Henning Schwarz
Henning Schwarz was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. 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 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, some even for just one day on the grounds of constitutional technicalities. 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.