H.E. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Heimsoeth, former German Consul General in New York City
Ambassador Hans-Jürgen Heimsoeth is currently the German Ambassador to Sweden. From 2012 to 2015 he was Permanent Representative of Germany to the OECD in Paris and also Chairman of the Board of the Development Center of the OECD. From 2008 to 2012 he was German Ambassador to Kiev / Ukraine and from 2005 to 2008 Consul General in New York. From 2015-2016 he was special representative for the security of German diplomatic missions.
Ambassador Heimsoeth joined the Foreign Service in 1981. He then went to Bucharest, Moscow and Mogadishu. From 1989-1994 he was personal advisor to German Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker. He then worked in Brasilia / Brazil and Warsaw / Poland. From 2000-2001 he was Baltic Sea Commissioner in the Foreign Office and Chairman of the Committee of Senior Officials of the Baltic Sea Council. Subsequently, he fulfilled several functions in the political and European department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with responsibilities for East Central Europe as well as countries of Northern and Western Europe.
Before joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Heimsoeth studied History, Philosophy and German Studies at the Universities of Freiburg and Berlin as well as Political Sciences at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris.
H.E. Mr. Peter Wittig, former Ambassador of Germany to the United Nations
Peter Wittig became ambassador of Germany to the United States on May 21, 2014, having most recently served as permanent representative of Germany to the United Nations, representing his country on the Security Council during its 2011-12 membership. Ambassador Wittig joined the German Foreign Service in 1982. He has served in Madrid, New York (Permanent Mission to the United Nations), as private secretary to the foreign minister at the Foreign Office
headquarters, and as ambassador to Lebanon. As ambassador to Cyprus, he also was the special envoy of the German government for the “Cyprus Question.” In 2006, Ambassador Wittig was appointed director-general for the United Nations and Global Issues at the Foreign Office in Berlin. Before starting his career in the German Foreign Service, Wittig studied history, political science and law at Bonn, Freiburg, Canterbury and Oxford universities, and he taught as an assistant professor at the University of Freiburg. He has written articles on the history of ideas and on foreign policy. Ambassador Wittig is married to journalist and writer Huberta von Voss-Wittig, and the couple has four children: Valeska, Maximilian, Augustin and Felice.
H.E. Mr. Thomas Matussek, former Ambassador of Germany to the United Nations
Mr. Matussek served as German Ambassador to the United Nations from 2006 – 2009 and German Ambassador to India from 2009 – 2011. Prior to his UN posting, Mr. Matussek served as his country’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, a post he took up in July 2002. From 1999 to 2002, he was the Director-General of the Political Department in the Foreign Office in Berlin. From 1994 to 1999, he was Deputy Chief of Mission in the German Embassy in Washington, United States.
From 1988 through 1993, Mr. Matussek served in the German Foreign Office in Bonn, first as Deputy Head, Diplomatic Personnel Planning, and in 1993 as Chief of Cabinet of the Minister. From 1986 to 1988, he was Head of the Economic Department in his country’s Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal.
He served as Political Secretary in several posts: from 1983 to 1986, in Germany’s Embassy in New Delhi, India; in the Federal Chancellery, European Affairs, from 1980 to 1983; and in the German Embassy, in London, from 1977 to 1980. He started his career in the Foreign Office in 1975.
From 1973 until 1975, Mr. Matussek was a Judge’s Assistant, as well as an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Bonn.
He studied law and History at the Universities of Paris and Bonn from 1969 to 1972, and got his Juris Doctor degree in 1973.
Born on 18 September 1947 in Lauda, Germany, Mr. Matussek is married with three children.
