Henning Schwarz Explained

Henning Schwarz
Office:Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein
Status:Interim
Deputy:vacant
Term Start:2 October 1987
Term End:31 May 1988
Predecessor:Uwe Barschel
Successor:Björn Engholm
Office1:Deputy Minister-President
of Schleswig-Holstein
1Namedata1:Gerhard Stoltenberg
Uwe Barschel
Term Start1:26 May 1975
Term End1:2 October 1987
Predecessor1:Ernst Engelbrecht-Greve
Successor1:Marianne Tidick
Embed:yes
Office2:Minister of Federal Affairs
1Namedata2:Gerhard Stoltenberg
Uwe Barschel
himself
Term Start2:29 May 1979
Term End2:31 May 1988
Predecessor2:Position established
Successor2:Marianne Tidick
Office3:Minister of Justice
Term Start3:13 April 1983
Term End3:16 December 1985
Predecessor3:Karl Eduard Claussen
Successor3:Heiko Hoffmann
Term Start4:3 November 1969
Term End4:29 Mai 1979
Predecessor4:Claus-Joachim von Heydebreck
Successor4:Karl Eduard Claussen
Embed:yes
Office8:Member of the
Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein
Term Start8:29 May 1979
Term End8:2 October 1987
Successor8:Trutz Graf Kerssenbrock
Predecessor8:Siegfried Loose
Constituency8:Ahrensburg
Term Start9:24 May 1971
Term End9:24 May 1975
Successor9:Kurt Böge
Predecessor9:Constituency established
Constituency9:Segeberg-West
Birth Name:Henning Michael Schwarz
Birth Date:5 October 1928
Death Cause:Leukemia
Death Place:Kiel, Germany
Children:3
Alma Mater:University of Würzburg
University of Hamburg
Cabinet:Lemke II
Stoltenberg I
Stoltenberg II
Stoltenberg III
Barschel I
Barschel II
Schwarz

Henning Schwarz (24 October 1928 – 13 April 1993) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was interim Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein during the Barschel affair.

Life

Schwarz was born in Bad Oldesloe. His father was German CDU politician Werner Schwarz. Schwarz studied law in Würzburg and Hamburg, receiving a Doctor of Law in 1958. He then worked as a lawyer.

From 1971 to 1975 and from 1979 to 1987 he was member of the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein. Since 1969, he served in various cabinet positions in the Schleswig-Holstein state government under Minister-Presidents Helmut Lemke, Gerhard Stoltenberg and Uwe Barschel, most of the time as Minister of Justice. In 1975, Stoltenberg named him Deputy Minister-President, a position which he kept after Barschel became Minister-President due to Stoltenberg being appointed Federal Minister of Finance.

After the 1987 Schleswig-Holstein state election, the CDU lost their absolute majority and the Barschel affair became public. Due to a deadlock in the Landtag and the affair, new elections were called for 1988. Barschel resigned on 2 October 1987 and later died on 11 October. Schwarz, as Deputy Minister-President, became Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein on an interim basis until a new government was formed after the May 1988 election. He himself did not run in that election; CDU candidate for Ministers-President (Spitzenkandidat) instead was his Minister of Justice Heiko Hoffmann. The SPD won and Schwarz retired from politics.

Schwarz holds the distinction of being the longest-serving interim Minister-President of a German state, serving for the entire 11th legislative term, lasting about eight months. Most interim Minister-Presidents serve only for a few days (such as Michael Vesper in 2002 or Katharina Fegebank in 2018), some even for just one day on the grounds of constitutional technicalities (such as Jörg Bode in 2010 or Joachim Stamp in 2021). He is also the first and only interim Minister-President to lead his own cabinet, .

He was married and had three children. He died in Kiel.

Awards

External links