Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski, German Politician and Mideast Expert Dies

[Kellanved]

Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski, a former West German leader of Germany's ruling Social Democrats and a formidable troubleshooter in hostage crises, died Thursday aged 82.



A key figure within the Social Democrats (SPD) from the early 1960s to the 1990s, Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski, also known affectionately as "Ben Wisch" in Germany due to his contacts in the Arab world and affinity to the region, died Thursday afternoon in a Cologne clinic just days after waking from a coma.



...



Most memorably, he played a key role in ending a 1977 hijacking, in which 86 German passengers were held captive by Palestinian gunmen who diverted their Lufthansa flight to the Somali capital Mogadishu. Wischnewski won the agreement of the Somali government for an elite German commando to intervene, spelling an end to the siege.

...
Fischer added in a statement, "We will mourn the loss of an extraordinary representative of Germany throughout the world."


http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1500599,00.html

Rest in Peace

[neweurope]

1. He was one of the good ones. No comparison to social democrats

nowaday. He'll be missed.

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