Björn Engholm

Björn Engholm (born November 9, 1939, Lübeck, Germany) is a German politician who served as leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1991 to 1993.

Although born in Germany, Engholm was of Swedish descent. He was educated at the University of Hamburg and worked as a printer before becoming a freelance journalist and lecturer in 1964. He joined the SPD in 1962 and was first elected to the National Assembly (Bundestag) in 1969, winning reelection successively thereafter. In 1981–82 he was minister of education and science in the government of his mentor, SPD leader Helmut Schmidt.

After the Schmidt government fell from power in 1982, Engholm ran unsuccessfully for prime minister of his home state of Schleswig-Holstein in 1983 and 1987. During the latter campaign, Engholm was subjected to a smear campaign that was revealed to have been perpetuated by the staff of the winner, Uwe Barschel. Although Barschel denied knowledge of any dirty tricks, he resigned in October 1987 and about a week later died under mysterious circumstances. During a subsequent investigation, Engholm claimed that he was unaware of the source of the smears until after the election. Late in 1987 he won a special election to replace Barschel and became prime minister the following year. In 1990 Engholm was chosen to succeed Hans-Jochen Vogel as chairman of the SPD, his appointment confirmed in a party conference in 1991. Two years later, however, he was forced to resign both as party leader and as prime minister of Schleswig-Holstein after it was revealed that he had lied during the earlier investigation; he was not, however, implicated in Barschel’s death.