Hans-Joachim Veen (born 29 August 1944) is a German political scientist. He is the former Director of Research at the

Konrad Adenauer Foundation The Konrad Adenauer Foundation (german: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, KAS) is a German political party foundation associated with but independent of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The foundation's headquarters are located in Sank ...

, head of the scientific advisory committee to the

Stasi Records Agency , commonly known as the ) , dissolved = June 17, 2021 , superseding1 = , agency_type = Former Secret Police Archive , jurisdiction = , status = Dissolved, now part of the German Federal Archives ...

, and an honorary professor at the

University of Trier The University of Trier (german: Universität Trier), in the German city of Trier, was founded in 1473. Closed in 1798 by order of the then French administration in Trier, the university was re-established in 1970 after a hiatus of some 172 y ...

Early life, military service, and education

Veen was born in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

and took his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

. He then served for two years with Reconnaissance Battalion 3 at

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also calle ...

. He has the rank of a full colonel (res.) and served as commander of Tank Battalion 524 in Lingen. His last reserve training was served as chief of staff of German Armed Forces Command USA and Canada in

Reston, Virginia Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia and a principal city of the Washington metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, Reston's population was 63,226. Founded in 1964, Reston was influenced by the Garden City movem ...

. Following his military service, he studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

public law Public law is the part of law that governs relations between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that are of direct ...

and history at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...

and the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

, earning a D.Phil. in 1976.

Career

From 1983 to 1999 he worked as Director of Research at the

. Since 2000 he has been head of the project "Democracy and political party development in eastern Europe" within the foundation. In 1994/95 he served as an interim professor for

comparative government Comparative politics is a field in political science characterized either by the use of the ''comparative method'' or other empirical methods to explore politics both within and between countries. Substantively, this can include questions relatin ...

studies at the University of

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

; he has since held the rank of honorary professor. Since 2002 Veen has been Chairman of the board of the

Stiftung Ettersberg The Stiftung Ettersberg is legally established foundation, located in Weimar, Germany. Its mission is the comparative study of European dictatorships and their transition to democracy. The foundation administers the Memorial and Education Centr ...

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

, a foundation for the comparative study of European dictatorships and their democratic transition. From 2007 to 2009 Hans-Joachim Veen also served as a head of the

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

n governmental committee for violence prevention. From 2009 to 2012 he moderated the History Network Thüringen, a committee dealing with coming to terms with the history of the

SED sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs, and is available today for most operating systems. sed wa ...

regime. In 2008 he became head of the scientific council attached to the

; he was reelected head of the council on 21 January 2013. In 1993 he was awarded the ''

Bundesverdienstkreuz The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

'' for his contributions to the development of political, economic and historical studies at the universities of the formerly

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

states through a multi-year program for visiting professors that he initiated and organised.

Personal life

Veen married Marliese Veen in 1971; they have two sons.

References

"Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Veen"
Deutscher Bundestag {{DEFAULTSORT:Veen, Hans-Joachim 1944 births Living people German political scientists University of Hamburg alumni University of Freiburg alumni Writers from Strasbourg Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany