12 Facts About Helmut Sonnenfeldt

Helmut Sonnenfeldt, known as Hal Sonnenfeldt, was an American foreign policy expert.

Helmut Sonnenfeldt was known as Kissinger's Kissinger for his philosophical affinity with and influence on Henry A Kissinger, the architect of American foreign policy in the Nixon and Ford administrations.

Helmut Sonnenfeldt was a veteran staff member of the United States National Security Council, and held several advisory posts in the US government and the private sector.

Helmut Sonnenfeldt spent his childhood in Gardelegen, Germany, where his parents had a family medical practice.

In 1938, Helmut Sonnenfeldt was sent to Anna Essinger's Bunce Court School in England, as was his brother, Richard Helmut Sonnenfeldt.

Helmut Sonnenfeldt remained in England until 1944, when he immigrated to the United States and rejoined his parents, who had resettled in Baltimore, Maryland.

Helmut Sonnenfeldt entered the US Army in 1944, became a naturalized American citizen and served in both the Philippines and in the US occupation forces in Germany.

Helmut Sonnenfeldt entered service in the US Department of State in 1952 as a member of the staff of the Office of Research on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and served as the Director of that Office from 1963 to 1969.

Helmut Sonnenfeldt was a senior staff member of the National Security Council from 1969 to 1974.

Helmut Sonnenfeldt died on Sunday, November 18,2012 after a long illness, leaving behind his wife and their three children.

Helmut Sonnenfeldt's brother was Richard Sonnenfeldt, an American engineer noted for being the US prosecution team's chief interpreter in 1945 at the Nuremberg Trial after World War II.

Helmut Sonnenfeldt has been honored by the governments of France, Germany, Luxembourg, and Sweden.