Werner Daum, a distinguished German diplomat and author, has passed away at the age of 82. Authorities confirmed that he died of natural causes in a hotel room in Kavaja.
Born in 1943, Daum dedicated decades to the German diplomatic service. His name is strongly linked to a pivotal moment in July 1990, when, as the first German Ambassador to Albania, he opened the German Embassy in Tirana. Under his leadership, the embassy provided refuge to 3,199 Albanian citizens seeking to leave the country. They remained within the embassy’s premises for several days until their safe departure to the West was secured.
A Career Spanning Diplomacy and Scholarship
Following his service in Albania (1992-1995), Daum chaired the Human Rights Department at the German representation in Geneva, where he represented Germany at the UN Human Rights Commission. From 1996 to 2000, he served as Ambassador to Sudan during a period of significant political and humanitarian tension.
In 2001, while an associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, Daum published an article in the Harvard International Review. In it, he sharply criticized the U.S. airstrike on the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Sudan, an event he witnessed firsthand as ambassador. He questioned the claims of the factory’s ties to chemical weapons and highlighted the severe humanitarian consequences of the attack, arguing for its grave impact on public health in Sudan.
Beyond his diplomatic career, Daum was also recognized for his contributions to cultural history. In 1999, he published a comprehensive catalog on the history of Yemen for the Museum of Ethnography in Munich. He authored several other works exploring the historical heritage of Yemen, Sudan, and Albania, with a particular focus on the pre-Islamic history of the Arabian Peninsula.
Werner Daum will be remembered as a diplomat of high integrity, a passionate scholar, and a friend of Albania.
