Björn Engholm

{{Short description|German politician (born 1939)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Björn Engholm

| image = Engholm Björn Museum Angerlehner BHO-8355 (cropped).jpg

| image_size =

| image_upright =

| alt =

| caption = Engholm in 2019

|office = Leader of the Social Democratic Party

|term_start = 29 May 1991

|term_end = 3 May 1993

|predecessor = Hans-Jochen Vogel

|successor = Johannes Rau {{small|(interim)}}

|1blankname = {{nowrap|Federal Manager}}

|1namedata = Anke Fuchs
Karlheinz Blessing

|office2 = President of the Bundesrat

|1blankname2 = {{nowrap|First Vice President}}

| 1namedata2 = Bernhard Vogel

|term_start2 = 1 November 1988

|term_end2 = 31 October 1989

|predecessor2 = Bernhard Vogel

|successor2 = Walter Momper

| office1 = Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein

| deputy1 = Marianne Tidick
Eva Rühmkorf
Günther Jansen
Heide Simonis

| term_start1 = 31 May 1988

| term_end1 = 3 May 1993

| predecessor1 = Henning Schwarz {{small|(interim)}}

| successor1 = Heide Simonis

| office3 = Leader of the Opposition in the
Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein

|1blankname3 = {{nowrap|Minister-President}}

|1namedata3 = Uwe Barschel
Henning Schwarz {{small|(interim)}}

| term_start3 = 12 April 1983

| term_end3 = 31 May 1988

| predecessor3 = Klaus Matthiesen

| successor3 = Heiko Hoffmann

| office4 = Leader of the Social Democratic Party
in the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein

| term_start4 = 12 April 1983

| term_end4 = 31 May 1988

| predecessor4 = Klaus Matthiesen

| successor4 = Gert Börnsen

{{Collapsed infobox section begin |last=yes |Schmidt cabinet

|titlestyle=border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes

| office5 = Minister of Education and Science

|chancellor5 = Helmut Schmidt

| predecessor5 = Jürgen Schmude

| successor5 = Dorothee Wilms

| term_start5 = 28 January 1981

| term_end5 = 1 October 1982

| office6 = Parliamentary State Secretary in the
Ministry of Education and Science

|chancellor6 = Helmut Schmidt

| minister6 = Helmut Rohde
Jürgen Schmude

| term_start6 = 18 May 1977

| term_end6 = 28 January 1981

| predecessor6 = Peter Glotz

| successor6 = Eckart Kuhlwein{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}

{{Collapsed infobox section begin |last=yes |Parliamentary constituencies

|titlestyle=border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes

| office8 = Member of the
Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein

| term_start8 = 12 April 1983

| term_end8 = 7 November 1994

| predecessor8 = multi-member district

| successor8 = Wolfgang Herrmann

| constituency8 = Social Democratic List

| office9 = Member of the Bundestag
for Lübeck

| term_start9 = 20 October 1969

| term_end9 = 29 March 1983

| predecessor9 = Helmut Wendelborn

| successor9 = Reinhold Hiller{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1939|11|09|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Lübeck-Moisling, Province of Schleswig-Holstein, Free State of Prussia, Nazi Germany {{small|(now Germany)}}

| death_date =

| death_cause =

| resting_place =

| resting_place_coordinates =

| party = Social Democratic Party {{small|(1962–)}}

| death_place =

| height =

| spouse = {{marriage|Barbara Engholm|1964}}

| relations =

| children = 2

| residence =

| occupation = {{hlist|Politician|Typographer|Docent}}

| education =

| alma_mater = University of Hamburg

| cabinet =

}}

Björn Engholm (born 9 November 1939) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He was Federal Minister for Education and Science from 1981 to 1982, and in 1982 also Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Forests. From 1988 to 1993 he was the Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein and from 1991 to 1993 the leader of the Social Democratic Party.

Engholm was educated at University of Hamburg.{{cite book |last=Publications |first=Europa |date=2003 |title=The International Who's Who 2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sR4Ch1dMe8IC&q=odd+engstrom+whos+who&pg=PA494 |publisher=Psychology Press |page=494 |isbn=9781857432176 }} He was elected Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein in 1988, in the wake of the Barschel affair/Waterkantgate: he had been spied on and was a victim of severe defamation (HIV infection, tax evasion, etc.) by the Barschel campaign. The Social Democrats won an impressive 54.2% (up almost 10%) and gained an absolute majority for the first time ever.{{Cite web|title=Drucken|url=http://www.todayinhistory.de/print_manu.php?what=thmanu&page=1&do=page&manu_id=1609&lang=en|website=todayinhistory.de|access-date=9 May 2020}} Engholm served as President of the Bundesrat in 1988/89.

While Engholm was popular with the electorate, he was forced to resign as party leader and Minister-President in 1993 after discrepancies surfaced over the testimonies he gave in the Barschel affair (Schubladenaffäre, drawer affair). A party official had paid 50,000 Deutsche Mark (kept in a kitchen drawer) to the spy of the Barschel affair to keep the espionage a secret for several weeks, to reveal the scandal on election weekend with a bigger impact and then present Engholm as a victim.

He was succeeded by Rudolf Scharping as party chairman and by Heide Simonis as Minister-President.

Since 1964, Engholm has been married to painter Barbara Engholm (born 1940); they have two daughters.