Finally, some sad news: We have just learned that Consul General (ret.) Hans-Michael Schwandt has passed away at the age of 80 on December 30, 2022, in Berlin.

Mr. Schwandt joined the Foreign Service as a member of the 28th Attaché course in 1973. As part of his training, he gained foreign experience at the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. His first foreign posting was as Economic Officer to the Embassy in Bangkok in 1976. In 1979, he returned to the headquarters in Bonn and worked in the section for the policies of the North-South dialogue and multilateral economic cooperation within the United Nations. From 1982, he headed the Economic Department of the Embassy in Budapest and in 1985, he became Political Officer at the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.

Upon returning to the headquarters in Bonn, he assumed the deputy leadership of the section for political issues of the economic and social field of the United Nations in 1988. His next foreign posting was as Permanent Representative to the Embassy in The Hague in 1991. In 1995, he moved to the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government as head of the section for Central and Eastern Europe.

With his return to the Foreign Office, he took over the leadership of the Consulate General in Melbourne in 1998. Finally, in 2003 he became Consul General in Vancouver before retiring in 2006.

The Foreign Office honors him in his obituary as a balanced, likable, and helpful personality who carried out his duties with great diligence and excellent expertise.