004''. Europe Publications Ltd., London 2003, p. 1131, . they are the grandparents of the German singer Lena Meyer-Landrut, who won the 2010 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo. German diplomat

Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut (born 1960) is a German diplomat currently serving as the Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey. He was previously German Ambassador to France from 2015 to 2020. Before that, he served as the chief adviser for European affa ...

is a nephew.

Awards

* Great Cross of Merit with Star and shoulder ribbon, for his lifetime achievements bringing together Germans and Russians *

Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana The Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana ( et, Maarjamaa Risti teenetemärk, sometimes translated as the Order of the Cross of St. Mary's Land) was instituted by the President of Estonia, Lennart Meri, on 16 May 1995 to honour the independence of t ...

(Estonia)

Publications

*Meyer-Landrut, Andreas (2003). ''Mit Gott und langen Unterhosen. Erlebnisse eines Diplomaten in der Zeit des Kalten Krieges''. Berlin: Quintessenz Verlag. . *Meyer-Landrut, Andreas (2005). ''"С Богом! И оденься потеплее!" – Моя дипломатическая миссия в России''. Москва: Международные отношения. .

References

External links

Andreas Meyer-Landrut – Diplomat und Lenas Opa
at Suite101.de
Lenas Opa in Moskau
at Russland.ru {{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer-Landrut, Andreas 1929 births Ambassadors of West Germany to the Soviet Union Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Baltic-German people Living people University of Göttingen alumni University of Zagreb alumni Diplomats from Tallinn Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 2nd Class Estonian emigrants to Germany