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{{Short description|German intelligence official (1930–2022)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{About|the last head of the Stasi, the East German secret police|other uses of Schwanitz|Schwanitz (disambiguation)}}
{{More footnotes|date=January 2011}}
{{expand German|topic=bio|date=June 2022|Wolfgang Schwanitz}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[Generalleutnant#National People's Army|Generalleutnant]]
|name = Wolfgang Schwanitz
|image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-1119-324, Wolfgang Schwanitz.jpg
|caption = Schwanitz in 1989
| office = Head of the [[Stasi#Fall of the Soviet Union|Office for National Security]]
| 1blankname = [[Council of Ministers of East Germany#Chairmen of the Council of Ministers|Chairman of the Council of Ministers]]
| 1namedata = [[Hans Modrow]]
| term_start = 18 November 1989
| term_end = 11 January 1990 [[Leave of absence]]: 14 December 1989 – 11 January 1990
| predecessor = [[Erich Mielke]] {{small|(as [[Stasi|Minister for State Security]])}}
| successor = ''Position abolished''
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|6|26|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Berlin]], [[Free State of Prussia]], [[Weimar Germany]] {{small|(now [[Germany]])}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|2|1|1930|6|26|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Berlin]], [[Germany]]
| party = [[Independent politician|Independent]]
| otherparty = [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party]] {{small|(1953–1989)}}
|occupation= {{hlist|Politician|Civil Servant|Wholesale Merchant}}
| parents =
|alma_mater= [[Humboldt University of Berlin]] ''Juristische Hochschule des MfS'' ([[Doctor (title)#Germany|Dr. jur.]])
| spouse =
| children =
| website =
| awards = [[Patriotic Order of Merit]], 3rd class
| module2 = {{collapsible list
| title = Central institution membership
| bullets = on
| 1986–1989: Candidate member, [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Central Committee|Central Committee]]
}}
----
{{collapsible list
| title = Other offices held
| bullets = on
| 1986–1989: Deputy Minister, [[Stasi|Ministry for State Security]]
| 1974–1986: Head, [[Stasi]] in [[East Berlin|Berlin]]
}}
}}

'''Wolfgang Schwanitz''' (26 June 1930 – 1 February 2022) was a German intelligence official, who was the last head of the [[Stasi]], the East German secret police. It was officially renamed the "Office for National Security" on 17 November 1989. Unlike his predecessor, [[Erich Mielke]], he did not hold the title "Minister of State Security", but held the title of "Leader of the Office for National Security". Following the [[German reunification]], he was active as an author of works that sought to portray the Stasi in a positive light.<ref name="Fricke">[[Karl Wilhelm Fricke]]: ''[http://en.stiftung-hsh.de/downloads/CAT_212/DA_2006_3_490-496.pdf Geschichtsrevisionismus aus MfS-Perspektive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130627050211/http://en.stiftung-hsh.de/downloads/CAT_212/DA_2006_3_490-496.pdf |date=27 June 2013 }}'', [[Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial]], 2006</ref><ref>[[Eckhard Jesse]]: ''[http://www.bpb.de/geschichte/zeitgeschichte/deutschlandarchiv/53270/fakten-und-erkenntnisse-keine-mythen Fakten und Erkenntnisse, keine Mythen und Legenden]'', [[Federal Agency for Civic Education]] {{in lang|de}}</ref>

== Career in East Germany ==

=== Early developments ===
Schwanitz was born in [[Berlin]]. He became a member of the [[Free German Youth]] when the German Democratic Republic was founded. In 1950, he became a member of the [[Society for German-Soviet Friendship]] ({{langx|de|Gesellschaft für Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft}}), and in 1953, of the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]], the ruling East German communist party. He worked for the Stasi from 1951, and studied at the college of the Stasi, where he earned a doctorate with a dissertation on "combating hostile tendencies among the youth" ({{langx|de|Bekämpfung feindlicher Erscheinungen unter Jugendlichen}}) (the doctorate is not recognized in present-day Germany). Between 1974 and 1986, he was head of Stasi in East Berlin. In 1986, he was appointed Stasi Lieutenant General and deputy of the Minister for State Security by [[Erich Mielke]].

=== Appointment as the "Leader of the Office of National Security" ===
During the collapse of the communist regime in the autumn of 1989, both the long-time Head of State of East Germany, [[Erich Honecker]], and the long-time head of the Stasi, Erich Mielke, resigned from their positions. Schwanitz was appointed the successor of Mielke as Leader of the Office for National Security and member of the Council of Ministers. The Stasi was dissolved on 31 March 1990. Since German reunification, Schwanitz was a leading member of the [[historical revisionism (negationism)|historical revisionist]]<ref name="Fricke" /> organisation [[Gesellschaft zur Rechtlichen und Humanitären Unterstützung]], consisting of Stasi veterans who defend the communist regime and the Stasi.

== Personal life and death ==
Schwanitz died on 1 February 2022, at the age of 91.<ref>{{cite news |title=Wolfgang Schwanitz ist tot |url=https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/wolfgang-schwanitz-ehemaliger-stasi-general-und-erich-mielkes-nachfolger-gestorben-a-a2fb3241-7cba-4f9d-bb00-3d03db8f28b2 |access-date=2 February 2022 |publisher=Spiegel Politik |date=2 February 2022|lang=de}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Literature==
*{{cite web| url = http://www.stiftung-aufarbeitung.de/service_wegweiser/www2.php?ID=2604&OVERVIEW=1| title = Schwanitz, Wolfgang | work = Wer war wer in der DDR?| publisher = [[Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur]]| language = German}}
*[[Hubertus Knabe]], ''Die Täter sind unter uns. Über das Schönreden der SED-Diktatur'', Propyläen, Berlin 2007, {{ISBN|978-3-549-07302-5}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwanitz, Wolfgang}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2022 deaths]]
[[Category:Communist Party of Germany politicians]]
[[Category:Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians]]
[[Category:Stasi officers]]
[[Category:Politicians from Berlin]]
[[Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni]]

Wolfgang Schwanitz - Revision history

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