Karl Wienand

Karl Wienand (born 15 December 1926 in Lindenpütz; died 10 October 2011 in Trier) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and secret agent for the DDR's Ministry of State Security (MfS).

Karl Wienand's father, a German communist party member, was frequently detained as an enemy of the Nazi regime and often demonstrated against Robert Ley. The Nazis would later kill the man.

After distinguishing himself attending Volksschule, Wienand fils was sent in 1941 to the normal schools in Bad Godesberg and Xanten. He performed military service in the Second World War in a penal battalion and was severely wounded. He suffered a head injury and a dislocated shoulder ; he also needed a leg amputated. He thus qualified as a "70% casualty".

He was widowed twice, and (step)father to five children. One son of his first wife died in an accident. In 1975, he became director of the Bonner "Gesellschaft für kosmetische plastische Chirurgie und Ästhetik mbH Klinik International".

Wienand applied to enter the Nazi party on 9 October 1943, and would be enrolled on 20 April 1944 (as member #10.014.358). In 1947, Wienand attached himself to the SPD. In 1950, he was selected as SPD block captain (German: Unterbezirk) for the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis. Already by 1951 he had advanced to the Mittelrhein committee (German: Bezirk) and by 1955 the central party council (German: Parteirat). In 1990, he resigned from politics. In 2002, he left the SPD, anticipating a censure motion (German: Parteiausschluss).

Per Herbert Wehner, Wienand is a "Mann für heikle Fälle [man with a deft touch]". In the view of the historian Arnulf Baring, he belongs "zum sozialliberalen Kernbereich, zur Handvoll ihrer wichtigsten Figuren [to the central core of social liberalism, the most important handful of figures]".

Following the 1953 German legislative election, Karl Wienand at the age of 26 became the youngest representative in the second German Bundestag. From 15 November 1963 to 13 April 1967 he was deputy chairman of the Bundestag's committee on defense. From 3 March 1964 to 27 April 1967 he headed the SPD's parliamentary working group on national security. From 7 March 1967 to 30 August 1974, Wienand was Chief Whip. His time in the Bundestag lapsed beginning 3 December 1974.

Wienand was ensnared in a series of political scandals, and has been convicted multiple times.