Gesine Schwan
| Gesine Schwan | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| President of the Viadrina European University | |
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In office 1 October 1999 – 30 September 2008 |
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| Preceded by | Hans Weiler |
| Succeeded by | Gunter Pleuger |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
22 May 1943 Berlin |
| Political party | SPD |
| Spouse(s) | Alexander Schwan (died 1989) Peter Eigen (since 2004) |
| Alma mater |
Free University of Berlin University of Freiburg |
| Profession | Political scientist |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Gesine Schwan (born 22 May 1943) is a German political science professor and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. The party has nominated her twice as a candidate for the federal presidential elections. On 23 May 2004, she was defeated by the Christian Democrat and former president Horst Köhler. On 23 May 2009, both competed again for this position and Horst Köhler won his second term.
Born in Berlin on 22 May 1943, Schwan was baptized in the Roman Catholic faith as the daughter of Oberschulrat (Senior School Inspector) Hans R. Schneider. During the Third Reich dictatorship her parents were members of the passive resistance offering protection to a Jewish girl by hiding her. After World War II, the family engaged actively in the reconciliation of Polish–German relations.
In 1969, Schwan married her first husband, Professor Alexander Schwan, with whom she had two children and who died in 1989. In 2004, Gesine Schwan celebrated her second wedding with longtime companion Peter Eigen in Berlin. He is a former World Bank manager as well as a founder and current Chair of the Advisory Council of Transparency International. Schwan is very engaged in German and Polish mutual understanding and therefore supports, in numerous ways, the work of the Freya von Moltke Stiftung for the New Kreisau. She has given numerous presentations on this topic.
In 1962, Schwan graduated (Abitur) from the bilingual Französisches Gymnasium, a German-French secondary school in Berlin. In the same year, she began her studies in history, philosophy, romance languages, and political science at the Free University of Berlin and later at University of Freiburg.
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