Wolfgang Schwanitz

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (June 2022) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the German article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 9,121 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Wolfgang Schwanitz]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|de|Wolfgang Schwanitz}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Generalleutnant Wolfgang Schwanitz
Schwanitz in 1989
Head of the Office for National Security
In office 18 November 1989 – 11 January 1990 Leave of absence: 14 December 1989 – 11 January 1990
Chairman of the Council of Ministers	Hans Modrow
Preceded by	Erich Mielke (as Minister for State Security)
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Personal details
Born	(1930-06-26)26 June 1930 Berlin, Free State of Prussia, Weimar Germany (now Germany)
Died	1 February 2022(2022-02-01) (aged 91) Berlin, Germany
Political party	Independent
Other political affiliations	Socialist Unity Party (1953–1989)
Alma mater	Humboldt University of Berlin Juristische Hochschule des MfS (Dr. jur.)
Occupation	Politician Civil Servant Wholesale Merchant
Awards	Patriotic Order of Merit, 3rd class
Central institution membership 1986–1989: Candidate member, Central Committee Other offices held 1986–1989: Deputy Minister, Ministry for State Security 1974–1986: Head, Stasi in 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.^[1][2]