Hartmut Lange was born in Lünen (Northrhine-Westphalia/Germany) on April 18th, 1954 and he died there of a heart attack on February 17th, 2000.

After obtaining his A-Levels he studied humanities at the University of Siegen. His main subjects were English language and literature, art and art history with the main emphasis on photography. He also passed the required state exams to enter the teaching profession.

Hartmut worked as a teacher for some years. Because of a halt in recruitment - there were no vacancies - he turned to journalism and started a second professional career. He worked for newspapers in the Ruhr area. Politics and sports were in his department. He also did special projects in schools on the theory and practice of journalism.

In the nineties, Hartmut obtained the position of editor-in-chief of the international "Intermusik" newspaper, which was published in Kamen. He wrote reviews of recitals and recordings, reports on competitions and festivals, the leader articles and he designed the layout. Owing to his competence, he frequently reported and reviewed performances and recordings.

Hartmut made many friends in the accordion community at concerts, festivals and competitions from Germany, Netherlands, Russia and the Baltic States, from England, Italy, France and even from as far away as New Zealand and the US, China and Japan, to mention only some. He was a respected personality, who was candid, honest, helpful, trustworthy and reliable. He visited friends of his during his holidays and a number of them were also his guests when they came to Germany.

Hartmut is co-editor of a splendid book about his native town Lünen, and other books of a similar kind were in the planning stage. However, early this year, his state of health worsened, and his sudden and unexpected death thwarted all these plans and brought unhappiness and grief upon his friends and relatives, particularly his wife Irmgard, who is dental surgeon and a journalist. She has always worked closely with him, to help realize his plans and they did practically everything together.

Hartmut will be greatly missed by wife Irmgard and his many friends and associates, who will remember him with honour.