Former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who led the country for eight years at the height of the Cold War, died on Tuesday at the age of 96, his office said.
Schmidt was West Germany's second centre-left Social Democrat (SPD) chancellor from 1974 to 1982 and a leading proponent of European integration.
He became chancellor at a time of crisis for West Germany, replacing Willy Brandt, who had been forced to resign when his close assistant Guenter Guillaume was uncovered as a Stasi agency spying for the East German intelligence agency.
At the same time, Schmidt had to deal with the consequences of the 1973-74 oil crisis.
German media reported that Schmidt caught an infection after having surgery to remove a blood clot from his leg about two months ago. He died on Tuesday in his hometown of Hamburg.