Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf, born on November 6, 1940, stands as a prominent figure in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A German aviator and airline executive, he is best recognized as a religious leader and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Called as an apostle in 2004, he served as Second Counselor to Thomas S. Monson in the church's First Presidency from 2008 until Monson's death on January 2, 2018. Currently, Uchtdorf is the sixth most senior apostle in the ranks of the church. This biography explores the remarkable life of Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, highlighting his journey from a childhood marked by war and displacement to his distinguished service in both the aviation industry and the leadership of a global church.
Early Life and Family
Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf was born in Moravská Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, during World War II. At the time, it was in the Nazi-occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now Ostrava, Czech Republic). His parents, Karl Albert Uchtdorf and Hildegard Else Opelt, were German. His father was a customs officer who was conscripted into the German Army toward the end of World War II and sent to the western front. As a young child, Uchtdorf traveled with his mother and three siblings through areas being bombed in a move to Zwickau in eastern Germany.
This period of his life was marked by uncertainty and hardship. "We were refugees with an uncertain future," he later reflected. "I played in bombed-out houses and grew up with the ever-present consequences of a lost war and the awareness that my own country had inflicted terrible pain on many nations during the horrific World War II."
Conversion to the Church
The Uchtdorf family's introduction to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came through an act of kindness. His grandmother met an elderly, single woman named Sister Ewig (meaning "Sister Eternal" in German) in a soup line. This encounter led to the family's conversion when Dieter was still young. He was baptized two years after the rest of his family when he turned 8 years old in 1948.
Escape from East Germany
As a result of his grandmother's encounter with a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a soup line, Uchtdorf's family joined the LDS Church when he was still young. When Uchtdorf was about eleven, his father's political beliefs, incongruent with Soviet rule, earned him the label of "dissenter", thus putting their lives in danger. His sisters accomplished this by jumping from a moving train that happened to pass through West Germany, while Dieter and his mother climbed a mountain to avoid GDR guard checkpoints.
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Education
Uchtdorf's pursuit of knowledge led him to study engineering in school. He started studying mechanical engineering at age 18 but later continued in business administration in Cologne and graduated from Institut pour l'Etude des Methodes de Direction de l'Entreprise (today the International Institute for Management Development) in Lausanne, Switzerland, with an MBA. He received an honorary doctorate in international leadership from Brigham Young University during the April 2009 graduation ceremony.
Military Service and Aviation Career
Dieter F. Uchtdorf served six years in the German Air Force. When Uchtdorf was conscripted into the newly formed Bundeswehr in 1959, he volunteered for the air force, at age 19, to become a fighter pilot. Due to an agreement between the West German and US governments, Uchtdorf trained as a fighter pilot in Big Spring, Texas, where he excelled, earning the coveted Commander's Trophy (USAF) for being the best student pilot in his class. After earning wings from both the German and US air forces, he served for six years as a fighter pilot in West Germany, leaving in 1965 to join Lufthansa. By 1970, at 29 years of age, Uchtdorf had reached the rank of captain with Lufthansa. He was appointed in 1975 as head of Lufthansa's new Arizona Training School, and in 1980 he was made head chief pilot of cockpit crews, followed by appointment to senior vice president of flight operations in 1982.
His career with Lufthansa German Airlines began in 1965, and he ascended to top-level management positions. He was chief pilot and senior vice president for flight operations for Lufthansa when he decided to retire in 1995. A member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, he wanted more time to spend on his Church calling. Shortly after that, President Thomas S. Monson of the First Presidency extended a call to him to serve in the First Quorum of the Seventy.
Call to the Apostleship
Dieter F. Uchtdorf's service in the LDS Church has been extensive. He was sustained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 2, 2004. He was ordained an apostle on October 7, 2004, by church president Gordon B. Hinckley. Uchtdorf and David A. Bednar were called to fill the vacancies created by the July 2004 deaths of quorum members David B. Haight and Neal A. Maxwell. Uchtdorf was the first church apostle ordained in the 21st century. Uchtdorf is the eleventh apostle of the LDS Church to be born outside the United States. He is the first German apostle in church history and was the first born outside of North America since the death of John A. Widtsoe in 1952.
Service in the First Presidency
On February 3, 2008, Uchtdorf became the Second Counselor to Thomas S. Monson. While serving in the First Presidency, Uchtdorf dedicated the Tegucigalpa Honduras, Quetzaltenango Guatemala, Manaus Brazil, Fort Lauderdale Florida, Cordoba Argentina, Trujillo Peru, Tijuana Mexico, Fort Collins Colorado, and Tucson Arizona temples. At the time of Monson's death on January 2, 2018, with the dissolution of the First Presidency, Uchtdorf returned to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, along with Monson's First Counselor, Henry B. Eyring. When the First Presidency was subsequently reorganized under new church president Russell M. Nelson, Uchtdorf was not retained as a counselor in the First Presidency and continued his service in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. While not unprecedented in church history, the last time a new church president did not retain a counselor who served in the First Presidency under his predecessor was in 1985. Following his return to the Quorum of the Twelve after the reorganization of the First Presidency, the church announced new assignments for Uchtdorf on January 22, 2018. These assignments had been noted by Nelson in the news conference where the new First Presidency was announced.
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Personal Life
Dieter F. Uchtdorf married Harriet Reich on December 14, 1962, in the Swiss Temple (now the Bern Switzerland Temple). They have two children and six grandchildren.
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