Gerhart Baum was born on 28 October 1932 in Dresden[1] to a German father and a Russian mother. His paternal ancestors, whose roots lay inPlauen in theSaxonVogtland, originally worked ascraftsmen before later generations were able to pursue academic professions. His mother was born in Moscow; her own mother was fromŁódź and ofPolish ethnicity and herUkrainian-born father was originally fromKharkiv.[2] In 1917, her family had fled fromRussia toGermany as a result of theOctober Revolution.[3] In his childhood Baum was a forced member of theHitler Youth.[4] After thebombing of Dresden, his mother left the city in February 1945 and fled with her three children toLake Tegernsee in Bavaria. His father, who had fought on theEastern Front during thewar, was captured by theSoviets and later died incaptivity.[5] In 1950, Baum's family moved toCologne.[6]
After graduating from school in 1953, Baum studied law at theUniversity of Cologne[7] and subsequently worked as a lawyer.[8]
Baum was a member of the FDP from 1954 until his death.[9]
From 1978 until 1982, Baum served asFederal Minister of the Interior in the government ofChancellorHelmut Schmidt.[5] During his time in office, he liberalized routine loyalty investigations of candidates for public‐service jobs, a controversial practice intended to control radical activity that had led to a profound and disruptive debate about the extent of democracy in West Germany.[10] In 1981, with the backing of economics ministerOtto Graf Lambsdorff, he asked the German car industry to agree on goals to tighten emissions standards and cut fuel consumption on a voluntary basis.[11]
Between 2000 and 2001, Baum and two other lawyers together represented about three-quarters of theAir France Flight 4590 crash victims' families. In May 2001, they reached a monetary settlement for compensation fromAir France.[13] According to people familiar with terms of the settlement, it was between $100 million and $125 million (€114.1 million and €142.6 million), an extraordinarily high sum for a plane-crash settlement in Europe at the time.[14]
In 2009, Germany's national railway companyDeutsche Bahn commissioned Baum and former justice ministerHerta Däubler-Gmelin with investigating allegations according to which the company had, in violation of privacy laws and corporate guidelines repeatedly and on a large scale compared personal data of its employees with those of suppliers, in a bid to uncover possible corruption.[18]
Baum in May 2024
In 2016, Baum joined members of the Green Party, lawyers, a journalist and a doctor in bringing suits against Germany's 2009 antiterrorism law before theFederal Constitutional Court, arguing that covert surveillance, particularly in private homes and in the intimacy of bedrooms or bathrooms, could entangle innocent third parties. In a 6-to-2 vote, the court ruled that the antiterrorism laws were partly unconstitutional and demanded tighter control over surveillance.[19]
In 2022, shortly before the 50th anniversary of the1972 Munich massacre, Dutch lawyers Carry and Alexander Knoops asked Baum to intervene in the negotiations between the victims’ families and thegovernment ofChancellorOlaf Scholz, which eventually resulted in a compensation offer totalling €28 million ($28 million).[20][21]
Baum died in Cologne on 15 February 2025, at the age of 92.[22]
"Die Finanzkrise und ihre Folgen für die Bevölkerung. Anforderungen an einen verbesserten Verbraucherschutz", in:Hecht, Janina; Robertson-von Trotha, Caroline Y., eds. (2011).Herausforderung Demokratie. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co KG.doi:10.5771/9783845232539.ISBN978-3-8452-3253-9.
"Die Grundrechte im Spannungsverhältnis von Sicherheit und Freiheit", in:Robertson-von Trotha, Caroline Y., ed. (2009).60 Jahre Grundgesetz. Nomos.doi:10.5771/9783845220345.ISBN978-3-8452-2034-5.
^"Die Stiftung – Stiftung Menschenrechte".Stiftung Menschenrechte – Wir unterstützen couragierte Frauen und Männer, die sich mit beispielhaftem Engagement für die Menschenrechte einsetzen und Gefährdete in Schutz nehmen – vor politischer Willkür und staatlichen Repressalien. (in German). 2 June 2020. Retrieved26 September 2023.
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