Born 1930 in Berlin, law studies in Berlin and Freiburg (1948-52). Studies and Research in politics and sociology (1952-53) at the College of Europe, Brugge/Belgium (where he also served as assistant in 1955-56), at St. Antony's College, Oxford (B.phil 1955), at Harvard University (1956-57) and at the Research Institute of the German Association for Foreign Policy. In 1959 he joined the German Diplomatic Service, serving in Australia (1961-64) and London (1967-72) as well as at the Foreign Office in Bonn dealing mainly with problems concerning Germany and Berlin (1964-67) and European Political Cooperation (1973-78). From 1978-1982 he was seconded to the Federal Chancellor's Office (1981-82 head of department for Foreign and Defence Policy under Chancellor H. Schmidt). German Ambassador to the Netherlands (1983-1990), to Israel (1990-1993) and to Russia (1993-1995). He is coordinator of the Dutch-German Conference. He received the Alexis de Tocqueville Price of the European Institute for Public Administration (1989), and is honorary fellow of the Hebrew University Jerusalem (1993) as well as Dr.h.c. of Amsterdam University (1997). Rector of the College of Europe, Brugge, May 1, 1996 - July 1, 2001.