Jörg Schönbohm (2 September 1937 – 7 February 2019) was a German politician ( CDU) and a retired

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

. He was the first commander of the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

Eastern Command (BwKdo Ost) in 1990, which supervised the absorption of the East German

National People's Army The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) an ...

into the Federal German armed forces as part of the Army of Unity (Armee der Einheit). In 1991 he became the

Inspector of the Army The Inspector of the Army (german: Inspekteur des Heeres or ''InspH'') is the title held by the commander and highest ranking officer of the German Army (unless the Inspector General is an army officer) of the modern-day German Armed Forces or ''B ...

, the highest-ranking officer in the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

; he was retired in 1992 to become Undersecretary for Security Policy in the

Federal Ministry of Defence The Federal Ministry of Defence (german: Bundesministerium der Verteidigung, ), abbreviated BMVg, is a top-level federal agency, headed by the Federal Minister of Defence as a member of the Cabinet of Germany. The ministry is headquartered at ...

. From 1996 to 1998 Schönbohm was Senator of the Interior for the city of Berlin, and from 1999 to 2009 he held the same office as interior minister for the state of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

Personal life

Schönbohm was Protestant, and married with three children. He resided in

Kleinmachnow Kleinmachnow is a municipality of about 20,000 inhabitants in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated South-West of the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf and East of Potsdam. First mentioned in the Landbuch of Karl ...

Potsdam-Mittelmark Potsdam-Mittelmark is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the western part of Brandenburg, Germany. Its neighbouring administrative units are (clockwise from the north) the district of Havelland, the free cities of Brandenburg and Potsdam, the state of Berl ...

. His son Arne Schönbohm became president of the German

Federal Office for Information Security The Federal Office for Information Security (german: Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik, abbreviated as BSI) is the German upper-level federal agency in charge of managing computer and communication security for the German g ...

in 2016. Jörg Schönbohm died on 7 February 2019 at the age of 81.

Award

*2009 –

Manfred Wörner Manfred Hermann Wörner (24 September 1934 in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt – 13 August 1994 in Brussels) was a German politician and diplomat. He served as the defense minister of West Germany between 1982 and 1988. He then served as the seventh S ...

Medal

Works

*Jörg Schönbohm, ''Two Armies and One Fatherland: The End of the Nationale Volksarmee'', Berghahn Books, 1996, ,

References

External links

*
Official Bio: German Army
1937 births 2019 deaths People from Oder-Spree People from the Province of Brandenburg Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Ministers of the Brandenburg State Government Members of the Landtag of Brandenburg Senators of Berlin Bundeswehr generals Lieutenant generals of the German Army 20th-century German politicians 21st-century German politicians Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany {{Germany-CDU-politician-stub