The family moved to Berlin after the war. After school, Baring studied law at the universities of Hamburg, Berlin and Freiburg. Studies abroad also took him to Paris and New York. He received his M.A. from Columbia University. During his studies, Baring also worked in journalism for WDR in Cologne from 1962 to 1964. After receiving his doctorate in law, Baring worked as a research assistant and lecturer at the political science Otto Suhr Institute (OSI) at the Free University (FU) Berlin from 1966 to 1968. From 1968 to 1969, Baring was a fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.

In 1969 he was appointed to a chair in political science at OSI, which he held until 1976. In 1976, Baring moved to the chair for contemporary history and international relations at the Friedrich Meinecke Institute at the Free University of Berlin. He taught here until his retirement in 1998. The contemporary historian also became involved in the political field at an early stage. From 1976 to 1979 he worked in the Federal President's Office. In addition, Baring has appeared and continues to appear in public, where he stands out with conservative to neoliberal positions and populist expressions of opinion.

Because Baring had supported Hans-Dietrich Genscher in the 1983 federal election campaign, he was expelled from the SPD. In the 1990s he became popular with his books "Is Germany Failing?" and "Long live the Republic, long live Germany!" known outside of science with liberal-conservative and patriotic views. In 2003 he was a guest of honor at the Villa Massimo in Rome. Meanwhile, the historian emeritus makes a name for himself as a sponsor of the "New Social Market Economy Initiative". In 2004 he was honored with the European Cultural Prize for Politics and in 2011 he received the Grand Federal Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Arnulf Baring died on March 2, 2019 in Berlin at the age of 86.

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Arnulf Baring

Writer

Self