Background
MEYER-LANDRUT, Andreas was born on May 31, 1929 in Tallinn, Estonia (now part of Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics). Son of Bruno and Kathe (nee Winter) Meyer-Landrut.
MEYER-LANDRUT, Andreas was born on May 31, 1929 in Tallinn, Estonia (now part of Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics). Son of Bruno and Kathe (nee Winter) Meyer-Landrut.
After graduating in 1950 from high school (Gymnasium) with the Abitur in Bielefeld, Germany, he studied Slavistics, Eastern European history and sociology at the University of Göttingen. He became Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Göttingen in 1954.
He was West Germany"s ambassador to the Soviet Union in Moscow 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 during the presidency of Richard von Weizsäcker from 1989 to 1994. He and his family, Baltic German industrialists, were relocated from Estonia to occupied Poland at the beginning of World World War II because of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
At the end of the war, the family fled westwards to Germany.
He spent one year of his studies at the University of Zagreb, Social Research Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia, and wrote his dissertation, which focused on the Croatian theatre of the 19th century. In 1955, Meyer-Landrut joined West Germany"s Foreign Office.
His assignments abroad included Brussels, Tokyo and Brazzaville, where he served as the country"s ambassador. Due to his language skills, he became one of the experts on Russia in the German diplomats" corporations
Five times he worked on assignments to the German embassy in Moscow.
From 1980 to 1983 and again from 1987 to 1989 he served as West Germany"s ambassador to the Soviet Union in Moscow. He held a key position at a time of rapprochement between the German government under Chancellor Helmut Kohl 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 of the Foreign Office, serving under foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher.
He then worked as the chief of staff to the office of the President of Germany during the presidency of Richard von Weizsäcker from 1989 to 1994. Following his civil service career, he managed the Moscow representation of DaimlerChrysler until 2002.
He also joined the German-Russian Forum.
Married Hanna Karatsony von Hodos in 1960.