Helmut Sonnenfeldt - Biography

Helmut Sonnenfeldt is an American foreign policy expert.

Born in 1926 in Berlin, Germany to Drs. Walther and Gertrud Sonnenfeldt, he spent his childhood in Gardelegen, Germany, where his parents had a family medical practice. In 1938, Sonnenfeldt was sent to Anna Essinger's Bunce Court School in England, as was his brother, Richard Sonnenfeldt. Helmut Sonnenfeldt remained in England until 1944, when he immigrated to the United States and rejoined his parents, who had resettled in Baltimore, Maryland. He entered the U.S. Army in 1944, became a naturalized American citizen and served in both the Philippines and in the U.S. occupation forces in Germany.

After military service, he attended Johns Hopkins University (BA 1950, MA 1951, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies).

Family

In 1953, he married Marjorie Hecht. They have three children: Babette Hecht, Walter Herman and Stewart Hecht.

Life

Helmut Sonnenfeldt entered service in the U.S. Department of State in 1952 as a member of the staff of the Office of Research on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and served as the Director of that Office from 1963-1969. He was a senior staff member of the National Security Council from 1969-1974. In 1974, he was appointed Counselor of the U.S. Department of State, where he served from 1974-77.

After leaving government service, he was a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Since 1978, he has been a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

Publications

He is author of the following books and articles:

• Sonnenfeldt, Helmut. Soviet Style in International Politics. Washington, DC: Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy (1985) ISBN 9780887020100
• Sonnenfeldt, Helmut. Soviet Politics in the 1980s. Boulder: Westview Press (1985) ISBN 9780865318632
• Sonnenfeldt, Helmut, and Hyland, William G. Soviet Perspectives on Security. Adelphi papers, no. 150. London: International Institute for Strategic Studies (1979) ISBN 9780860790273

Awards

• 1997 Leo-Baeck-Medal
• Johns Hopkins University
• U.S. Department of State
• U.S. Navy Superior Public Service Award

He has also been honored by the governments of France, Germany, Luxembourg and Sweden.

External links

• Biography at History Commons.org site